With a little help from my friends...

Well as another year comes to an end, we can hopefully all feel proud of what we've accomplished in 2012 and look forward to a prosperous New Year. This year has proved tough financially for not only ourselves but many small cricket clubs, the season long battle with the weather had a massive impact on fixtures, practise sessions and match day profits. However, the positives by far outweigh our slender bank balance: ECB Clubmark achieved, Pavilion Funding secured, two more coaches completing ECB Level 2 and a very promising season for the Under 11's and 9's.

I would personally like to thank all the junior coaches, especially Chris and Ben Gibbons who work tirelessly to give the under 11's and the club a great foundation for future success. Another who deserves a mention is Stewart Ballantyne our Club Welfare Officer, without his help and assistance ECB Clubmark would've remained a distant pipe dream. Plus his work with the Under 9's has also been exceptional, with numbers increasing year on year. Finally, thanks to Mark Green who has proved an able assistant throughout the Sport England Inspired Facilities application and during the development to date.

The success of a project such as this is always reliant on the local Community getting involved, whether it be through playing and volunteering, or just dropping in to watch the odd game. Indoor nets and junior coaching will begin in January at Conyers School and details are available on the club website. New members are always welcome and it would be great to see plenty of new and old faces next year. Next season begins 13th April 2013, come join us and with your help we can continue to go from strength to strength.

So, what's happened on site this week? Well it was another wet one, but Kirk Developments got plenty done and heading on to the Christmas break we look to be on schedule. As you can see from the picture below, foundations were poured, trench blocks laid and the first course of Newton blocks laid taking us to finished floor level. Building Inspector visited site and seemed satisfied with everything done to date.

The advantage of both extending and modernising the existing structure is that we have a number of work faces. It's hoped this will allow progress to continue whatever weather gets thrown at us!

For any other Clubs looking to go down a similar line, make sure you get organised before you start on site, especially if you've received Sport England funding. Make sure you get all the required post award documents sent off well before starting and try to avoid requesting payments over the Christmas period as delays may occur. We've had to rush a lot of this due to our tight timescales and on occasion this has given me a few sleepless nights!

I've just set up a Just Giving site to provide our members and followers the option of donating to the project online. Those who donate in excess of £50 will have their names added to the honours board, to be erected in the pavilion on completion. As we recently received CASC status, we are now eligible to receive Gift Aid and Just Giving sort this out on our behalf. Details will be provided once the site is up and running, but this may take a couple of weeks with it been Christmas. It's anticipated the site will be available from January through to May and the board will be erected at the Family Fun Day in July.

I'll be back in January to report on progress and keep you all informed. If anyone has any queries or would like to get in touch drop me a line, or give me a shout on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas from all of us at Yarm Cricket Club.

What Difference Does It Make...

Week two got underway with stripping back the topsoil to the rear of the existing pavilion and clearing the way for the strip foundations to be excavated. Firstly Bills Bog had to be removed, then the depth of the foundation required was discussed and agreed with the Building Inspector. The foundation depth was largely dependent on the its distance from the 3m hawthorn hedge.

Bills Bog had been described by many visitors as something from a POW camp, possessing an evil acrid stench on warm days that could make your eyes water. Time spent in Bills Bog was normally determined by how long you could hold your breath, but now its gone I can't help but miss the old lean to. This was the scene once Bills Bog was cleared on Monday.

The next stage of the work was to clear the area for the extension and excavate the foundations. The wet weather early in the week created a few headaches, mainly at the end of the day when it came to clearing up. The excavated material is largely being disposed of on site and will be utilised to fill a number of low areas around the grounds perimeter. It's also hoped we can use some of the better material to fill in a few low areas in the outfield, these areas have caused us major problems this year and some points have been under water since May. We are currently looking into the Sport England Protecting Playing Fields scheme, which could help us create a level playing surface and eradicate those low areas susceptible to flooding.

The foundation excavation was completed on Friday and the foundation is due to be poured on Monday morning. The old surface water drain has been located, along with the site water main and due care and attention is being taken to limit any possible disruption in supply. The water main goes on after the pavilion to feed Yarm Squash Club and Yarm Tennis Club.

So, what difference does it make? Well unlike the 'none' suggested by the Smiths, this project brings Yarm Cricket Club a future. The club hopes the modernisation of its facilities will have a far reaching impact on it's members, supporters and the local community. In the past the club has struggled to retain and attract local players, so it's hoped the new facilities will help with this issue and also allow the club to improve it's future sustainability.

It's hoped we can develop throughput considerably over the next few years by introducing new senior and junior teams, encouraging volunteering, organising other sports such as rounders, improving corporate links and also looking at establishing a women and girls cricket section. All this will take time, but it's hoped come April 2013 we will have the facilities in place to start this development. Details of how you can get involved are available on the club website and will be detailed to a greater degree in my Club Development blog starting in the New Year.

