Horley Cricket Club's fabulous Fun Day helps raise money for club's net appeal

The appeal got an extra boost at the event when the club’s long-time and generous sponsor, Keymex, donated £5,000 to the total, with owner Richard Stephenson handing a cheque to cricket club chairman Colin Terry, surrounded by delighted adult and junior players.

The Fun Day was well attended, with everyone enjoying the inflatables, water games, cricket games and barbecue, while raising money for their club at the same time.

Terry said: “It was a roaring success and we will make it even better next year.

“It was a great day for the club. To get the donation from Keymex was a big step forward to getting the nets and a wonderful gesture to help the club and the community we are part of.

“We would also like to say big thanks to Horley Spinal Health for their sponsorship and to Tesco, Waitrose and Specsavers for providing raffle prizes.”

Horley Cricket Club is thriving, with a men’s Saturday third XI joining the firsts and seconds for the first time this season, plus two regular men’s Sunday teams, a ladies’ team, the development XI and colts teams for boys and girls aged seven to 18.

Its growing membership has emphasised the need for new, better practice nets and while the total cost of £40,000 seemed daunting at first, grants from Sport England, Raven Housing, the Gatwick Community Fund, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, plus the new £5,000 gift from Keymex and £500 from Horley Spinal Health mean the club are well on the way.

Planning permission has already been granted for the project.

Members of the club have made a special bat-o-meter to show the progress of their fundraising effort and they hope the red line will soon be at the top of the scale.

If anyone would like to make a donation to the nets appeal, please visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/martha-spalding?utm_term=Z69gzPjnR