[Announcement 4th July 2024 - Great news, Chiddingfold Parish Council has agreed to fund £30,000 of the planning costs, which means our target has dropped to £28,110]
Welcome to Chiddingfold Cricket Club, founded in 1804 and with its best years still ahead of it.
The Club's mission is to provide enjoyable, high-quality cricket for amateur cricketers of all standards. With over 400 members across juniors, women's, and men’s teams, it is a vibrant cricket hub at the heart of its community.
The Club's Junior section started only a decade or so ago, is now over 300 members strong, and is one of the local area's largest junior cricket providers. Boys and girls from U7 to U17 receive high-level coaching from volunteer ECB-trained coaches in a fun and inclusive environment.
The Women's squad is one of the largest in Surrey, playing both softball festivals and matches county-wide. The increase in participation by women and girls in cricket around the country has been one of the success stories of recent years. Chiddingfold CC is proud to play its part at the grassroots of this quiet revolution.
The Club's Woodside Road postage stamp of a ground is a gem, enhanced in recent years with a refurbished pavilion, double-lane practice net, new equipment, and improved drainage. It is a joy to play at, however, it is just too small to accommodate the existing membership numbers, and it is bursting at the seams. The Club relies on the generosity of local schools, clubs and private grounds to run practice sessions and to fulfil its extensive list of Women and Junior fixtures.
On top of over-stretched capacity from existing demand, the local neighbourhood plans and new garden village at Dunsfold Park commit local councils in the Club's catchment area to significant housing growth over the next decade. The demand for the Club's facilities is estimated to increase by 68% over the medium term. There is simply not the capacity to fulfil this anticipated growth in demand. The club would have no option but to limit membership, meaning potentially hundreds of mostly young cricketers would not be able to play cricket.
New Academy Ground
To lock in all the gains made, and to ensure the Club can cater for the demands of an exciting future the Committee has earmarked a site to the south of Chiddingfold to build a second state-of-the-art double cricket ground for its Women and Junior teams. The Club will retain its Woodside Road ground, which will continue at full use.
The four-hectare site is adjacent to the golf course and was previously used as a driving range. It is owned by Chiddingfold Parish Council, which wholeheartedly supports the project.
Accessible from the A283, the facilities will include two cricket grounds with non-turf pitches, a modern pavilion, practice nets and parking.
The position of the ground, with views onto the Surrey Hills and the North-West positioned pavilion, is ideal for cricket.
A four-bay modern practice net will provide extensive training capacity for its growing juniors and women teams.
Ample parking will allow the Club to host tournaments and run smoothly on busy match days.
Recontouring of the site is required, however, this is possible without material being moved on or off-site. The cricket grounds and sustainable facilities will sit within a stunning natural environment.
The pavilion will include a large clubroom area, suitable for other community groups to use in addition to the cricket club.
Why are we crowdfunding?
With the help of the Parish Council, in early 2024 the Club completed a feasibility study of the project and received a positive pre-application planning response from Waverley.
The Club is therefore seeking to raise £58,110 to prepare and submit a full planning application. Chiddingfold Parish Council has agreed to support the project further and is providing £30,000 towards these costs, so the target is £28,110.
The estimated build cost is £2.5m to deliver the project. This level of funding can only be raised from a limited number of grant providers. The objective is to have a shovel-ready, community-led project with planning permission granted ready to take out to the large grant providers. The Club is in early discussions with these bodies and considers it will be significantly more likely to obtain capital funding in this state.
Stages of delivery
How we’ll spend the money raised
Your donation will go directly to CCC and attract GiftAid if applicable. It will be used to fund the consultant reports work on the planning stage, including:
- Transport advice and assessment
- Ecological surveys
- Arboricultural assessments
- Drainage strategy
- Renewable energy plans
- Planning application preparation and submission
- Planning application fee
- Tax and lease advice
Community impact
The cricket club has played an important role in the local community for 220 years. It has broadened its benefits to women, girls and boys in recent decades. To anyone involved with the club, or simply walking by on a Friday evening when a junior practice session is taking place the community impact is obvious. The objective of the new facility is the extend these for at least another 100 years, for future generations.
Beyond the immediate benefit to the cricket club, the modern, accessible pavilion and its large clubroom space will be opened up and made available to community groups.
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!
The risks
While the club has sought to reduce the risks where possible, such as using experts to develop the feasibility plan and obtaining a positive pre-application response from Waverley, you must be aware that this by no means guarantees the project will happen. The material risks include but are not limited to planning permission not being granted and the funding not being secured. What the club can guarantee is it will spend your donation diligently in line with the plans outlined above, use experts and professionally approach the project.
Further information
The feasibility study, plans and additional information can be accessed here: