Who are we?
Storrington Cricket Club is based in West Sussex within the South Downs. We are a club that is run by the community, for the community.
We have grown fantastically well over the past 7 years, going from a club with only one league XI and two junior sides, to now having cricket across:
- 2 Saturday league XI's
- A Sunday Development XI focused on bring colts through to adult cricket
- a T20 XI
- a women's softball league XI
- 4 mixed junior teams (girls and boys from u9 to u13)
- two junior girls teams (u11 and u13)
- a disability cricket group just starting up
- All Stars cricket aimed at u5-u8 children
We are well connected in our community, working closely with the local primary school, Guides and Brownies as well as Scouts groups. A local Church Group and kids nursery group have also made use of our Clubhouse.
We have formed a great connection to our local community, creating opportunities for individuals and families to play cricket and participate in sport.
Our Women's and Girl's section has grown from 0 to 50 participants over the past 5 years and our u13 team won their respective league last season. We truly believe with improved facilities we can inspire many more to get involved. .
We have also launched disability cricket which we call DIScoverABILITY, which is all about providing an opportunity for everyone to get involved and participate in our beautiful sport.
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are Crowdfunding to raise much needed funds to development our Clubhouse.
With over 40 Women's and Girls members and a new group of DIScoverABILITY members, our current clubhouse doesn’t offer the necessary facilities to adhere to ECB Welfare guidelines as well as the fact we have outgrown a building that was last renovated in the 1970's.
In summary, at the moment:
- There is only one toilet for females
- No toilet facilities for wheelchair users
- No changing room facilities for females, wheelchair users or junior players
- Wheelchair users cannot access the clubhouse due to the entrance having steps
- Males have to access the toilet through changing rooms which is a welfare issue
- Wiring and other aspects not up to current building regulations
We have secured planning permission from Horsham District Council and have support from our local Parish Council. Sussex Cricket and the ECB have been fully supportive of our plans also.
We now need to accelerate our fundraising to ensure the project remains on track to commence in September.
As a club we have been focused on providing opportunities for all parts of our community to get involved and play cricket. In addition to our senior teams we have created teams and groups that have enabled disabled people, parents with young children and girls aged between 5-16 to participate in cricket. To allow our continued growth plans and to provide a facility for our wheelchair players to be able to access and utilise, we absolutely need to improve our building.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The build would provide us with:
- Wheelchair accessibility throughout the whole clubhouse
- 4 changing rooms with showering facilities (2 wheelchair accessible) and two with WC
- 3 mixed WC
- 1 wheelchair accessible WC
- A new equipment store room
Costs are:
- £250,000 for the build project
- we plan to raise £25,000 as a contingency if building supplies increase or there are any unplanned costs to the building project
- we also wish to raise £25,000 to refurbish our kitchen area, update the décor from the existing 1970 style with new furniture and to ultimately create a wonderful facility for our community
Community impact
This project would have a fantastic effect not only for our cricket club but the other users of the Clubhouse, we have Church Groups and Children's nursery groups use the building.
To have a building in which all participants from our community can have equal usage and accessibility, would change the landscape entirely.
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!