Thrapston CC Memorial Scoreboard & Storage

Aim

Our aim is to build a memorial scoreboard / storage facility to commemorate Ben Walker.

Who are we?

Thrapston Cricket Club is at the heart of the local community, offering the opportunity to participate in Cricket across 17 child & adult teams

We have four open age teams spanning across Northamptonshire Cricket’s 14 Saturday leagues, four Women & Girls teams and a thriving junior section which has nine teams from Under 9s to Under 17. Outdoor training is open to Reception age children which we believe to be unique amongst cricket clubs within the county.

Community benefit

Our aim is to make cricket available and enjoyable to the whole community by enabling all our members to reach their full potential regardless of ability. Despite the comparatively small population of Thrapston (6,200) and the surrounding villages we are proud to boast a very healthy and growing membership which enables us to always field teams on each match day.

How does Cricket benefit our local community?

Cricket is an extremely important development tool for the local children as it helps develop fine motor skills in perfecting their batting, bowling and fielding techniques. It also gives them exposure to what it means to be a part of a team and also gives an opportunity for aspiring leaders to captain their side and gain priceless life skills in the process.

The club prides itself on prioritising Inclusion and participation over a “win at all costs” mentality. We encourage sportsmanship above all and insist that all players demonstrate support to their team mates. Everyone is welcome to participate in training and matches. This includes those with physical or mental impairment who otherwise may not feel there is a sport for them. We combine boys and girls in the same team at a young age to being to appreciate that everyone can play sport equally regardless of gender and that everyone has something to offer. Uniquely Thrapston CC have never been represented by paid players – our focus is on giving local players particularly those who have risen through our youth systems the opportunity to play.

(1st, 2nd & 3rd teams)

Why are we crowdfunding?

The club is continually growing, ambitious and seeking to improve its facilities. As part of our expansion plan and to pay tribute to one of our young players who sadly lost his life while playing football at Chancery Lane we now aim to build a new storage facility with a scoreboard & clock which directly faces spectators to provide a more visible view compared to our current setup which is long overdue for replacement.

This new facility will commemorate Ben Walker as a lasting testament to the legacy of a young man who represented his town with great pride and ability at both cricket and football, was a passionate Aston Villa supporter and all-round sports enthusiast who sadly passed away while taking part in a football match at the ground in April 2017.

In order to meet our ambition we require the community's support in raising funds as our finances were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of COVID-19 on Thrapston CC. 

• While the club's membership is growing particularly in the youth section, we know that reduced participation during and after the COVID pandemic and restrictions to the number of fixtures last season has led to a decrease in funding for the last couple of years. 
• During 2020 training sessions were suspended which caused significant loss of revenue through lost training fees across the entire club. 
• When cricket matches were allowed to restart we were forced to only have half the number of fixtures which cut our match fee revenue by 50% and the usual cricket teas were disallowed causing more lost revenue as playing fees were reduced to the basic minimum amount per player just to encourage people to come and play cricket. 
• Membership fees were reduced in line with having a shortened season which again caused us significant loss of funding.
• Additionally, any refreshments the club would usually sell to spectators i.e. hot & cold drinks, snacks, ice creams etc could no longer be sold as spectators were discouraged from attending matches particularly in 2020 & 2021. 
• Our annual Awards Presentation night and social occasions such as barbecue/race-nights were cancelled due to public gatherings indoors being disallowed in 2020. These are typically occasions where the club can generate very healthy additional revenue. 

Now that Government restrictions have lifted we want to ensure that the club can recover financially. The mental, social and physical benefits of sport mean it's more important than ever that we get people back into Cricket and everything we do to improve the facilities can help better showcase our club as a hub of the community and attract new players and spectators who will want to see our fantastic new facility and be able to see the score from a safe seating position at the ground (as shown in our video if you haven't already seen it!)

How we’ll spend the money raised

The funds we raise from Crowdfunding will enable us to construct the storage facility at the Brook side of the Chancery Lane cricket ground. A new electronic scoreboard will be integral to the building as will a clock which will now face the majority of people coming to watch cricket matches and will also be a lasting memory to Ben.

(Clip below shows a typical Friday evening Junior training session)

//www.youtube.com/embed/_dSHhf2YzC8?wmode=transparent

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! We have several rewards including 100 aluminium drinks bottles (per below) to show off your support for years to come!

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. Create a fundraiser of your own. Use the button on our page to get started. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

(Under 15's team(3rd  & coaches)

(under 13 Girls team pictured with their coaches & sponsor)

Presentation Night photos & the successful end of the project!

After an amazing few weeks we’ve seen this project backed by many of the local members, those within the local community who knew Ben, people from around the country who heard of the project and wanted to support it, local businesses who’ve thrown their weight behind it and a small number people who generously donated to our cause - including the winner of the cash raffle insisting that the club be the recipient of the money.

 On the final night we raised in excess of £2000 in total through varying sizes of donations, some via the page and others either in cash or card particularly for our 3 raffles. Thank you everyone who felt so passionately about the club and about building this lasting memorial to a wonderful young lad who still has a prominent place in our hearts and who we can now go on to getting the scoreboard which will bear Ben’s name. A grand unveiling will be announced in 2023 after construction is complete. Details will be on the club’s social media in due course. A few photos were snapped on the night which I’ve put below.

This project successfully funded on 17th October 2022