Help Chaddesley Corbett CC Hit COVID for SIX!

Aim

Please help our club return from COVID 19 and secure its future. Help raise funds to improve facilities for our existing and future members.

172 Not Out...

Established in 1862 Chaddesley Corbett Cricket Club boasts a deep and rich history in the local area. 

The Club is open to all and is run by volunteers.

The club competes in the first division of the Worcestershire County League, a feeder league to the Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League in the ECB pyramid structure. We run 3 teams competing on a Saturday, 1 team on a Sunday and midweek, as well as running a Youth Section.

We pride ourselves on being a vibrant, friendly and competitive club that provides a warm welcome to past, present and future members and spectators alike.

The Club has achieved Clubmark Accreditation by demonstrating the best practices are in place to develop and deliver high quality community cricket in a safe, effective and child-friendly way.

As part of our commitment, we try and minimise the financial barriers to participation so we can attract people from a broad spectrum of society, particularly younger players starting out on their cricketing journey.  

We are also proud to say that thanks to the excellent support from a large number of people the club was able to run nets and some matches last summer, helping the mental well-being of lots of players during this particularly difficult period.  We want to be able to do the same and more next season.

Function of the club

• The biggest part of the function of the club is to act as a community base for a number of sports including football and rugby as well as cricket.
• The club house and outdoor bar serve as a meeting area for local people.
• The grounds encourage walking and outdoor activities to the local community. The ground is a great open space for all local residents to enjoy. 
• We hold BBQ’s and social events to engage the local population
• The community together, helping and supporting each other in fund raising activities to help the club continue to offer support to local people
• Sports are provided to encourage team activities as well as physical, social and mental well-being.
• Encourage participation in sport to younger people

How COVID 19 has impacted us

2020 COVID year was a challenging for many people in many ways. We know that we are not the only organisation or group who have experienced the implications of losing essential revenue to fund our work. 

The 2020 season was severely impacted by COVID-19 with all players missing out on the fun and enjoyment that playing sport brings. From a financial point of view the Club suffered heavily with a reduction in fixtures and match fees, reduced income from sponsorship and reduced playing subscriptions.

As a small village club, this has put real pressure on our income, however, costs remain the same and facilities continue to require maintenance. The club has suffered and we are doing are very best to ensure that we remain a viable club for future generations.

COVID provided opportunities too!

We have learnt a lot about our club and community over the pandemic period. We have learnt what a resilient, resourceful and fabulous bunch of people we have in our membership! 

We used the first lockdown period to re-group and strategise about the future of the club. We were able to make plans for regeneration, and during the downtime we spent considerable time carrying out jobs on our clubhouse and ground. This was all done with volunteer work from members and members of the community that we serve. 

We need your help

Your village cricket club desperately needs assistance to maintain and develop its facilities at this difficult time particularly as the Social club income is limited.

We pride ourselves on being financially self-sufficient, but the ongoing COVID-19 situation has had a huge impact upon us.  Almost all our our income from match fees, membership, bar takings and social fund-raising events, quiz nights, and end of season awards nights. 

2020 saw a huge volunteer effort to ensure the club remained viable and functional. However, many of the remaining refurbishment projects cannot be done by volunteers. We now need specialist trades and/or replacement equipment. Running a cricket club is a costly business - made worse when there is no income. To give you an idea of costs, it costs upwards of £1000 just to fund a season’s worth of cricket balls.

We are fundraising to raise £20,000 to compensate for two seasons' disruption so we can carry out important and essential maintenance around the club. This will help us to prepare our pitches, to repair and improve our training facilities to a better standard. We want to be able to continue to move the club forward!

How can you help?

As a volunteer run organisation, we are relying on donations from wherever possible to cover the income shortfall arising as a result of the pandemic. 

Help us to overcome the effects of COVID-19

We are looking for contributions from life members, playing members, social members, friends of the Club or the wider community.  

Feel free to donate however much you feel comfortable with; we are well aware that everyone has been hit hard financially by the impact of COVID19.  However, we would really welcome any and all support, big or small, and encourage people to consider donating. We would also welcome support from any families or businesses in the community who value what we do.  

We have been generously gifted rewards from local community businesses which we are able to raise funds from by selling on.

Rewards

We have been able to gather together a hug variety of rewards from the local community and local businesses. The rewards are very varied - our legendary groundsman has donated his cricket bat (only used for 20 minutes), or if you prefer, our chairman can bake you a cake! 

The image below is from 1988, and is proof that Pez has been out to bat!!!

Local businesses have been amazing and offered items such as discounts on mobile phone repairs, maths tutoring, car body shop repairs, even teeth whitening from a local dentist. For those of you that like to kick back and relax in the summer, why not purchase a personalised gin glass supplied by Love 2 Label.

One of the highlights is a custom built wooden coffee table as seen in the example below.

A local firm has also provided a discount voucher for cricket bat refurbishment. Now there is no excuse for  those of you that have been out of the game for some time to dust off those whites and start playing again!

Please take a look at the rewards section and see if there is anything that takes your fancy...

Thank you to all the people that have donated rewards

How will your donation through a reward purchase help?

Our vision is to increase the off field coaching and practice facilities - to deliver safer,  better and more diverse services to young people, schools and club members and their families, thus furthering  their development in cricket and offering all that membership of a thriving local Cricket Club includes. 

The funding is needed to ensure we are ready to return to cricket ahead of the 2021 season.

