One of the League's newest clubs - Almondbury Wesleyans - have announced the latest improvement to their Kaye Lane ground; an installation of a £27,000 state-of-the-art artificial grass cricket practice facility.
Wesleyans, who joined the league in 2013 from the Huddersfield Central League, have quietly been building their small setup year on year which has reflected in the club’s constantly improving performance on the pitch. The tidy setup was enhanced following the 2019 season by a refurbishment in their relatively new pavilion to create larger bar facilities to cater for the increased demand.
The latest development will provide stellar facilities for players young and old thanks to a series of grants topped up with the clubs own funds. The clubs press release explains their journey to the launch of their new facilities:
Huddersfield Cricket League’s Almondbury Wesleyan CC, synthetic sports surface specialists Dura Sport, and Suez Communities Trust are pleased to announce the recent completed installation of a £27,000 state of the art twin bay artificial grass cricket practice facility.
The enclosed two bay facility is a big upgrade at the Wes’s Kaye Lane cricket ground, replacing their heavily used previous nets that were installed almost 20 years ago in 2001. The ECB specified and approved facility, which was installed by one of their recommended providers – Dura Sport from Leicestershire - is a big step up in quality, safety, durability and most of all replicating cricket conditions on grass as closely as any artificial surface can. The two tracks are even coloured light brown to match as closely as possible a shaven cricket wicket.
The Wes have also run an electric cable down to the facility positioned in the bottom corner of their cricket ground so that a bowling machine can be plugged in for batting practice.
This major investment would not have been possible without the grant aid support received from SUEZ Communities Trust who agreed to contribute some £18,000, which is two thirds of the total cost of the project.Further secondary grant aid funding of £5,000 was obtained from four local sources, the largest being the Huddersfield Common Good Trust, who chipped in £3,500. That left the Wes to find the remaining 15%, totalling £4,000 from Club funds.
Suez Recycling and Recovery UK support a number of community and environmental improvement projects through their Trust’s Landfill Communities Fund and were very pleased to be the main contributor to the Wes’s project that fitted their grant award criteria. Another waste company, Biffa, runs a similar grant scheme but with a slightly different focus that does not support projects such as this one.
Applications that include both local secondary funders (Suez are happy to be the main funder but don’t want to be the only one) and skin in the game from the benefitting organisation appear to have a better chance of success with grant aid bodies.
For further information on the scheme and the more details on the process you can contact Mark Binns at AWCC on 07831 365259.