Who are we?
Southwell Cricket Club is a club mark accredited cricket club and has been established since 1787 it has been the home of many cricket matches. *The first recorded match here was in 1787 and it first appeared as a cricket ground on an Ordnance Survey map in 1830. In 1846, the Gentlemen of Southwell played England in what has been the grounds only first-class match. Between 1967-1995 six Second XI Championship matches were played here involving the Nottinghamshire Second XI, the last of which was when the Notts. Second XI play the Sussex Second XI. Until 2004 this club played in the Notts. Cricket Board Premier League.
*© David Hallam-Jones :: Geograph Britain and Ireland
Why are we crowdfunding?
Southwell Cricket club need to purchase a new heavy roller to assist with the preparation of Cricket wickets at the Club's ground. The current heavy roller is at least 30 years old and has been patched up repeatedly during it's lifetime. The last few years have seen significant deterioration, with the roller becoming less and less reliable. Unfortunately in the middle of the season the roller has finally given up and we have had to hire one as an emergency measure while we try and secure the funds to get a new second hand one. The old roller is in a state of bad repair and mechanics have recommended that a new roller is now needed after diagnosing several issues many of which have occurred in this season.
A heavy roller is the single most important piece of equipment needed on a Cricket ground in order to prepare the playing wicket and 'square'. Without a reliable motorised heavy roller, it's impossible to prepare a good playing wicket, with a lack of preparation resulting in inconsistent bounce and even a dangerous playing surface. With a poor playing surface, there can be no meaningful Cricket played.
Southwell Cricket Club runs two Senior Saturday Teams playing in the South Nottinghamshire Cricket League and a Sunday Senior Team playing in the Newark Club Cricket Alliance, together with youth teams competing mainly in the Mansfield & District Youth League (U11, U13, U15). The Club also runs 2 Kwik cricket sides and an ECB sponsored All Stars section All of are teams are mixed and we have a thriving junior section which is always well attended on a Friday night. Many of our senior junior players also have the opportunity to play in our senior sides on a regular basis. Everyone of the club's teams use the grass wickets at the ground, so the demands on the ground are very high making the purchase of a new reliable heavy roller essential.
In addition to Southwell Cricket Club matches, the ground is also used by Nottingham Trent University, Notts County Over 50's and is available for our local schools to use if requested.
All of the Club's user groups require a very well prepared playing surface, so a new roller is vital for the 2024 Cricket season as we hope to be able to fund the hire of one for the remainder of this season while we look for a new one. We really hope that you can support our Crowdfunder appeal.
How we’ll spend the money raised
All the money raised will go into the club to fund the purchase of a replacement heavy roller to maintain the ground and wickets used by both adult and junior sides. Any additional money raised if we are that lucky will go into the developing and improving the clubhouse facilities as they are in drastic need of refurbishment
Community impact
We support the community by engaging with the local REACH Flower pod project a scheme for people with learning disabilities, The Cricket Club benefitted as Flower Pod clients planted tubs and hanging baskets to brighten up our pavilion and we were happy to donate and fundraise for them. We run the local All Stars group encouraging young children into cricket at an early age by making it fun and friendly. Many of our All Stars now play in our junior sides. With a strong team of ECB qualified coaches, the Club runs training for all throughout the year, including juniors starting from Year 1 age group. The Club enjoys several social events and welcomes the involvement of non-playing members, family and friends. Our committee is run by volunteers and we have the support of local businesses with sponsorship that helps to run the club day to day. The ground is supportive of the University who we share space with and loans the ground and wickets when required. We also allow the students use of the pavilion changing facilities over winter when they use the ground (not the square) for football matches.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality and every single one of them will help us reach our goal.
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!