We're still collecting donations
On the 25th May 2022 we'd raised £10,669 with 80 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
+ est. £1031.00
Our practise facilities were installed by the club over 15 years ago and due and they have now become unsafe and dangerous to use.
by Steve Randle in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
On the 25th May 2022 we'd raised £10,669 with 80 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
We have just taken on responsibility for another club in a local village and additional funds would be used to improve facilities there for the local residents.
(one of the clubs adult teams)
Ambleside Cricket Club was formed in 1985 and is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. 5 years ago we were struggling for membership and considered reducing our team numbers. However, after a period of massive growth, we now have 4 adult Saturday teams playing in the Warwickshire League (Divisions 5, 8 North & east and 9 North & East) with our first team achieving 2 promotions in recent years, and 2 Thursday league teams playing in the Nuneaton Thursday League.
Over the Winter we have worked with a local village cricket club and merged them into our club meaning we now how more players and an additional ground to maintain. As a result, we now need better and more facilities to accommodate our members needs.
Through the growth of the club our practise facilities have become tired and a health and safety issue which means we can no longer use them. This provides the club with a number of critical issues:
As you can see above, our members have already started working to clear the old area ready to install the improved facility. We are doing as much of the work ourselves to reduce the cost of the overall project.
We have worked tirelessly to raise funds to be able to update our nets but just as we seem to get close to our goal, uncontrollable issues present themselves which we have had to work through including the pandemic and withdrawn funding.
We have raised around 50% of the funds that we need to complete our renovation project and now reaching out for support to achieve our project.
Part of the reason behind the clubs dwindling numbers was the lack of a Junior section, developing the cricketers of the future. In the past 10 years, we have created a thriving junior section with over 100 children playing competitive cricket in the Warwickshire Youth Leagues. We created an inclusive club for all abilities, boys and girls, to have a go at playing cricket.
We are now reaping the rewards of this plan as last season 19 juniors played within our adult teams. Not only did they make up the majority of our newly formed 4th team but we also had a couple make their 1st team debut!
The junior story opened another chapter with the birth of All Stars Cricket and Ambleside was one of the founding clubs to sign up to become an All Stars Cricket Venue. Numbers increased gradually and in our 3rd season of All Stars we have 54 boys and girls sign up to the programme. There was a huge effort from the club to support the successful delivery of All Stars and we were rewarded by being rated 5 stars by the parents, one of only 3 clubs in Warwickshire to achieve this rating.
Last year after a couple setbacks due to the pandemic, we launched our new girls section. After the success of All Stars, we wanted to evolve the journey for the girls that had enjoyed their first experiences of cricket.
We had 13 girls regularly attend the training sessions which continued long into the Autumn due to the enjoyment they had.
This year we want to grow our girls section and what a better time than when women's cricket will be part of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. We will be United by Birmingham 2022 to inspire young girls to have a go at playing cricket.
We will "bring people together" by offering opportunities to all abilities across a range of age groups and by involving the parents within our club.
Through expanding our girls section we will "improve the health and wellbeing" of all those that engage by providing weeks of training and games, providing a mix of knowledge, skill and physical activity.
We will "help the region to grow and succeed" by providing volunteering opportunities to get involved with the coaching and organising of the girls section. We will be offering local businesses opportunities to promote themselves through sponsorship and as a club we will share their trades across our membership. Local groups supporting local businesses.
We will "be a catalyst for change" be providing opportunities for girls to be involved in a sport that they haven't experienced before, opening up another potential interest for them and developing skills that they will be able to utilise in other areas of their lives.
All this will hopefully provide them with an unforgettable experience which means they will want to continue with their cricketing journey and we will create a legacy for girls cricket together.
Through working with the Warwickshire Cricket Board, we provide the local primary schools with the venue to hold their Chance to Shine Festivals. This is also a great advert for our club and through our close relationship with the Board, we invite the children to come back and try out club cricket.
We have a strong relationship with our local secondary school where we provide them with access to our training facilities and provide quality wickets for their fixtures.
We are also local to Bramcote Barracks where the Gurkha Regiment is stationed and we provide wickets for them to play a number of their fixtures each year.
As mentioned previously we have worked tirelessly over the winter to ensure a local village cricket club can continue by bringing them into the Ambleside family. It's their 50th anniversary this year and we are so pleased to have played a part in ensuring they can celebrate it and look forward to joining in with them.
This project offered rewards