Always on
This project successfully funded on 14th October 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Help Chard CC build safer, smarter nets for all!
Chard, Somerset, United Kingdom
Aim
Improve crucial resources at Chard Cricket Club by upgrading broken, tired nets to power the next generation of youth and adult cricketers.
Who are we?
Chard Cricket Club is more than just a cricket club — we’re a thriving community hub in the heart of Somerset. We proudly run:
- 7 Youth Teams
- 3 Girls Teams (U10, U12, U14)
- 2 Ladies Teams (Softball & Hardball)
- A Disability Cricket Team
- 3 Saturday Teams & 1 Sunday Team
- Dynamo & All Stars Programs with 125+ Children
- School Outreach for 500+ Local Pupils
We’re passionate about making cricket accessible, inclusive, and fun for everyone — regardless of age, gender, or ability.
We are competitive, provide valuable social opportunities and help so many to form strong local connections. We have so much ambition for our club and our community. But...we can't do it all alone!
Why are we crowdfunding?
Our training nets are over 20 years old — worn, unsafe, and no longer fit for purpose. They’re holding us back from delivering the high-quality coaching, safety, and experience our players deserve. With over 165 fixtures in a year, and hundreds of members and visitors, it is essential we can prepare well, train and learn with quality equipment to do our best.
We’re raising £28,000 to completely refurbish the nets, including:
- Removing old netting
- Installing new matting with consistent bounce
- Adding safe, non-slip bowlers’ run-ups
- Creating a secure, weather-resistant training space
These nets are vital for year-round training, reducing wear on our pitch, and ensuring safe, inclusive access for all our teams and visiting schools.
The Club is motivated to promote and provide cricket in a deprived area of somerset whilst giving all the opportunity to have a great experience.
Why it matters to us:
- Girls & Ladies Cricket is booming at Chard CC — but uneven run-ups and poor matting limit their training and safety.
- Disability Cricket thrives here, with 12–15 regular players — but they need safe, accessible facilities.
- Local Schools bring over 500 children to our ground — and we want to give them the best possible introduction to cricket.
- Community Impact: Chard is a deprived area. We keep membership fees low (£40 youth / £70 adult) to stay inclusive — but that limits our ability to fund major upgrades.
- Pathways for progression- we have significant links to the wider cricket community, and support our strong youth section to develop skills that take them into Somerset Pathways and county level opportunities. We have an ambition for everyone that wants it to build foundations for a lifetime of cricket that includes everything from social Sunday cricket through to professional careers.
Without these nets, we risk restricting opportunities for everyone — from grassroots players to county-level talent.
In addition to our Cricketing objectives, we also want to maintain a strong reputation for being professional and well equipped so that we can continue to attract high profile visitors to our club. Somerset over 50s and Girls County sides use our facilities, and not only are the nets an eyesore and unsafe, but the current state of them limits the opportunities we can offer these external groups to make the most of our resources. This is turn limits our own opportunities to raise our own profile which we need to create vital revenue.
Finally- Safety for all; The nets are external and currently available for all to use. With such a successful Dynamo and All Star section, we can have in the region of 125 children openly accessing them during social times which is high risk in terms of keeping everyone safe. in addition they cannot be monitored all the time, which is a cause for concern and the time it is taking to ensure they are managed and maintained as best as possible to reduce risk is a huge burden financially on the club. We want to re- invest in development not waste precious resource to stand still.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The aim is to replace the full net arrangement, which will include the bowlers run up, new astroturf, nets and safety separation net.
Quotes as of January 2025 for this work were C.£28k. This project will be delivered by an external contractor, and would be completed ready to kick start next season with real drive.
Community impact
Chard CC provides a place of sporting opportunities, activity, friendship, ambition, and social connections for everyone in Chard and many beyond. we have lifetime members, volunteers, and paid working opportunities. All are welcome from old to young.
Our variety of cricket teams from young to old, are testament to our position as a fantastic cricket club, as is our very busy events calendar which includes a wide variety of activities for the community to take part in, from painting cows (!) to attending music nights, spoofing championships and bingo, race nights and family days.
But to be here for our community we need to build upon our strengths as a cricket club in order to be successful and thrive for all to benefit from. The new nets will enable us to champion cricket as a vehicle to supporting talent, teamwork and so much more.
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!
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made