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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.
