Synthetic Practice Area Upgrade

Aim

We are using the Crowdfunding platform to raise money to upgrade our artificial practice area and purchase a new mobile practice cage.

About Bishop Auckland Cricket Club

Since 1853, for 170 years, Bishop Auckland Cricket Club (BACC) has served the town and the local community. The club has been a member of the prestigious North Yorkshire & South Durham Premier League since 1905 winning the league on no fewer than 5 occasions. Along with many local legends over the years. the club has been served by numerous First Class and International cricketers at various times throughout its proud history. 

We're striving to develop our ground playing area and practice facilities, whilst aiming to attract more local community members to our club. At our picturesque Kingsway ground, we have welcomed players, families and visitors to our club and continue to provide cricket for everyone, all ages, men & women, boys & girls..

Senior Cricket in 2023

Competitive cricket is offered to our three senior teams

• First XI (pictured left below)
• Second XI
• Third XI
• Weekly Women & Girls practice sessions (pictured right below)

Junior Cricket in 2023

After much hard work and effort to reestablish our junior section, we are delighted to offer cricket to around 100 junior members in the following age groups

• U18's
• U15's
• U13's
• U11's (players & parents pictured below)
• U9's softball 
• ECB All Stars & Dynamos (5yrs - 11yrs)

BACC has a long and extremely proud history. There is a long line of families who have grown up with the cricket club playing a strong part of their family life. We take great pride in striving to be a family orientated club and there is always a warm and friendly atmosphere awaiting our guests! (recent bad shirt social function pic below) 

The club is essentially run by volunteers, many of whom have been involved with the club for decades. Current Director of Cricket and club Life Member, Paul Furby, boasts nearly 50 years of service at Kingsway. 

Our Club in The Community

As well as providing cricket opportunities to club members across 8 teams, the cricket club is very much at the heart of the town. Our facilities are used for private social functions, weddings, christenings, funerals etc. In the summer months we open our doors to local schools to use our cricket ground to fulfill their respective fixtures and as our relationship with Durham Cricket Board grows, we have confirmed dates at Kingsway to host school festival days during the summer. For many people Bishop Auckland Cricket Club is the backbone of many peoples sporting and social lives. As a club we are striving to attract as many new faces and as many new community groups as possible.

How Covid-19 Affected Us

Covid-19 decimated many businesses and sporting clubs up and down the country. Sadly, we as a local cricket club were badly affected. During those terrible months our junior playing member numbers decreased dramatically. Government regulations hindered playing and coaching opportunities across the summer months and despite our best efforts. we found youngsters in our area lost interest in playing cricket during this time. 

Since those restrictions have thankfully become a thing of the past, we’re delighted to report player numbers are once again increasing. In 2022 BACC had its most successful cricket season for over 20 years as the 1XI gained promotion as champions to the NYSD Premier Division. There was a completed season of second and third team fixtures, whilst much hard winter coaching meant that our junior section began to grow once again with teams at U11 & U18 level participated in their respective leagues. 

How Will Your Contribution Help?

We have two significant goals:

• Replace practice area surrounding nets & mobile practice cage netting. 
• Purchase a larger mobile practice cage.

Replace Practice Area & Mobile Cage Netting   

Since the Covid restrictions were lifted much work has been undertaken to reestablish our once proud junior section. Thankfully in 2023 we have managed to grow sufficiently to offer competitive cricket to 8 teams within the club including 5 junior teams. Practice sessions are a daily part of the summer for BACC. Our artificial practice area is heavily used and is an integral part of our ability to grow. 

We currently have a fixed 2 lane artificial practice area and mobile practice net which allows us to hold practice on the cricket square. Whilst the playing surface in our fixed practice area is still in good condition, the surrounding nets are worn and becoming less safe, unsuitable to use because of holes which have started to appear. The net servicing both of our practice options is now 15 years old and has started to perish due to constant weather exposure mixed with heavy usage.

Inevitably the area wont be fit for purpose, unless the net is replaced. Again, the cost of replacing this specific netting is high, however should we lose use of this facility for any reason, our capacity to coach players is greatly hindered.

Purchase a larger mobile practice cage

The mobile practice cage (pictured below) allows practice to take place on the cricket square when there aren't scheduled games taking place. Having a second and larger cage (pictured right) allows multiple practice sessions to take place at the same time. The larger cage allowing for a safe and controlled practice space when senior players for example practice at the same time as our junior players.

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!

And finally… Thank you for taking the time to visit our page and read our story. Any donation that you make today will be gratefully received and be assured that your contribution will help allow us to make a significant and positive effect on many (mainly young) peoples lives.

BACC

This project successfully funded on 19th September 2023