Community Will Be Bowled Over!
The Nottinghamshire village of Upton, near Southwell, will soon have two brand-new community buildings in one.
Work is due to start shortly to build a new cricket pavilion on Hockerton Lane. However, the building won't just be a much-needed facility for the village's popular and growing cricket club - it will also double as a centre for use by organisations and groups in the village and surrounding area.
The £125,000 project is expected to be complete by the summer of 2010. Once it is finished, it will be fully accessible to people with disabilities and will comprise home and away changing rooms with showers, a large meeting/function room, a fully equipped kitchen, and toilets, including a separate facility for disabled users.
Funding for the scheme has come from several sources, including The John Collies Trust, a local village charity, Awards for All, Newark and Sherwood District Council. Both WREN and The Veolia Environmental Trust each awarded grants of £40,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund.
The pavilion will incorporate several 'green' features, including low-energy lighting, high quality insulation materials, double-glazed doors and windows and a ground source heat pump for heating the building and for hot water. Recycled materials, such as crushed brick and concrete, will also be used.
The scheme will be a real community effort. A number of local companies have already provided their services for free, saving over £5000 in costs, and it is hoped that others will follow.
In 2005, the Upton Village Plan identified a need for recreational facilities, particularly for children. This coincided with the cricket club's 150th anniversary celebrations and the demolition of its old and unsafe pavilion. After full consultation with villagers, plans were drawn up for the pavilion as part of a wider scheme of redevelopments that include the children's playground, which is already installed.
The new pavilion will be available to the public throughout the year, with the cricket club having priority at weekends during the season. The club runs an over 50s side, first team and a youth team, It also hosts a number of special events including ladies team matches, and Kwik Cricket events for the younger players.
Speaking about the scheme, chairman of the club, Roger Clark, says, 'It is quite remarkable our small village has managed to maintain a cricket club here for the last 154 years and also that its residents had the vision and determination to introduce a new much needed social and recreational facility at the ground.
'The new sports pavilion, which will include a large function room, will introduce a quality facility for all to use and will avoid the need for villagers having to travel to other venues farther a field. As a cricket club we hope the quality of the accommodation will help attract new young players to keep the club going for many years to come.'
Cheryl Raynor, Project Manager for Nottinghamshire commented that " The WREN regional panel were impressed by this professionally worked application. Being a 'self build' has meant the applicants can produce an exceptional facility for a fraction of the cost, this is an important factor when considering applications for funding".