To register your interest in Harlow Greensox, please visit the ‘Register’ page on our site.

The background to Harlow Greensox

Harlow Greensox, a baseball project and team primarily for youngsters aged 8 to 15, was the personal initiative of Mr Albert Hobdell, the former Chairman of Harlow Neighbourhood Watch.

Harlow Neighbourhood Watch, like other Neighbourhood Watch schemes in the country, aims to harness the willingness of local people to act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the community. This activity helps the police and other official bodies to minimise crime and anti-social activity. There’s more about Harlow Neighbourhood Watch on the ‘Harlow Neighbourhood Watch’ page on this website.

In addition to its members acting as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the community, Harlow Neighbourhood Watch also aims to promote positive activities for young people in the town. So Harlow Neighbourhood Watch set up the ‘Harlow Baseball Project’, with the aim of getting young people in the area to learn and play baseball.

Help from Barclays Bank and Harlow Council

Very generous help from Barclays Bank ‘Spaces for Sports’ scheme (administered by the Football Foundation) enabled us, in conjunction with Harlow Council, to mark out and lay a baseball pitch at Northbrooks Playing Fields, described by Baseball-Softball U.K. as one of the premier pitches for the sport in the U.K. Harlow Council has leased part of the ground to Harlow Neighbourhood Watch at no cost, and arrangement which last until 2013 and will be renewed if all goes well. Many individuals from a number of organisations have helped to make this facility possible.

Baseball revived in Harlow in 2011

After the Greensox Team folded in 2010 for a number of reasons, everything was put in place to enable baseball to re-start last summer (2011). Harlow Neighbourhood Watch linked up with Southern Nationals, a premier league U.K. baseball team. Matches began in July, and a formal re-opening of the facility took place on Sunday 7 August, unfortunately in very inclement ‘summer’ weather.

In their very first season at the Harlow ground, Southern Nationals won the league, making them, as some would say, the ‘Manchester United of U.K. baseball’, though others might now say the ‘Manchester City of U.K. baseball. We wish them well for the coming season and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership between us. For more information about Southern Nationals, please click the ‘Southern Nationals’ logo below.

The re-launch of Harlow Greensox

We have everything now in place for our attempt to build a new ‘Harlow Greensox’ team during the coming year, with the possibility of the Greensox entering league competition next season. We have equipment, kit, finances, insurance, a child protection policy, everything we can think of to make for a successful relaunch of the Greensox.

Our projected programme this year (2012) is as follows:

End of January/Beginning of February: We plan to hold an indoor ‘Come and Try It’ half-day session for youngsters aged 8 to 15, held in one of our indoor sports centres. There’ll be a nominal £3 fee for those taking part.

If that’s a success, we’ll hold further ‘Try It’ and training sessions indoors and then move out of doors to Northbrooks Playing Field when the weather gets warmer.

At the same time, we’ll be training up baseball coaches. Again, we have our sponsors Barclays Bank to thank for the funding for this. We require a minimum of 8 adults to become coaches and we will provide a FREE opportunity to be trained up to Level 2 coaching standard. It’s a great opportunity for those who want to get a useful qualification under their belt.

Our Secretary Paul Wadley, who has years of experience as a basketball player and coach, is our co-ordinator for the Harlow Baseball Project.

For more information on the Harlow Greensox project, please visit the other pages on our website: ‘Coaching’, ‘Fixtures’ and ‘Register’.

Please direct all enquiries to Paul on Mobile 07843 912042. If unavailable, contact our Chairman Tony Bennett on 01279 635789.