When a community is united around a common goal it can achieve far more than individuals alone. After 40 years’ worth of wear and tear, Byfleet Cricket Club’s clubhouse was in dire need of redevelopment. And it’s thanks to its community connection – including some local cricket stars – that it received the help it needed.
“As you can probably imagine, [the clubhouse] was looking a little tired and dated,” says Andy Savage, club treasurer. “It was practical for what we needed at the time, but very small – but then the club got to a size where we needed to expand and utilise the facility better.”
Savage was at the heart of Byfleet’s growth, taking over when the club had merely hundreds of pounds in the bank – nowhere near enough for the required renovations. But with members raising £90,000 over 10 years, and a top up of £10,000 from the Surrey Cricket Foundation, the club launched its two-year project to improve facilities at their Parvis Road ground in time for the 2019 season.
Byfleet’s link with Surrey County Cricket Club is longstanding – the county played Sunday League games at Byfleet back in the 1970s – and the club’s highest-profile player, Robin Jackman, went on to play for Surrey (as well as England).
Those strong ties were further evident with the attendance of a special guest at Byfleet’s grand opening. Local star Jade Dernbach, who at 17 became one of Surrey’s youngest debutants, and has gone on to play for England, came down on 5 April to show his support. “He comes down socially, occasionally, and so we invited him to the official opening,” says Savage. “We were pretty privileged to have him.”
Savage says the evening itself was well beyond expectations: “We had 100-plus people come down, including former and current members. It was a great way to see in the season.”
But the celebrations would never have been possible without an army of volunteers to get the facilities ready. Byfleet were chosen as the Surrey Showcase Club for the 2019 NatWest CricketForce initiative, and more than 70 volunteers from Byfleet and Surrey cricket clubs, NatWest and the ECB arrived to get the ground ready for that opening. As part of the clubhouse makeover a new scorebox was constructed, as well as two new, larger changing rooms and a new room for umpires.
Another Surrey star, England white-ball opener Jason Roy, was among the volunteers. “To have him come and help out was great for the club,” says Savage. “It was also really good for the young ones that managed to turn up, to see their hero.”
CricketForce, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) initiative with long-time cricket supporter NatWest, is designed to bring clubs and local communities closer together, ensuring grounds and facilities are ready for the new season, and Byfleet have been involved since day one, using the initiative as a catalyst to gather volunteers and maintain the grounds.
“We’ve always seen it as a very good way of getting our club ready for the season,” says Savage. “The CricketForce name has enabled us to do lots of projects.”
But this year’s clubhouse refurbishment project was the largest for some time, and took a while to get off the ground. “It has taken us 12 years to get to this stage, so it has been a fair project,” says Savage. “We have had some rejection along the way, and a fair amount of difficulty with planning processes – because we are in the green belt – but we managed to get there.”
With the project complete, Byfleet can now start to focus on a new challenge – recruiting and retaining players. “The younger generation have more things to do, more distractions,” says Savage. “And even though we’ve got a very nice facility, you’ve still got to keep the influx of players going. The club has to continue to evolve.”
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