Lifeline...

The Sport England Places People Play scheme has provided many clubs and sports groups, the opportunity to improve facilities and in turn improve levels of participation. Round 4 of the funding has opened recently, so if your club could benefit from modernised facilities or improving playing surfaces then it's time to work on those applications. When preparing your applications, be sure to gauge community support via a questionnaire and attain letters of support from leagues, local MP's, sport development groups,etc. Don't just focus on the benefits the funding will have; what may happen if you don't recieve funding? At Yarm our facilities were unsuitable for the modern game, not up to the standard expected by players and well below what was required by the ECB North Yorkshire & South Durham League we participate in. The pavilion facilities were rated the lowest of all participating clubs by league officials and may have affected our league status.

Thanks to the funding we received from Sport England, plus contributions from our members, Yarm Recreation Ground Trust, Yarm Town Council, Carter Steel and Judges Hotel, we can now look towards a much brighter future. We have many new targets to achieve in our 5 Year Plan, set out as part of our Club Development Plan established during the ECB Clubmark process. These range from improving participation, establishing more teams, improving practice facilities and work to the playing surface. Four items we are currently lacking are: sufficient practice facilities, training aids, pitch covers and water hog. We have just received notification of Small Sports Grant funding from Stockton-on-Tees Council, which will go towards a much needed new batting cage. This new batting cage will allow us to sufficiently increase our practice facilities and cater for larger group training sessions. Due to the increasing number of Under 9's attending coaching we are seriously short of training aids, such as cones, batting tees, Kwik Cricket equipment, etc. An application will be forwarded to the Lord's Taverners, they give great support to grassroots cricket by providing equipment and artificial playing surfaces to clubs who are lacking in this department. We are also fundraising and looking for sponsors to help us purchase some training equipment from the ECB Cricket Factory range. Businesses interested in sponsoring us for the coming season can get in touch at admin@yarmcricketclub.co.uk

Last week on the Inspired Pavilion Project was very busy. Kirk Developments first job was to get the building watertight and finish off the the roof felt and battens. The roof is now ready for the tiles to be added and these along with the uPVC fascias were delivered to site last week.

The gable end of the new extension was completed.

Both changing rooms had the shower trays and partition walls installed.

The old rear windows were removed and openings created to access the kitchen, disabled wc and umpires changing room.

First fix plumbing and electrics were completed and shown below is the new disabled toilet.

Plasterboarding completed throughout the new extension and shown below is the new kitchen.

Jobs for this week: Roof tiles, plastering and possibly some final fix electrics.

Our Just Giving site is still available for donations and we're grateful to everyone who has donated so far. If you, a family member or a business would like to help and in turn have your name added to our honours board; then simply donate in excess of £50, leave a comment and we'll do the rest. As a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) we can also collect Gift Aid on most donations, this equates to an extra 25% on top of the original donation. The final honours board will be erected in the pavilion and unveiled at this years Family Fun Day on the 13th July.

To donate just follow this link: http://www.justgiving.com/yarmcricketclub (don't forget to leave a comment)

Thanks to everyone who helped create this Lifeline for the club, without the support of many we would never have got this far and we can now plan for the bright future ahead.