The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is pleased to announce that Chard Cricket Club has been awarded a grant from the England and Wales Cricket Board in partnership with Sport England.

The investment supports Sport England’s and the ECB’s national strategy 2009 – 2013 which aims to grow the number of people playing sport, sustain participation by encouraging more people to keep playing sport, and help talented sports people excel. Chard Cricket Club was identified by the Somerset Cricket Board and by the ECB as a club of strategic and developmental importance due to their ability to contribute to the ECB’s goals to develop cricket through energising people and to inspire more people to play the game. The Club was awarded grants amounting to �234,779 towards the cost of a major pavilion redevelopment which will provide facilities for women’s and girls’ cricket. The total project cost was approximately �304,000. The Club’s Secretary, Nick Coath said, “We were delighted to be awarded the grant because we urgently needed to up-grade our changing facilities to meet modern ECB specifications. The redevelopment has completely transformed the pavilion and changing facilities and we now have four excellent changing rooms with shower and toilet facilities, a changing room and facilities for people with disabilities including a lift, an umpires’ changing room, a larger social area and kitchen, improved storage area and a scorers box.” “In recent years the Club has made good progress as we have achieved Clubmark and Focus Club status and we have over 100 junior cricketers. We are also a ‘Chance to Shine’ Club and through this scheme we provide coaching and play opportunities – for boys and girls – in six local schools.” “The Club is very keen to increase the participation of the number of girls and women playing the game and on August 11th we are staging a Competition for girls’ cricket when we will stage the Lady Taverners Regional Final for the Under 11 age group.” Liam Brown, the ECB Women’s Regional Cricket Development Manager (South West) said, “We are delighted that the club has stated its commitment to becoming a hub for the development of girls and women’s cricket in South Somerset. Eight Club Finalists from counties within the South and West at the Under 11 age group will participate in a girls’ soft ball Lady Taverners Competition to mark the opening of the facility.” “Charlotte Edwards, the England Women’s Cricket Captain, will open the Competition and the matches will begin at 9.30 am. This will be a showcase event for girls’ cricket in the region and we hope this will be the first of many Women’s and Girls’ cricket events at Chard Cricket Club in the future.” “The Somerset Cricket Board supported the grant application because there was a need to up-grade the Club’s facilities and also because Chard CC was identified as a strategic development Club for girls’ cricket. We are extremely grateful to the England and Wales Cricket Board and Sport England for their most generous financial support and we regard the grant as an investment in cricket at the Club in the future and it will be a long term benefit to the local community.” For the third consecutive year the England and Wales Cricket Board reports that overall participation in Focus Clubs has increased by 15%, Women’s participation has increased by 11% while Girls’ cricket has increased by a staggering 27%. The increase in girls’ cricket comes on the back of the Lady Taverners Competition which is organised in each county and the winners progress to the Regional and National Finals. Clubs enter a hard ball competition from Under 13 and Under 15 age groups. Sport England’s Director of Property, Charles Johnson, said: “The rebuild of the pavilion will obviously help the Chard Cricket Club in the development of cricket and will be welcomed by the home players and visiting teams. We are confident that the ECB’s strategic approach to investing in high-quality, sustainable facilities will help cricket to attract and retain many new participants.” The �18 million of capital investment which has been awarded to cricket will be distributed to strategically identified applicants who can evidence their contribution to the games outcomes to grow and sustain current levels of participation, improve people’s experience of cricket and improve the quality and opportunity to develop talent. Projects eligible during this period include fine turf provision, non turf provision, land purchase for cricketing purposes, indoor provision for cricketing purposes and communal changing facilities. Bruce Cruse, the ECB’s National Funding and Facilities Manager said: “The ECB is pleased to support this Club which will give a boost to grass roots cricket development. I am confident as the investment matures cricket locally will go from strength to strength and the facilities will benefit the community generally.”