Alwoodley CC Covid-19 Recovery

Aim

We want to raise money to ensure Alwoodley CC is a fantastic place to play cricket and a facility for the community to enjoy

Who We Are

Alwoodley Cricket Club is a proud, local club that has been playing in the area since 1933 and at the current ground of Crag Lane since 1953. 

We have a thriving junior section that is growing by the year, and now features over 120 junior members playing across eight teams and we take great pride and encouragement in seeing our youngsters progress through the club and into our senior teams, making it a real family club.

We have three teams in the historic Airedale and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League, a side that competes in the Whixley Evening League on Thursday evenings and have recently launched a women's softball team. 

New players are always welcomed and integrated in our club at whatever level they come in at.

Though we are primarily a cricket club, we have great links with the local area and are always eager to work with our neighbours in the community. 

Our Purpose

With the facilities and ground available, our club provides fantastic opportunities to be used away from cricket and it has always been a priority of ours to include the community, share our ground with others and run events to encourage new people to experience the ground.

Before the pandemic, we regularly hosted events such as the Young Minds charity day which had over 100 people down at the club using the open space and indoor facilities to raise money for a good cause. 

Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice have used our clubhouse to host their annual quiz - where a fun night is had by all - and we run an annual ‘Ladies Night’ that has attendees from the club and further afield. 

This event is a great time for ladies to celebrate together while raising money for The Trussell Trust (a charity raising money to end the need for food banks). 

In 2019 we held an Easter Egg Hunt and Best Made Bonnet Parade which was well attended by the local community and proved to be a big hit.

Along with these events, we host an annual Summer Sixes tournament that provides members of the club with the chance to come down and socialise on August bank holiday weekend and encourage friends and families to attend.

Although cricket is the order of the day, the primary objective of Summer Sixes is to have a bit of fun and welcome people to the club who have either never played the game before or haven’t played in a long time.

Such has been the success of the tournament over a number of years that we have had friends of players state their interest in joining as members after enjoying the experience so much.

Not wanting to forget about those off the pitch that play such a crucial role in helping the club run smoothly, we also run a weekly quiz night which is hosted by one of our members and is well attended by people from the local neighbourhood - a lot of whom are over the age of 60 and count it as a large part of their social life. 

A key recent development has been a partnership with Primary Sport UK which was agreed in 2020 and allows for the ground to be used throughout the year as a multi-sports venue for all abilities of young people to come down and engage in sport and physical activity.

Junior and Women's Cricket

At Alwoodley we love engaging young people in cricket. 

We have over 120 junior members from a variety of backgrounds, with some players living right on the doorstep of the club and many from much further afield due to the care and attention they feel from the club. 

We have eight inclusive junior teams across Under-9’s, U11’s, U13’s, U15’s and U17’s, and have had many players play representative cricket which is always a great source of pride. 

However, our main aim is to ensure that all young players who come down to the club enjoy themselves and develop friendships and memories that will last a lifetime, and it is for this reason that we always wrap up the junior season with a ‘family day’, and encourage all junior players to come to the club with their families and celebrate the season. 

In 2019 we launched a women’s team and since then they have taken part in several softball cricket festivals, indoor tournaments and we have even hosted our own tournament. 

The women’s team is open to all regardless of age, (we currently have a range of ages from 11 to 50+) experience or ability and many of the players had never played cricket, or any sport, before. 

To encourage new players from different backgrounds to take up the sport we do not charge them membership.

The Impact of Covid-19

At Alwoodley we are proud of our history and the financial stability we have created over the recent years. 

Last year (2020) was a tough year for many people and Covid-19 had a major impact on our usual income streams. Whilst many of our members were generous enough to still pay their membership fees despite the cricket being disrupted, we still were still £1000 down compared to our usual revenue. 

Our main source of income is our bar and its takings in 2020 were £11,000 less than the previous year. In 2019 we ran a number of fundraising events and these were curtailed in 2020 meaning we lost £1400. 

And while we did eventually get some cricket in towards the end of the summer and enjoyed some success, we lost around £800 in matchday income compared to previous years.

The Future

We understand many people are struggling at the moment. However we know that Alwoodley Cricket Club is a great place for our members and their families to relax, have fun and engage in sport. 

The past 12 months have been financially hard but we want to come throughout the Covid pandemic in a strong position for future generations. 

As such we have set out the following aims:

1) Increased square and ground preparation costs- £5000

Our club has grown enormously over the past few years with more and more juniors playing cricket at the club as well the women’s team. Our Sunday XI have also gone from being a friendly team to be part of the Airedale and Wharfedale Cricket League.  

As such, we have made a commitment to ensuring all the pitches are produced to a fantastic quality for all players to play on and the outfield is in the best possible condition. This has massively increased our outgoings for pitch and ground preparation for the coming year, though we know it will be worth it when we see the brilliant work our new groundsman has already done.

2) New Doors- £1500

Our clubhouse doors have been through many winters and have finally succumbed to the elements. They are in desperate need of replacement to help keep our clubhouse secure. We have two exterior doors that were all installed in the 1970’s and we feel are no longer fit for purpose.

3) Sight Screens- £3000

We have repainted our sturdy old sight screens every year for as long as we can remember, and patched up the rotting wood almost as often. However we feel they are now finally at a point where they are no longer usable and we need new ones for the upcoming season

4) Leaky Roof- £1500

Over the past few years our club members have been able to patch together part of our clubhouse roof to help get it through the previous winters. However we now need to invest some money to ensure there is no lasting damage to the clubhouse.

5) Net repair and maintenance- £500

With senior nets and junior players using the facilities regularly, our nets need maintenance to ensure they are safe for everybody to use.

6) Drainage- £1000

We have the expertise and volunteers to do the work involved to install some drainage however we need to buy the materials

Finally

Every donation you make will be very valuable to us and will help us ensure we have an excellent place to host our cricketing family and welcome the community for many years to come. 

Please buy our rewards so you are getting something back for helping out our great club.

This project successfully funded on 28th April 2021