Who are we?
Seaton Burn Cricket Club is a local village cricket club, established in 1873, which provides the opportunity for people of all ages from Seaton Burn and surrounding areas to participate in the sport of cricket at all levels. We currently have seventy-four adult members and one hundred and twenty one junior members.
The club obtained charitable status in January 2021 by registering with the Charity Commission as a CIO with a registration number of 1192968.
The club has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. We have re-introduced junior cricket to the club and have the ECB “All Stars” programme for 5-8-year-olds, Dynamos for 9-11-year-olds and age groups for U9, U11, U13 and U15. We are also introduced a ladies softball side in the 2022 season so that our offer reaches as many members of the community as possible.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Increased usage from our growing membership has pushed our capacity for practice areas to the limit.
We have extended our agreement with our landlord (the local authority) to take on an old bowling green area on our current site, which we have agreed to redevelop, so that our sides can have a dedicated practice area, which will also have the additional benefit of improving the quality of the main playing surface by reducing wear and tear on it.
By installing this two-lane practice net, we will be able to provide a better quality of coaching for our junior sides by creating a space for more focused small group coaching focusing on technical aspects of the game in a dedicated practice environment.
Sport England will contribute £13,000 if we raise the same amount through Crowdfunding
How we’ll spend the money raised
The artificial nets will be in constant use throughout the summer providing our flourishing junior section with opportunities to practice properly and regularly. We will have over a hundred juniors involved this summer. The artificial nets will also be used by our ladies softball and mixed-sex senior sides to encourage skills development across the club. This project will allow more young people to have more opportunities to be active.
Community impact
It is written into the clubs constitution that the club is inclusive and open to anyone who wishes to join. All of our junior and senior sides are mixed-sex, and we established our ladies softball side in 2022 to expand our offer to as many sections of the community as possible.
We have established relationships with our two local primary schools to encourage as many young people as possible to take up a fun and healthy sporting activity. The club has played a big role in keeping young people active and engaged since COVID.
As part of our Clubmark accreditation with the England and Wales Cricket board we survey our junior parents and senior members at the end of every season to measure satisfaction. The feedback from the 2024 season saw the parents of our junior members give an average score of 9.8/10 for how much their child enjoyed the season.
“(He) has really enjoyed all aspects of cricket this season especially the excellent coaching.”
“He loves the game, great atmosphere and team spirit, and fantastic coaches”
“Excellent season due to the dedication, commitment and care shown by the coaches. Thank you. If you could just arrange less rain next season.”
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!
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