Nuthurst Cricket Club receive £50k grant to pave way for new pavilion

The clubhouse replacement project is already well underway with the old framework taken down in June to pave the way for preparatory groundworks.

The grant has comes from Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to communities and environmental projects across the UK.

The £51,865 will help to ensure the future of Nuthurst allowing the club to be equipped with essential new facilities for the use of generations to come.

Club chairman Kevin Barnes said: “We are absolutely delighted to secure Biffa Award funding which will be instrumental to the next phase of the replacement of the cricket pavilion.

“We look forward to not only using the new pavilion for our home matches and Junior’s Cricket programme, but to sharing its facilities within the local community.”

Close attention is being made to ensure that the construction of the new pavilion is as eco-friendly as possible and features an interior community area with seating for up to 50 people as well as a new fully-equipped kitchen and new modern bathroom facilities, providing a valuable resource for local organisations’ meetings and events.

Waste management company Biffa, whose plant at Langhurstwood Road uses processes which reduce impact on the environment, is keen to support communities within which it works.

Gillian French, head of grants at Biffa, said: “At Biffa Award we are always on the lookout for exciting, community focused projects that we can support. We can’t wait to see the new pavilion completed, the new facility will transform the space!”

The framework of the old cricket pavilion was taken down on June 16 by a team of both long-standing and more recent club members, who eagerly took to the task, although the removal of the last timbers of the 1950’s pavilion was an emotional one for some.

The clearing of the pavilion site brings the club a step closer towards the next eagerly awaited stage, the groundworks, with construction scheduled for November 2018.

A celebratory community event is being planned for the opening of the new pavilion in spring 2019.