Shadwell CC Permanent Practice Nets

- Who are Shadwell CC? -

Known as the "Rams" we are a local cricket club, proud of our community connections with our village organisations (The local pub, Village Fish Shop, Post Office, Parish Council and Primary School).

Established in 1895 we have played on various grounds, the most recent (since 2010) being the purpose-built Brandon Oval, a converted farmers field - in one of the more beautiful rural parts of Leeds 17 in West Yorkshire.

- Is it just about cricket then? -

The Clubs aim is to provide junior and senior cricket in the local community. This includes training and coaching as well as League cricket, currently this is in the Airedale & Wharfedale Senior and Junior Cricket Leagues. SCC is run by volunteers and managed by a committee of annually elected officials.

Another equally important role of the Club is to provide social activity for it's members and wherever possible the community - this is mainly in the form of specific social events like the annual village firework display which the Club has helped run successfully for many years with the Shadwell based Savage family and  Shadwell Primary School, jointly raising money for the PTA.

Our ground, pavilion (and hopefully in future the new nets) can all be by hired by  mutual agreement with the committee for events, parties and social matches etc.

- So what is our 'net project'? -

We're currently fundraising to build a desperately needed all-weather practice facility to benefit the future of junior / senior cricket at SCC and at the same time, keep our facilities amongst the best in the area. The Club has provided sport and recreation for Shadwell (and beyond!) for more than 125 years.

The new nets will allow the Club to progress, extend available practice time, give us more & better areas to train on and hopefully continue to help our youngsters develop a life long love of cricket.

We have three main elements to fund:

• Construction of a non turf practice area for the current generation of players and those to come (£32K)
• Improving outfield drainage in areas where it can become easily waterlogged - including our grass nets (£7K)
• Replacing rotting wooden fencing and planting new bushes and new trees around the non turf area (£6K)

After several difficult years and with much less cricket played plus practically no real fundraiser events we are looking to kick start the Club financially with a Crowdfunding campaign and officially begin our ....

- Our members and our players -

The Club has an open membership policy in line with all ECB requirements. Our current demographic includes male and female aged from 7 to 70+ !

We have 6 junior teams U9 to U18 and 4 senior sides - 2 playing Saturdays, a Sunday junior development and a midweek T20 team.

- Securing a successful future -

It's becoming apparent that as we (hopefully) leave the major Covid restrictions behind there's an increased appetite for all ages and abilities wanting to play cricket at SCC. In order to meet the demands of new (and old) members we need to deliver our project and continue the Clubs recovery, making our playing and financial positions as strong and stable as we can going forward.

After a really difficult period (and when it's safe to do so of course) we want to get as many people as we can to Brandon Crescent enjoying recreational cricket - spectating, socialising and 'sampling' our award winning teas - but most importantly enjoying themselves.