Who are we?
Blindley Heath CC play traditional village green cricket at a picturesque ground in Surrey. The club was founded circa 1866 and has a long and proud history. The club is well known for its excellent playing surface, attracting praise from many visiting teams, who return to The Heath every year.
We are currently running two teams, the Saturday Friendly XI and the Sunday Friendly XI. Both play a variety of home and away fixtures, most against teams that the club has played regularly over many years.
In the 2023 season we also entered the T20 Surrey Slam for the first time under Blindley Heath Buzzards. This was a new venture for the club and was a huge success, with the Buzzards reaching the 3rd round.
We are also running the ECB All Stars programme at The Heath, with the emphasis being on giving 5-8 year old boys and girls their first taste of cricket, having fun and making new friends.
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are a traditional village cricket club that has played friendly cricket for the past 150+ years and have attracted a small nucleus of players, members and hard working volunteers. However, in the lead up to the pandemic we were beginning to struggle to attract new members and once restrictions were lifted, interest seemed to wain further still, and as a result, this has impacted the club financially.
In response, our committee and a few dedicated members came together to discuss what could be done to secure the future of our great club. With some help and advice from the Surrey Cricket Foundation, in 2023 we were granted a Club Premises Certificate to enable the club to sell alcohol in our pavilion for the first time in our history, we now offer ECB All Stars with the intention of introducing junior sections, and we participated in the T20 Surrey Slam competition for the clubs' first ever taste of competitive cricket.
We are keen to set up Junior and Women's/Girls sections at BHCC, and we need to make these improvements so we can attract and retain youngsters. We have also entered the newly formed Surrey Cricket Championship for the clubs' first foray into League cricket and hope this will also attract new players, so by starting this project now, we can more effectively plan for the future.
We are at the start of our journey in a new era for the club and are confident this is the right direction for future generations to continue to enjoy cricket at The Heath.
How we'll spend the money raised
We are hopeful this investment will continue to ignite the passion for cricket at Blindley Heath CC, and enable us to compete with some of the larger clubs within Surrey. There is a lot more work to be done, and we're keen to keep the momentum going by:
- Finishing repair work to our boundary railing/posts.
- Replacing decaying/broken spectator benches.
- Re-painting the external aspects of our pavilion to make it more attractive.
- Re-carpeting the away changing room.
- Modernising the toilet facilities and making the female toilet more comfortable and suitable to requirements.
- Re-decorating the pavilion internally. Updating historical photos, hang new photos to reflect current participants and use decals/signage to create more of a welcoming environment.
- Install new external lighting to create a safer environment.
- A new lockable door for the kitchen.
Community impact
There are several larger clubs within a 5-10 mile radius of our ground, but we are the only remaining cricket club within the Godstone parish. Our ground is located within a beautiful setting, and we provide a very friendly, sociable and inclusive outlet for our local community. However, with the assistance of crowdfunding and undertaking the above actions to develop the club, with the intention of making it more attractive to new members, (playing, non-playing and voluntary) and the retention of both new and existing members to secure the long-term future of the club and turn Blindley Heath CC into a vibrant, thriving part of the local community.
We hope to achieve this by offering improved facilities, a better variety of cricket for a diverse range of individuals, cricket coaching, and social events to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!