Who are we?
Uttoxeter Cricket Club (UCC) are a volunteer led, fun and family centric, community cricket club who have grown significantly over the last 6 years since an enforced move from Uttoxeter Racecourse to the nearby village of Marchington. We have successfully attracted a huge number of new members ranging from young to old, enabling us to boast 3 adult teams and 9 junior teams, with over 150 junior members including boys and girls representing Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
We take pride in welcoming all genders, ages and abilities of players and supporters whilst striving to provide opportunities for people within the community to become physically active, socially interact, grow in confidence and feel part of a community.
We have a beautiful ground sympathetically set in an environmental protection area and welcome the local community to play, watch or relax with a drink from our pavilion bar.
Matches take place most days during the spring and summer (including numerous county age group games). Fridays are our the busiest evening when around 150 children aged from 3-17 are trained by our enthusiastic team of volunteer coaches.
We are a cohesive community club thriving in our new village location and are determined to develop and expand our facilities to provide the best possible environment for the club and local community to participate and grow.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Due to our growth, we have reached capacity with our current training facilities and need to improve our ground and facilities in order to continue our progress.
Like all sporting clubs in Uttoxeter we are massively underfunded when it comes to venues and facilities that are suitable for the growing population of this sporting town.
As a thriving club we are determined to develop and expand those facilities to ensure we provide the best possible environment for the club and local community to participate and grow, including a new women's softball team and an under 11 softball development team.
At present our basic training facilities are inadequate and need improving. There are no suitable alternative facilities within the local area.
In order to take our club to the next level we have identified two initial projects:
- A two lane practice net facility.
An England Cricket Board (ECB) approved 2 lane astroturf practice facility that will be sympathetically incorporated within our valued environmental protection zone. It will provide a significant improvement in training potential whilst freeing up valuable space on the pitch, allowing increased participation. It will also enable existing players to further develop their potential and enhance the coaching we are able to offer.
- Upgrading our ground maintenance equipment.
Due to the number of competitive teams that we have, the pitches are being used every day of the week requiring them to be consistently and expertly prepared. This requires a variety of equipment and at present we are using aging machinery, in some cases over 50yrs old. A new pitch roller, outfield mower and wicket mower are necessary to replace significantly aged and damaged equipment. This will allow us to provide a better standard of both pitch and practice facilities.
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 donation. Give as little or as much as you can, we want you and your families to benefit as soon as possible.
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages. Ask friends and family to donate and support us however they can. Invite them to part of our club. The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. If you are a local business, get involved by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will promote your business throughout our project.
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! Ask local schools to have cake sale, wear what you like day, sponsored silence!!!
How we’ll spend the money raised
Any money raised will be used to supplement our own fundraising to pay for the installation of the training nets and then secondly to modernise our grounds equipment to ensure the ground is suitable for competitive cricket.
To date we have raised around £18,000 towards the £41,514 cost of the net facility and we estimate that a minimum of £16,000 will be required to begin the process of replacing the worn and damaged grounds equipment.
Sport England have generously agreed to support us and match fund our fundraising up to the value of £11,757. Every donation up to this amount will be doubled meaning £11,757 of donations will be worth £23,514.
Community impact
Primarily our projects will allow us to increase participation and develop new women's and junior softball teams. Plans have been developed in conjunction with the local parish council and environmental consultants, to ensure that the planned development not only delivers the training benefits but is also sympathetic to the environment which is both important to us and the local community.
Prior to our club's relocation the ground was unoccupied and left derelict offering very little value to those nearby. We now provide a positive sporting venue for local players and a relaxing environment for their families and those who wish to use the club's bar and facilities. This development will not only enhance the club's standing and attractiveness but also allow for increased participation.