Who are we?
Whiston Parish Church Cricket Club is grass-roots, Community Association Sports Club (CASC), in the village of Whiston, Rotherham. Run by a group of volunteers, we provide the local community and surrounding area with outstanding cricket coaching and development throughout the year. We are a Disability Champion Club, providing SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) with the facilities to be coached and play. Our grounds and facilities are also used to support local schools, and our clubhouse is a popular social venue throughout the year. We have a matched funding offer from Sport England who will contribute £15k if we achieve £15k from our supporters therefore hitting our £30k target
Why are we crowdfunding?
With two senior teams, a Sunday development side, a thriving lady’s section (the Belles) and junior teams at U9,11,13,15 and 18. We are struggling to provide the necessary training and coaching facilities. We have a fully costed proposal and planning permission to install a three-lane artificial net facility in the paddock area, which will be vital to enhancing both our coaching and development capability. It will be fully wheelchair accessible and will be made available for use by local schools and organisations. Mindful of the financial hardships many are now faced with, we want to continue making cricket as accessible and affordable to as many as possible. This means not increasing our annual membership fees and continuing to reward our members with discounted drinks.
We firmly believe that the installation of this facility will be of undoubted benefit to all sections of our club. It is our intention to grow both the Belles and junior sections, thereby providing the senior teams with as many players that we, as a club have developed. In addition, this facility will help to significantly raise our club’s profile, attracting more youth, lady and adult players. Finally, to forge closer links to local schools and organisations.
Plans for next season
We are currently planning, in conjunction with Rotherham Schools Sports and the YCB Development team to greatly increase the number of participants in our All Stars (5-8) and Dynamos (8-11) programs. We will also continue to host Schools Dynamo’s and SEND festivals.
How we’ll spend the money raised
Our aim through our ECB Crowdfunder campaign is to further improve the cricket on offer at Whiston Parish Church CC by making our facilities current and inclusive, so we can properly cater for our members and community. The money we raise will be invested in the new permanent three lane net facility. Below is a picture of the nets recently installed at Hessle CC and is very similar to our design specification
Community impact
Aside from benefiting our members, our campaign will support local schools and organisations that use our grounds and 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 pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
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. 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!