Who are we?
Long Sutton Cricket Club was formed in 1972 and so celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2022. We are a friendly local club offering excellent cricketing opportunities to all regardless of age, gender, or ability.
The Club fields two senior teams in the Somerset County Cricket League on a Saturday during the summer together with a Sunday T20 XI. The Club boasts a vibrant youth section with over 100 junior members from ages 5 - 16 and teams represented from Under 10 age group upwards.
Latterly, the Club has invested in encouraging more women to join the Club, which has culminated in both a Women's soft ball Cricket Team and newly formed hard ball team. In the 2023 season, we welcomed a disability group to the Club supported by 2 of our coaches.
Why are we crowdfunding?
To accommodate this expansion in our teams, we require a complete overhaul of our facilities, namely our pavilion having recently updated our netting facilities. Our current pavilion is tired and in need of renovations to provide a more inclusive space for the groups we intend to host as we move into the next 50 years of our cricket club. This project also aligns with the local Parish’s vision to create a sports & recreation hub with the upgraded Pavilion as a central facility for multiple sports and their associated social events: cricket, football, rugby, tennis, skateboarding, table tennis and pétanque that will appeal to all ages and genders to create a truly inclusive community facility.
We will be using funding from this Crowdfunder as well as a host of other grants and fundraising projects to generate the full amount for the work needed for our pavilion and we would be extremely grateful for any donations towards our project to create a safe and inclusive community space for all.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The Sports Pavilion Upgrade Project seeks to resolve the issues with the existing pavilion through the construction of a single storey lean-to extension, window replacement, internal reconfiguration, and general refurbishment to enable the provision of home and away team and officials changing rooms, showers, storage space, kitchen/bar, large community room and separate meeting room.
The internal layout has been carefully designed to accord with space standards set by the English Cricket Board (ECB), Football Association (FA) and Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and is intended to provide highly flexible, inclusive facilities for teams, club members and spectators.
Accessibility provision is a key element of the design with accessible showers in each changing rooms, and accessible toilets in each changing room and another accessible via the social area.
Community impact
The current sports pavilion is used for fundraising and social events throughout the year which are attended by a mix of various club members, family and friends, as well as many members of the community from Long Sutton and surrounding villages.
An upgraded Pavilion will be used more widely especially by younger children for parties as the adjacent play area is also being upgraded in the next year. Social/fundraising events in the future might feature Christmas bingo, quiz nights, annual awards evenings and regular Friday evening BBQs.
The current strong link with the Village Primary school, adjacent to the site, will be enhanced further by their use of the facilities. The school also provides a swimming pool for community use during school holidays adding to the facilities that are co-located.
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!