Cricket coaching and karaoke were the order of the day at the latest CWB training weekend.

Based at Finham Park School in Coventry around 30 new and returning volunteers from across the country took part in the two-day event to prepare them for their upcoming trips to Africa.

This spring CWB is running trips to Botswana (March 21-April 5), Cameroon (February 6-20), Rwanda (February 6-20) and Uganda (February 22-March 9).

We are also sending a special project to Kenya February (15-22) made up of experienced CWB volunteers and partners from the 28 Too Many charity - which campaigns against FGM (Female Genital Mutilation. The team are heading to Laikipia to work with the Massai Cricket Warriors and use cricket as a tool to help stop the practice. The first morning of the training weekend was attended by representatives from 28 Too Many ahead of the team’s February 15 departure.

Over the course of the weekend each team took part in practical sessions that combine cricket with our key HIV/AIDS awareness messages, received a rundown of what to expect in their country and were assigned roles for the project ahead.

Arguably as important as the training was the chance for volunteers to get to know each other and get in a bit of team bonding. On the Saturday night this took the form of some impromptu karaoke in one of Coventry’s more ‘characterful’ drinking establishments. Notable mentions to training weekend coordinator Carl Ferguson (Frank Sinatra – That’s Life), HIV/AIDS specialist Amardeep Singh (Oasis – Live Forever) and the lads from Leeds Metropolitan University (numerous).

As usual each you will be able to follow each team’s progress in Africa on their blog pages which will go live in the coming weeks.

You can check out the conversations from the weekend with our storify page here