Who are we?

Tantobie Cricket Club is a local grassroots club, based in the centre of a village in County Durham. Due to a variety of reasons, club nearly has folded in the last couple of years due to difficulties with fundraising, primarily as a result of the Covid pandemic, but also coupled with a real struggle in attracting younger members. 

The club realised that a fresh approach was needed if the club was to survive. Key to survival were 2 points; firstly to make the club the focal point of the village during the summer months, bringing the community together and getting people back together and secondly, to explore reintroducing opportunities for local children to get involved with cricket, not immediately as a team, but to offer somewhere for them to come along and try the game, with the focus firmly on fun. 

With the introduction of a 5-year plan and lots of hard work in the background, we have started to slowly turn the club around. We now have more people on the committee and are working closely with the Durham cricket development team to build the club in the right way to ensure longevity. We're passionate about continuing to grow the club and offering cricket to absolutely everyone, so whilst developing our offer to children is one of our first steps, we are also looking to develop ideas in offering cricket to everyone in the community irrespective of gender or ability. We want to create a sustainable future for the club, to ensure cricket for all our members in the long term. 

Our primary focus is on inclusion, welcoming new members of all abilities (including those who have no interest in playing), which we feel is particularly important in our area, which is experiencing a significant drop in participation in local sport. 

We are hoping to expand and look to offer junior and ladies’ cricket as part of our 5-year plan, starting with the ECB 'Allstars' programme coming later this year! We know we need to walk before we can run and the first challenge is getting the playing facilities, managed on a shoestring for many years before Covid, up to the standard that we need to both encourage new members and retain the members we already have.

Over the winter we have started some of the work we need to do, which has created a bit of a buzz around the village from people visiting the Community Centre next door. Lots of people have expressed an interest in our project and are keen to get involved in whatever way they can, which is great start for us, but its not just about interest, we need to make this happen, so..... 

The Challenge:

The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted fundraising at sports clubs up and down the country. Cricket was particularly badly hit, with the beginning of both the 2020 and 2021 seasons sadly coinciding with the height of the pandemic. The impact has been that we were unable to do any real maintenance or improvement work on the ground, resulting in a playing area that was looking tired and uninviting, as well as being potentially dangerous in parts, severely limiting opportunities to attract new members to the club.

The photographs show that we have potential in our pitch and surroundings, but we need some financial support to unlock its wider potential.

Our artificial surface needs a little work!

But we have made a start!!

Although we have taken the first steps on improving the facilities, we still have a lot to do! 

As we approach the 2022 season, we have taken the decision to utilise most of our finances in a make or break bid to return the club to a more stable footing. As you can see from the photos there was a lot of work to do and none of this comes without financial investment, although we are incredibly grateful to the volunteers who have worked so hard over the last 6 months to really set the ball rolling on this project. 

Our square after we started work on it

However there is so much more than just the pitch we want to do to improve if we are to achieve our aim of cricket for all in the community.

There are lots of areas we are looking to improve around the ground beyond just the pitch, although we know we can't do everything in one go.

Our safety net has seen better days!

How can you help us? 

Our aim isn’t a big one in this first stage, we want to raise around £3000 to return the playing area to something that both looks and feels safe to play on, as well as offering somewhere for locals to come and watch, potentially bringing them into the club as members. Growing our membership footprint in the locality is key to our longer-term plans.   

We're looking for support to allow this amazing rural community-based club to continue to thrive and provide cricket for all ages, sexes, and abilities. We believe we can offer opportunities to everyone, but to do that we need to do some basic improvement work around the ground.

We're running several fundraising initiatives which provide scope for everyone to show us their support, whatever their financial constraints and we hope we are offering something for everyone through the sponsorship and rewards we have managed to put together, below are just some examples of what people could get involved with;

1. Sponsor a match ball: 

• For just £25 you can get your name on our match ball sponsor board. 
• All our sponsors will get a shout out on our social media as well as appearing on ‘Pledge Board’ for everyone to see who visits the ground AND free entry into our Durham CCC bat raffle

2. Sponsor a seat: 

• For £150 your name or wording of your choice on one of our new bench style seats, added to this your name on the ‘Pledge Board’, free entry into our bat raffle AND 2 tickets to either a Durham T20 or County Championship game.

3. Businesses looking to support community projects:

• We have a range of business sponsorships available that ensure your business gets exposure to not only our club membership, but also the wider community. We want to make sure you get a great return on your investment, with a commitment from the club to do all we can to engage with you & your business.
• The club would like to thank the following for their support in this project;

  -  Beamish - The Living Museum of the North

  -  MLH Hairdressing in Stanley

  -  Durham cricket board

If you can help in any way to preserve the future of your village club we would be very grateful