Sport England

• We are very much looking forward to working alongside Sport England in promoting the sport of cricket at our club, and improving its accessibility to all.
• Sport England have provided 40% matched funding. This means, if (and only if) we raise £12,000, they will provide £8,000 to enable us to reach our goal of £20,000. .

We want to continue to develop our relationships with ECB and WCL over the coming season, and for years to come. Helping our cub bounce back will enable us to invest now in our younger players, which will pay off in the future. 

Aims

The Club has adopted broad aims to pursue in future development.

• Continue the tradition of cricket played in Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire
• Remain inclusive of all age ranges, religions and encouraging the girls and ladies teams through the league.
• Offer coaching to up and coming cricket players of the future. Promote player performance and opportunities for all players within the club to improve their skills.
• Improve the quality of all playing and non-playing facilities.
• Improve the quality and standard of all existing and future playing and practice facilities and other surrounding areas around the ground.
• Invest in our clubhouse and our grounds so families can utilise our facilities and maximise time spent playing the sport
• Retain existing players, attract new ones and extend the range of teams.
• Ensure that all activities of the Club are carried out with a view to accepted Equity and Equality policies.
• Enhance and further develop links with Schools and School Sport Initiatives.
• Improve the Club’s off-field administrative procedures and ensure effective promotion of the Club within the local community.
• Develop a full programme of social activities that promotes the club in the community, enhances its appeal to players, parents and others and that also supports the club’s financial stability.

The one aim that will take more time, energy and finances than all the others is for the Club to improve the quality of all playing and non-playing facilities. 

Who will benefit?

Junior Cricket Teams

Of primary importance is to introduce younger people to the sport of cricket. We have in the past successfully run youth cricket teams, but over the past year this has become harder to arrange. Our intention is to run an all-stars cricket programme and additional youth teams in 2022. We will use the 2021 season to ready ourselves and ensure the relevant coaching team are in place.

Cricket for females

One of our priorities is to facilitate an environment where women and girls can play cricket and love the game regardless of ability and hopefully in time build the game for future generations to come. 

Senior Cricket Teams

Whether playing competitive league cricket, or social cricket our adult cricket teams are the mainstay of the club. Improved facilities will attract more members and allow the club to grow.

Community benefit

Chaddesley Corbett CC is a  community hub throughout the summer and provides a great place for families to watch and play sport.

Achieving our target will allow us to continue providing great and safe sporting facilities for the local area.

The club as a whole will continue to be an active part of our community and host outdoor events.

Reasons to support:

• You will save money with the great rewards on offer!
• You will be supporting your local club!
• You will support local businesses in the process! 
• You will be supporting equal opportunities in the sport with the introduction of women and girls cricket at Chaddesley Corbett. 
• Improved coaching for all players
• You will be securing the future of your local community cricket club.
• Improved refurbished training facilities will prevent dangerous accidents occur from using hazardous surfaces.

The money raised will be used on a number of key areas;

Replenish club funds following COVID-19

As a club we have made a number of adjustments to the ground to ensure the safe delivery of cricket. This increased investment, plus the reduced number of matches, and lost revenue have severely affected our club and its ability to gow. We are asking you to help us  to replenish depleted funds and help us bounce back from the damage done by the pandemic.

Fixed and Mobile Training Nets

Of primary importance is the replacement of our broken mobile training nets and also refurbishment of our ageing fixed training nets. 

The fixed  nets facility is now 15 years old and has been seriously affected by weed damage, the impact of heavy usage, as well as the layout not fitting with changes to pitch lengths for junior players. The mobile net is heavily damaged and dangerous to use.

Updating these essential training tools  will provide valuable training facilities to players of all ages and abilities.

Boundary Rope and Winder

We are also looking to purchase a boundary rope and a rope winder to help our fabulous groundsman, David Perry. Our previous rope and rope winder was unfortunately stolen.

New Pitch Roller

Another item for our ever suffering groundsman. His beloved roller has finally decided to retire. We are looking to acquire a new roller for him to use so he can maintain the pitch as well as he has done for many previous years.

Repair the damaged mowers

Some of our cricket square mowers are in need of repair and maintenance 

New sight screens

Our 2nd ground sight screens were beyond repair. We have had to purchase new ones as the old ones were dangerous. Replenishment of these club funds is important.

Gazebo / Outdoor Shelters purchase

In the interests of safety, social distancing measures are in place. Changing rooms are out of use. We require funding to help purchase outdoor sheltered areas to enable us to unsure strict social distancing measures are carried out.

Changing rooms

New flooring is required in one of the changing rooms along with repair of other flooring in other rooms.

Score box

Also, as you can see, our tired and well used score-box needs a significant upgrade.An electronic scoreboard has been purchased and installed, but we are need of a new remote control to make the scoreboard function.

In addition to any funds raided, we continue to self generate revenue to cover the running costs of the club; ground maintenance, umpires fee's, coaching costs, Covid PPE equipment etc.

Unprecedented times

2019-2021 has been a unique and unprecedented time. By supporting each other we will get through it. Together we are stronger.

We are lucky and proud to be part of the Chaddesley and wider Worcestershire community. We have a great spirit in and around our club, and we are confident that with your help, we can reach our goal. .

We thank you in advance for your support.  If successful, it will really help put some stability back into the Club’s finances so that we can continue the great work that we have been doing.

The response from our local community will support and secure the future of Chaddesley Corbett Cricket Club.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

This project successfully funded on 14th June 2021