New women's changing facilities and toilets

Our cricket club was founded in 1874 and is a much loved volunteer run charity cricket club. Unfortunately we have seriously outgrown our facilities which were built in the 1970’s. 

Over the last few years we have had big plans for a new clubhouse but due to Covid and a few other issues our club lost its funding so we have had to pair back our grand designs and start with the things that we are desperate for, so that means a ladies changing room with toilets.

Our good bits...

We are an ECB club mark accredited club and run ECB All Stars and Dynamos Cricket for all ages as well as a full range of junior teams from under 9’s to 17’s. There are two Saturday adult teams playing our first season in the Yorkshire PSL, a Sunday team and midweek team. 

Our Fabulous bits...

Over the last 5 years we have been developing our ladies and girls team in both softball and now hard ball. Players range in age and we are currently competing in Division 1 of the South Yorkshire Women's Softball League and are in the final of the harddball tournament. We have Level 1 & 2 ECB coaches and fantastic support/coaching from the experienced players in our mens team and juniors alike, its a real team effort (not to mention all our supporters!). But with all the support from our club and community we are still lacking a space to call our own. We have to get changed in the one ladies toilet, that is provided for both players and supporters and that’s not ideal to say the least.

Friday nights we have our junior training session bringing 100+ people to the ground each week and as you can imagine, they come with parents, grandparent, siblings and this is before we add our ladies squad of 20+ (which we have had to move to a different night due to not having the facilities to support us.) As a club we aim to push our ladies team in the league so that as our juniors who come up through All Stars and then U9’s-17’s have a future at the club and a competitive team to join, however at the moment we can not support this vision with the current facilities. Women’s cricket has developed professionally over recent years and is now a major TV attraction with the creation of The Hundred and competing in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This has all helped expose cricket to the kids and has resulted in more women’s and kids becoming involved in our club. Lets get them inspired in sport and help them get on their sporting path. 

Our vision is to provide high quality opportunities, for all, to enjoy the game of cricket. Our club charter sets out our commitments towards this aim:

• Inspiring and supporting individuals to achieve their full potential whilst playing at the highest standard.
• Developing Club and team identities through effective communication, leadership, and role models.
• Developing skills and attributes through coaching, support, and encouragement.
• Energising a strong sense of Club community characterised by the positive contribution made by its members.
• Promoting the sport of amateur cricket at all levels within the local community.

We will deliver this vision through the tireless work of our volunteers, the fantastic contribution of our members and the generous support of the wider community.

Community impact

We have the support of local visitors, visiting teams and parents that attend our weekly matches. As a club we are doing our best,  maintaining and keeping our current facilities clean and safe. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

We no longer have funding from sport England in the form of a grant, and have to Crowd Fund so that we can provide the needed facilities for our ladies and girls team. If we can get enough community support in the way of donations we could receive extra funding. We have so many things that need doing to the club house that I don’t think we could realistically list them all, so lets just start a brick at a time.

Currently we have had a sponsored walk, and village litter picking, we host an annual rounders tournament that brings in people from not only our village but surrounding villages (this alone can have 300+ people at the ground (as you can image the queue for the ladies toilet is legendary) We also host pub knockout days that bring in teams from local pubs but again this come with it issues again.  We also host summer camps in the Easter/Summer holidays offering children access to sports during the holidays. We have excelled in raising funds but the annual cost of running the club chips away at any funds we raise because we aim to keep our player fees low making cricket accessible to all children..

How we’ll spend the money raised

We plan to upgrade the women’s toilet block from 1 toilet to a unit with 3 toilets and a changing room plus a shower room for the ladies that are playing in the mixed game. 

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target and make this project a reality.

• Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
• 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.
• Our 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! The more you pledge the more you get, £300 + we will have a banner made that will be displayed around the ground
• Create a fund-raiser of your own. Use the button on our page to get started. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!