Morley Cricket Club - Facilities Upgrade

Aim

Work with us this Spring to help us upgrade our facilities, encourage increased participation and enhance your Morley Cricket experience

Who we are

We are a Clubmark accredited club with 3 senior cricket teams and junior teams from All Stars u7s through to u18s.     The club encourages participation in cricket, other sports and community groups while engaging with the Morley public to promote the club facilities and build a sustainable future as a sporting hub in the town.

The club is a volunteer organisation led  by a small army of committee members and other volunteers who all give their time freely to push the club forward and we are very pleased with our achievements.

As a community club we are proud to have built relationships in the last 5 years with junior rugby (Morley Knights) and football clubs (LS27 FC) and senior football club (Morley Town AFC), Morley Mavericks ladies rounders team and Morley Running Club who now call Morley Cricket and Sports Club their base. We also have a long standing relationship with the local amateur operatic society who are based at our premises.

The Why

We have a track record of developing our facilities, after refurbishing the club over the last 2 years, raising money for 4 new sightscreens last year through Crowdfunder, installing new security fencing this winter and now we are reaching out to members, players, sponsors, local businesses and friends of the club to help support us with our next project.

We have seen a significant impact on income resulting from the continuing COVID-19 problems, but bolstered by the success of The Hundred, we have seen a sharp rise in the number of children of all ages (both boys and girls) from across the local community wanting to learn to play cricket with us here at Morley.  

What we Bought

2020 saw all of our income streams stopped because of Covid.  You may be aware that we ran a Crowdfunder appeal to replace our dated and dilapidated sightscreens that had literally been falling apart. It was a very successful campaign and by smashing our targets we managed to achieve a fantastic outcome with the support of Crowdfunder and Sport England Active Together.  

Thanks to an agreement with a local supplier we managed to not only  purchase 2 new sightscreens but 4 screens, purpose built to with stand the infamous Morley wind. It was great to see them in action throughout the 2021 season.

The new project

To continue the momentum that we have built up, further the engagement with the local community, increase the quality and frequency of playing opportunities and to cater for the increased demand, we would like to invest in upgrading our facilities across a number of areas.

This includes replacing our dated and dilapidated scorebox with a fabulous new electronic scoreboard and fascia fitting for a 21st century community club. The new scoreboard will also link to modern tablet / laptop / mobile scoring devices to transform the match day experience for all, whether that be junior or senior teams. Our juniors are the future, so let's give them a modern, exciting environment and promote their engagement.

(See below for the planned layout).

We also want to enhance our outdoor areas with improved seating, shelter and lighting for our members and visitors as reach continue to develop our offering in the local community. Anybody who has experienced a mid-Summer evening at Morley C&SC will know the importance of heating and shelter!

We also desperately need to redevelop our outdoor training areas to maximise capacity for junior and senior cricket activity and provide a welcoming and safe environment. This includes our existing artificial training area but also new grass training wickets on the outfield and funding to support the exciting push to develop a women and girls cricket section at the club.

With your help we can push towards our stretch target and make all this reality.

On the Field

.....we have seen increasing participation numbers in our junior section supported by our Summer School during the holidays to reach out to the local community and encourage their children to take up new sporting activities and encourage their physical well being. 

We pride ourselves on being a diverse and inclusive cricket club and an active part of the local community. Numbers have increased by almost 40% in the last 2 years in our junior section and we pull players together from a wide variety of backgrounds with a hugely encouraging three fold increase in juniors from the BAME community over the last 3 years.

In what is going to be a huge year for women’s cricket, which will include the ICC Women’s World Cup, the Women’s Ashes, the Commonwealth Games and The Hundred, we will also be launching a women and girl’s cricket section at Morley that will include opportunities for training, playing, fitness and socialising. We will start things off with all-female 'taster sessions' in the spring that we hope will lead to the formation of girls and/or women's teams, and the start of a sustainable ladies section.  

Our club is open to all, regardless of background and talent, and we are very proud of our development of juniors. We may not always win league titles but we do provide a safe, fun and inclusive environment for our children. We recognise they are our future. 

Our role in the community

We rely heavily on our annual fundraisers to help the club survive. These include organising and running the town's annual bonfire in partnership with Morley Rugby club, playing host to the town’s annual St Georges Festival, Wicketfest live music event and the hugely popular Morley Beer Festival every Easter. These events have become firm fixtures in the local community diary and regularly attract 1500-3000 people and have been a huge help in creating a sustainable future for the club. Events organised by our fabulous bunch of volunteers. 

How you can help

To help us continue to improve our facilities please donate however much you feel comfortable with. We are aware that individuals and businesses have also been hit hard financially with the impact of COVID-19 so any donation, large or small, is greatly appreciated as we start to look forward to 2022.

Thank you from all at Morley CC

This project successfully funded on 30th March 2022