Donation details will be available prior to Christmas, we're just waiting on our Gift Aid details to come through and then I'll post, email, tweet, Facebook to all.

Right, back on with the wellies and I'll have another update for you all at the end of the week.

Walls Come Tumbling Down...

Well the Yarm Cricket Club Inspired Pavilion Project is now well underway and here we are at the end of Day 4. As you can see from the picture below, the pavilion is now all fenced off and the Sport England 'Places People Play' banners are up.

I'm still trying to pull all the documentation together for Sport England, which needs to be sent prior to the 1st Interim Payment. This must be in the post by the weekend, as we are now in receipt of the contractors first payment application. Tender analysis, HSE F10, Certificates of Competence, Planning Notices and a letter from myself as Project Manager to address all other areas.

One area where we would love to improve on, is with regards to disabled access. This has proved very difficult due to the nature of the existing building and the budget restraints. The pavilion is situated in the farthest corner of the recreation ground and access at present is either via the pitch or the old cinder track. The cost of improving this access to aid wheelchair users is beyond our budget at present, but it has been added to our future development plans and will be carried out when the necessary funds are available. We will be looking to level, then relay the track once the pavilion project is complete and have forwarded letters to a couple of organisations requesting assistance with this work. We're currently awaiting responses and will let you know as soon as we hear anything/

The design does include for a disabled toilet accessible off the tea room, but wheelchair access in to the tea room is proving a headache. A permanent external ramp would not be suitable and if we were to remove the step then an internal ramp would render the space unusable for it's function. This is something else we will have to look at in the future, but for now unfortunately wheelchair users will require assistance to enter and exit the tea room until we can come up with a reasonable solution.

Back to the update, the view from the garage this morning:

The same view later:

 

 

It's difficult to show the increased space this will create in the dressing room, but when you stand in what was the garage it's amazing what a difference it will make. The away changing room will be extended into the existing kitchen to create a similar space later in the project. At present the kitchen and tea room is being utilised as the welfare area, but this will change once another suitable space is available and the contractor is ready to remove the kitchen wall.

 

So; week one is almost complete and although the weather has been horrendous we've made some progress. Kirk Developments will be starting on the earthworks next week, so this means Bill's Bog's days are numbered. This may be your final view, gone but never forgotten.

 

Back next week with more updates and thanks for reading. Donation details will hopefully be available then also, once we've found out our Gift Aid number and set up an online giving page.





Feeling a Bit Tense...

Well it's the Eve of the Inspired Pavilion Project, sitting here hoping I've ticked all those boxes and the project will start tomorrow as planned. Constantly going over things in my head, planning, Building Regs, CDM Regulations, can we improve disabled access, will the fundraising take off, budgets, where can I get a fridge from, £420 for a clock, service connections, fencing; these are just a few items which are keeping me busy.

Planning was approved last Tuesday, HSE notified last Saturday and our initial payment has been forwarded for Building Regs / Inspection. Based on a pre-project visit certain areas have been readied for an initial inspection, existing lintels, surface water drains and existing foundations.

After analysing 4 tenders for the main construction, we have opted for local company Kirk Developments to undertake the work and it's hoped work will commence tomorrow (although looking at the forecast this is doubtful!). The timescales are quite tight, but we hope to have the building ready for final decoration in time for the ECB Natwest Cricket Force weekend in April (6th/7th). Cricket Force is a fantastic opportunity for volunteers and businesses to get involved in our project, all you need is some old clothes, a paintbrush and a few hours to spare. Local Clubs and Societies wouldn't survive without volunteers; from the Club President, to the Juniors and their parents we all need do our bit to keep the Club operating. More details on general volunteering and roles will be detailed in my Development blog which will be available soon.

First job for me this week is to send off the final pre payment information to Sport England. For the project I will be acting as Project Manager, QS and CDM Coordinator. It will take up a lot of my time, but all my efforts will be rewarded when the project is complete and the first teams get to use the facilities. In all honesty, providing a changing area for the umpires and having toilets will make the biggest difference. No more holding your breath to vist Bill's Bog and no more trouserless umpires in the tea room trying to hide their dignity from the tea ladies.

Once Kirk Developments get underway, all the info has been sent off to Sport England and the Building Inspector is happy; I can hopefully relax a little.

