KCC ComeBackStronger Project

Aim

Our aim is to off set the economic impact of the pandemic by raising funds and for every pound we raise we hope Sport England will match it!

Where have we come from?

In 2009, Keyworth Cricket Club staged an Extraordinary General Meeting to debate whether to go down from 2 teams to 1 team.

There was nothing or no one in particular to ‘blame’, just like many amateur sports clubs over recent times, competing for people’s leisure time had become a big challenge, and the club was down to under 30 members.

The club committee stood firm but the club undertook to restart a junior cricket programme for the first time in 15 years.

Where are we now?

Since then, the club has never really looked back, and a decade later we had around 23 teams, as we looked to fulfil our commitment to the people of Keyworth and surrounding villages, to “come down to the club and find whatever level of play or involvement that works for you”.

Under 30 members is now more than 430 members, with 4 Saturday league teams, and then women's hardball, women's soft ball, girls, mixed and boys junior teams, girls and mixed kwik cricket teams, an ECB All Stars and ECB Dynamos programme..

KCC is one of the Hub clubs for the Notts Cricket Board and Lord’s Taverners Super 1’s disability cricket programme.

External recognition

The club has been recognised with the Rushcliffe Community Group of the year award in 2018, and the Best Coaching Club 2019 in the Notts Cricket Board awards, and also the Most Inclusive Cricket Offer 2019 award at the same ceremony, where the club made a short list of 3 for the nationwide 'OSCA' at Lord's for the same category.

Participation & Performance: 'Come Along and Find Your Level!'

We keep the cost of cricket affordable for all, and free to those who need it, so there is no financial barrier to being part of the club.  No one is put on a ‘waiting list’, no one is asked to ‘have a trial’. If you want to get involved, you’re in!

No players or volunteers are paid.  We prefer to find more creative ways to inspire our better players through cricketing and cross cultural innovations like the KCC Exchange Programme, and we even had the great ‘Sir Viv’ helping us with that - and here he is at Platt Lane holding a KCC bat…

More than just a Cricket Club...

It’s way more than the numbers of teams and members though – it’s friendships and bonds, its support through good times and bad, its way more than just a cricket club…

And while we are blessed with a wonderful location to play but we have completely outgrown the facilities as they stand.  Prefab facilities put in as a stop gap 40 years ago, are simply not fit for purpose anymore.

So we have developed a plan that over the next 5 years, with our partners at Keyworth United Football Club, we will ‘future proof’ these facilities across the board.  We have been saving up to do this for 6 years, only for the Covid 19 pandemic to strike.  We’ve made the best of this cricket season such as it has been, but our emphasis has been on member retention – observing protocols but getting people out there, getting the community together again.

So we waived member subs to retain as many people interested in playing as possible but with fewer games, bar/food opportunities and sponsorship, our overall income will be down around 60% down this year. While we are managing our costs, we run the risk of being put back 2 years with our plans to revamp our facilities.  So we are trying to raise funds to keep our plan on track!

Our 2020 Covid Crowdfunding Appeal

Any help you can manage is much appreciated, and will enable us to carry on with our plan to give the expanding community of Keyworth sporting facilities they can be proud of and enjoy for the next 25-50 years!

(A deliberately grainy picture - from a safeguarding point of view - showing a 13 year old raising her bat after scoring a maiden half century in a Women's Hardball game this summer).

This project successfully funded on 17th December 2020