Buckhorn Weston Cricket Club is delighted to announce that Sport England has awarded it a major grant to enable the Club to commission a project to drain its cricket field.  The intention is that, subject to the outcome of a feasibility study, the work will be done after the end of this year’s playing season in readiness for the 2014 season.

 The work will consist of removing much of the impermeable clay under the playing area and replacing it with aggregate, so that the ground does not retain moisture to nearly the same extent as hitherto.

Because of the persistent wet weather during the summer of 2012 the Club had a disastrous season financially, with at least half of its fixtures having to be cancelled and the Summer Ball having to be hurriedly relocated to the Village Hall.  Not surprisingly, Sport England received many more applications for its Protecting Playing Fields funding than it was able to support;  we were told that more than 50% of applications were unsuccessful.  So congratulations to our Treasurer for having succeeded where many others failed;  Chris Sledge has now managed to pull in grants totalling over £100,000 for the development of the Club’s playing facilities.

 More news to follow as the project progresses  –  www.buckhornwestoncc.co.uk

Buckhorn Weston CC has had yet more success in gaining grants to enable it to further improve the Club’s playing facilities and its coaching capabilities.

Sport England have given the Club a grant of £8,225 for the purchase of a set of three mobile covers, to protect the playing area when conditions are damp, and a bowling machine.  We hope to have the bowling machine available before the end of the current winter nets programme.  The covers will be delivered and assembled in April ready for the start of the outdoor playing season.

The Community Foundation for Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole, using funding provided by Comic Relief, have given the Club a grant of nearly £2,000 to pay for three of the Club’s senior players to attend Level 1 and Level 2 coaching courses.

The Club gratefully acknowledges the financial help provided by both these bodies, and their support for our endeavours to provide top class playing facilities for our Club members and for visiting teams.