In coming weeks, I'll be forwarding letters to a number of local businesses and organisations to gauge support for the project. The letters may request for assistance with labour, materials, marketing, advertising, or just a general letter to say "Can You Help". We can offer great sponsorship and advertising deals in return, including playing shirt sponsorship, board or banner sponsorship, match ball sponsorship, website sponsorship, the list goes on. We are also prolific when it comes to social networking, with our own Facebook page and club website; we have in excess of 900 followers on Twitter and of course there's my new limited blogging skills. We hope that the project itself will also generate a lot of interest from the local community, media, ECB and other sporting bodies.

If any businesses would be interested in sponsorship then please get in touch with me HERE, or contact our new Club Secretary Tom Hodgson and we can set up a meeting to discuss options.

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, we are erecting an honours board in the modernised pavilion and all those who have donated £50+ of donations or services will have their names present. I'm still reading up on the in's and out's of CASC, but we hope to establish an online giving site to allow for donations to be processed easier. This would allow the Club to receive Gift Aid on upto 80% of the donations, each of which the Club would receive an extra 25% thanks to Gift Aid. This will make donating simple for all, especially those of our supporters who no longer live local to the ground.

I will provide a link as soon as possible for our giving site, once myself and the Club Treasurer have discussed further. Details will also be posted on the Club website, Facebook page, via Twitter and emailed to our mailing list.

Thanks for reading, I promise the next blog will have a few pictures and it'll be along soon.

How we've got to this point....

The Yarm Cricket Club Pavilion Development has been discussed and attempted for many years past. In 2011, myself and Mark Green took it upon ourselves to make our pavilion dreams a reality and see if we could go that extra mile.
The first stage was to come up with a design which at first would fulfill not only the Club's needs, but also the requirements of the North Yorkshire & South Durham ECB Premier League. After some consideration we decided to contact my former team mate and Greeny's former work colleague Stuart Wighton of Stuart Wighton Architects. It was not only great to work with someone we knew, but also an architect who realised how this could alter the future outlook of the cricket club. Working within our estimated budget of £60k we came up with a design which not only fitted with league requirements, but allowed us to retain the charm of the existing 1930's pavilion.

Many people would just say "knock it down and start again", but for me is was never an option. I've played many a cricket match, travelled to many a ground and those which always stick in my mind are those with character. Whether it be the grand old pavilions of Stockton and Hartlepool, or the quaint facilities of Aldborough and Kildale, they all have a certain appeal. Although the buildings facade will remain very similar, the pavilion will have larger changing areas, new kitchen, umpire changing area, showers and toilets. Yes, we'll finally be able to get rid of 'Bill's Bog', which was erected in the 80's by Bill Gowing and volunteers. Although the stench may take some getting rid of!

Now we had our design, next was funding. In some ways we were very fortunate with our timing, Tees Valley Sport and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council were running a seminar to assist Clubs in their applications for Inspired Facilities funding via Sport England. Without the assistance received from Vicky Evans and her associates at Tees Valley Sport the outcome may have been very different. We knew we would also need to raise an additional £20k+ to make our pavilion dream reality, so we set about fundraising and to date we've raised around £7k. Included within that £7k are proceeds from Club events and two donations from Carter Steel Ltd and Judges Hotel. We approached the Yarm Recreation Ground Trust for assistance and to our delight we were awarded £10k towards the project. The Recreation Ground Trust was established in the 1920's to oversee the running of the site at Leven Road, the site now includes Yarm Cricket Club, Yarm Tennis Club and Yarm Squash Club.
I'd like to thank all the many individuals and groups for their support, along with Yarm Town Council and especially Councillors Ben Houchen, Mark Chatburn and Andrew Sherris. With a £5k award from the Council, we had achieved £22k and after weeks of nail biting Sport England awarded the Club £49,708 to help us achieve our revised target of £72k.

Our target has since been revised to £75k so the fundraising continues. The additional £3k will allow the Club to improve service connections, the current connections are very limited and would not offer the capacity for future development. We aim to erect an honours board in the pavilion once completed and all those businesses, groups and individuals who have helped will be present on the board. All those individuals who donate £50+ to the project, will have their names or a name of their choice (sons, daughters, businesses, etc) added to the board. The board will serve as a reminder to us all, of just who made this project happen. Further details on how you can donate will be in my next blog and added to the Clubs website in coming weeks.

The construction phase is due to start on 3rd December and run through until 7th April 2013. The final weekend will hopefully see volunteers get involved as part of the ECB Natwest Cricket Force scheme, which the Club has been participating in since around 2005. If anyone would like to come along and help with a bit of painting, carpet fitting or groundsmanship you'll be more than welcome. Cricket tea's and refreshments will be available, we'll be looking to run some junior coaching and possibly receive some involvement from the ECB and Yorkshire Cricket Board.

So this how we've got to this point in the project, again thanks to those who have supported us to date and we'll keep you updated during the project. Next blog is already imminent, planning notification has been received and main contractor selected.