Bletchley Town CC Covid Recovery Fund

Aim

Covid-19 has had huge impact on all grass roots sports. We are fund-raising to secure the clubs long term future and developments.

Our Organisation

Bletchley Town Cricket Club (BTCC) is a community-based cricket club providing cricket and social opportunities to the local community. We offer cricket to all ethnic backgrounds, genders and from age 5+ through to senior cricket. 

The club is run entirely by volunteers who strive to continually improve our facility at Manor Fields as well as increasing  participation in cricket. This is supported by our welcoming and inclusive environment for anyone to play cricket. 

BTCC's currently have nearly 100 members. We field 8 teams from seniors men's, midweek T20 and juniors sides from U10 to U15. We also run the ECB All Stars programme for boys and girls aged 5-8. This year, we are also running a new girls-only ECB Dynamos programme for girls aged 8-11, as well as starting an initiative for women’s cricket at BTCC.

Pictured: Juniors at our End of Season presentations in 2019

To increase the inclusivity and diversity of our club, we are engaging with local schools in the area to support the delivery of cricket and promote our club initiatives across the junior section. We are also working with Buckinghamshire Cricket Board to become a disability cricket hub for the wider Milton Keynes area. 

BTCC serves as an important social hub for the local community and our facilities are not just used by BTCC. Our facilities are regularly used by other cricket clubs in the Milton Keynes area, including Shenley Church End CC, MK Superkings CC, MK Air CC, Rising Stars CC; we also host the Simbah Sports T20 cup throughout the summer months. Our facilities are a community cricket hub used by over 500 people per week. 

Pictured: MK Air Independence Cup match in 2020 (left). Bucks U15 Girls match in 2020 (right). 

The Projects You Are Funding

BTCC's financial position has, along with many other community-based sports clubs been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have identified 3 focus areas at our club where help is needed. We have planned to invest in the following areas: 

• Improve and upgrade facilities at Manor Fields
• Develop Women’s and Girls’ cricket at BTCC through exciting new initiatives
• Renewal and upgrade Junior cricket equipment for training and matches

With your help we can achieve these goals and push forwards with our plans for the 2021 season. All monies raised through this crowdfunding page towards our goals will be used specifically towards the three projects we have identified. 

What will we use the money for?

1) The continued development and upgrade of facilities at Manor Fields- These include the net areas, scoreboard, groundsman machinery and a new outdoor seating area to ensure we can remain Covid compliant whilst being a social club. Anticipated costs are £10,000.

 Pictured: Net facilities and scoreboard at BTCC as of April 2021.

 Pictured: Manor Fields flood in Winter 2020. Regular flooding increases the requirement for costly grounds work. 

2) To support our new initiatives for 2021 of Women's & Girls cricket. We are aiming to provide a safe, fun and social environment for new and existing female players from the age of 5. We are so excited to expand our W&Gs offering as we are keen to make our club more inclusive; we are anticipating running free training sessions, Covid-compliant social events specifically for W&Gs at the club (the social side of cricket is even more important to female players!), and friendly matches against local teams. This will require additional facilities (conversion of indoor clubhouse space to make a new female changing area), new coaches to be attracted and trained and the purchase of suitable training equipment. Anticipated costs are £2000.

Dynamos link: https://ecb.clubspark.uk/Dynamos/Course/abd18356-3076-4e14-aaa1-5eedcd3af19b

3) Continued development of Junior cricket at BTCC– This will include training of coaches (both new coaches as well as Coach Development opportunities), replacing junior equipment to ensure it meets the highest safety standards, and widening the provision of junior training equipment to ensure we are supporting the development of all of our juniors’ skills. Anticipated costs are £2000.

 Pictured: Juniors on Match Day. 

Any surplus money beyond these three outlined projects will help us cover our annual "fixed" running costs which include maintenance of the ground and rent. 

How Can You Help Us?

As a volunteer run club, we need to generate donations from members, friends and the wider community. 

In addition to what you donate, Sport England will match 100% of donations up to a maximum of £10,000. Our initial target is £14,000,  however this is an all or nothing scheme and so if we fail to raise the initial £7000 Sport England will not match the donations. 

Please support us and help us develop cricket in the local area.

Follow our social media for updates on our progress to reach our aims and improve the club for benefits of all members and users. 

Facebook – Bletchley Town Cricket Club

Twitter and Instagram - @BletchleyTownCC

Thank you!

This project successfully funded on 24th May 2021