Background
Our recently-reformed Club is reaching out to engage with our community in many different ways. We are already developing a strategy to create youth teams by running ECB sessions for 5 to 11 year-olds this summer. We are also looking to start some girls', women's and disability sections.
Valence School and Disability Cricket
Valence School, our local school for children with special educational needs, has its own self-contained cricket ground which has not been used for at least 10, maybe 15 years. The Club has reached agreement with the school to use the cricket ground as a home venue from 2022. There is currently nowhere else in Westerham to play cricket. The Club has undertaken to renovate and maintain the school's existing wooden-structured pavilion and reconstruct their cricket square and outfield.
As well as providing a home for the Club's existing adult and junior teams, we also plan to introduce disability cricket from summer 2022 which would be open for members of the wider community to join. Cricket is, by it's nature a sport which has been shown to help people with disabilities, by teaching them to communicate better, work as a team and promote positive behaviour by encouraging structured debate. Cricket can also teach them about decisions they make and the consequences of those decisions. These are all transferrable life skills. Disability cricket provision is rare. Only 5% of cricket clubs in England and Wales provide disability cricket and currently, in Kent there are only four. Our vision is to become a "hub" for disability cricket in our part of the County.
We are be proud to be the first ever sports club in Westerham to have a link with the school.
The funding will be used to purchase materials, ground care equipment and occasional professional help to enable us to reconstruct and maintain the school's cricket square and outfield (heavy roller, fine turf mower, gang mowers, grass seed, loam, fertiliser etc.). The funding will also be used to purchase building materials and occasional professional help for renovating the pavilion, which is in a state of disrepair.
Are you able to help us?