Chichester Priory Park CC - Securing our future

Aim

CPPCC desperately need to develop our training facilities to secure our future and recover from Covid-19 related loss of income.

Our Vision

Chichester Priory Park CC are a thriving, friendly and inclusive community cricket club serving the Chichester area. The club aims to provide the opportunity for all to take part in cricket, from all backgrounds and at all levels.

The club currently has 4 adult league teams, playing in the Sussex league, a junior programme which attracts 120 juniors aged 5 to 16 (including ECB All Stars), and a blossoming new women’s section.

Given an increased demand, we plan to expand further in season 2021, adding a 5th adult league team to further aid junior boys and girls integration into senior cricket and a sociable midweek team in the Sussex Slam. The club also has ambitions to become a hub for women’s and girls cricket locally, building on the great start we have had with the new women’s team.

In order to cater for existing members, attract new players and grow the sport locally, we desperately need to upgrade our unfit for purpose training facilities at our Goodwood ground. We share the ground in an alliance with the Goodwood estate and Goodwood CC, who provide friendly Sunday fixtures. At present it will be impossible for the club to provide the high quality training facilities needed for every current and new player to improve their game and enhance their love for the sport. 

With your funding support, we will:

• Refurbish our nets 

• Install 3 'hybrid' pitches 

• Purchase 2 mobile cage nets 

• Provide new coaching equipment 

Refurbish the Net

The current net at Goodwood, shown below, is in desperate need of renovation, to allow for safe and consistent bounce to aid players of all ages improve their batting and bowling skills.

Install Hybrid Pitches and Mobile Nets

We also plan to install three state of the art hybrid pitches to the square and purchase two roll on cage nets which will allow a hybrid pitch and the refurbished net to be used for training. This will allow everybody to experience a safe and high quality experience that we currently cannot provide. It will also mean that more than one match can be played on a wicket, reducing maintenance time and cost for the club.

Why Hybrid Pitches?

Our Goodwood ground is located within a grade listed estate at Goodwood. This means that to secure planning permission to replace the existing net with a permanent 2 or 3 bay net facility, which would cater for our needs, it would cost us circa £20k in planning fees. This is before considering the £30k+ cost of installing a new permanent net facility which isn't financially viable for either club.

Therefore, we plan to refurbish the existing single net facility and also be creative with how we can improve our other training and match play facilities in a cost effective way.

State of the art, hybrid pitches which combine stitched surfacing and traditional grass are our answer! These pitches will provide the quality of facilities only currently seen in the professional game! This will supplement our training facilities at our other ground, Priory Park, Chichester, and enable every section of the club to access top quality facilities on the days that they train and play.

Goodwood Cricket Club have offered to kindly fund the hybrids and nets installation so that everything is in place for the start of the season. CPPCC had agreed to a partnership contribution towards the new facilities prior to Covid striking. Following a loss of revenue due to Covid, we now need your help to raise funds to cover this cost and honour our agreement towards the installation of the new training facilities.

Training Equipment

An important part of our continued investment is our coaching equipment, used in sessions with every section of the club to make practice both fun and effective. We would like to update our existing equipment by purchasing:

• Feed buddy - An automatic ball feeding machine used for batting technique drills
• Rebound catching nets and katchet board - For practicing close catching
• Rubber base stumps - Essential in all forms of cricket training
• Skyer catching bat - For practicing a variety of high and in the deep catches  
• Baseball Catching Mitt - To help coaches deliver great fielding drills
• Narrow Technique Bats - Thinner bats to help focus the eye in watching the ball onto the bat

Why do we need your help?

The club has lost income as a result of Covid-19. We didn’t charge membership subscriptions for the 2020 season due to only being able to play a handful of fixtures and also saw our sponsorship income reduced. All fundraising events were cancelled, including our annual cricket week lunch for local business, and we have also seen reduced bar takings due to fewer matches and events. This loss of income has impacted our plans to improve training facilities needed for our clubs development. 

We need your help to enable us to progress with our planned growth and recover from COVID.

We thank each and every one of you for any support you are able provide, and for sharing this campaign far and wide. It really will make a huge difference for aspiring young (and old) cricketers! 

Three Pavilion Challenge

Some of our crazy club members are also completing a running and cycling challenge to help fund this project and would love your donations to spur them on in completing the slightly more than half marathon distance. We have 5 members running between the three local cricket grounds and 4 members cycling the route twice; the route will take them between our home grounds at Priory Park, Chichester and Goodwood, before heading on to Singleton and back again! 

Please donate through this crowdfunder page! 

Their training is well under way and any donations will keep them motivated to complete the run and cycle on April 5th.

Junior Fun Day

We also plan to host a junior fun day at Goodwood when COVID restrictions are eased. Planning for this is going on behind the scenes by our great volunteers and we will update this page with full details and your chance to make a pledge towards attending this event.

This project successfully funded on 30th April 2021