ECB Help Burgess Hill Cricket Club Get Covered Up
9th August 2018 | By Peter Chapman
If you’ve walked through St John’s park over the past few weeks, you may well have spotted the imposing trio of fancy new covers on the cricket square.
Burgess Hill Cricket Club were able to afford the covers thanks to a 75% grant from the ECB through Sussex Cricket with a newly acquired club sponsor Keymer Double Glazing helping to meet the shortfall.
Club committee member Matt Charman said: “The covers were something we’d looked to invest in over the last couple of years, but obviously they’re quite expensive - about £5,000 for the set - and as a self-funded club, it was hard to do this on our own.
“As part of the grant agreement we had to fund the remaining 25% ourselves and that’s where Keymer Double Glazing kindly stepped in. They’re a new sponsor to the club and their support is greatly appreciated!.”
As for the new covers, they are a great improvement on what the club had to previously make use of in bad weather, as Matt explains.
“Previously if we had rain, we had to get a plastic sheet out and because the pitch is on a slope, the water could run down underneath the sheet. It’s also so much harder to get a plastic sheet in place if the weather’s bad, and when windy it often blew off the square.
"These new covers are much more stable, you can moor them, lock them, connect them together, and all the water runs down the covers and out through hoses that you can connect to the sides, it’s just so much more efficient. They’re so mobile too and one person can move them on their own, they’re brilliant.”
The new covers are one of a number of improvements to have been made to the ground by the club at St John’s Park over the past few years and the club have ambitious plans to further enhance the facilities.
“The new big step is to try to take control of the pavilion from Mid Sussex District Council, that would enable us to look into further plans to bring the pavilion forward and develop it into a multi-use facility” said Matt.
“Redeveloping the front of the building would help it actually look like a cricket pavilion again. The interior usable space would be at least doubled and we have architect plans already drawn up and approved in principle which look great. We would be able to improve our changing rooms which are not big enough at the moment and also our bar and kitchen area. The ideal plan would be to develop the pavilion so that it can also be a space to be rented out for weddings, christenings as well as used for our club functions.
“It wouldn’t be as big as what’s being planned in the town centre, but this additional space could certainly be used by community groups, prayer groups, and exercise groups, etcetera. It’s so central, in a great location and with parking at the back, it would be brilliant!"
"Sport in our growing town has so much potential. We want to be leading the growth of cricket in Burgess Hill and we will work hard to put in place a facility the town can be proud of - alongside cricket teams the town can hopefully be proud of too.”
Burgess Hill Cricket club are club who are open to all and now have over 200 boys and girls in their youth section. It’s a club that’s growing it would be great to see the community and the council support them further because the club has a lot of hard work ahead of them to make the next step in their progression.
Much like the town’s football and rugby clubs, BHCC are another sports club that Burgess Hill can be proud of and should be very grateful for. We’ll be charting their future progress with interest and support them as best we can.
| Spread the word! Burgess Hill Cricket Club now have proper covers for the square thanks to the ECB and local sponsorship
|
 Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
What do you think of BHCC's plans for their future?
|
