April and May 2002

The management committee decided to investigate a major lottery bid as they realised the club’s current facilities on West Park were very soon likely to seriously impact on the development of the club.

The factors that were considered: -

• A growing membership – both senior and junior – had rising expectations about the facilities a top class club should possess.
• The time to undertake a development of this magnitude is when the club is enjoying a period of success.
• Managers accompanying junior representative sides had commented on the excellent playing facilities [for example - three good grass wickets] that needed a pavilion of equal status to unlock the potential of the venue.
• The need to have a facility which would attract members to the newly constituted Sawley & Long Eaton Park Women’s Cricket Club.
• The knowledge that the league wanted club’s to improve their facilities.

The management committee actioned a member to obtain an application pack. [Ring 08457 649 649]. This pack contained a variety of documents – including an application form, how to develop your bid and a letter of intent [this is not actually a letter but a form to be returned to the Lottery] and allocated an application number to the possible bid – in our case 99011696.

The letter of intent is designed to prevent organisations embarking on a bid without much likelihood of success. Its submission prompts the Lottery to arrange a meeting with one of their officers to discuss the proposed bid. We submitted our letter of intent on the 2 May 2002. It outlined the nature of the bid including an estimate of the approximate cost of the project – in our case £150,000.

Our consultation meeting took place on 18 July 2002. The main points to emerge were:-

• cricket development needs to be at the heart of the bid rather than the refurbishment and extension of present pavilion.
• any cricket development plan needs to show the partners the club would work with to achieve more than if the club acted alone.
• any cricket development plan needs to support the aims of the Derbyshire Cricket Board [DCB]. They will be asked to comment on your proposal by the Lottery Board.
• the club’s constitution needs to show it is an open access club.
• any building work must follow the Sport England Guidance Notes for ‘pavilions and clubhouses’.
• keep the local authority informed as they will be asked to comment on your proposal by the Lottery Board.
• the cricket development plan should determine the design of the building.
• the club needs to explain how it compliments rather than competes with other clubs in the area – in our case Long Eaton who play most of their cricket in Nottinghamshire.
• try and ask for around 50% or lower of the money required rather the maximum amount [i.e. 65%]. Try and keep bids below £100,000 in terms of the money required from the Lottery. Show that the club itself is trying to fund a reasonable portion themselves.
• any bid should be supported by outline or full planning permission. In our case full planning permission because the nature of the construction is not significant.

The management committee considered the outcome of this meeting and decided to move forward by forming a Lottery Bid sub-committee lead by Vic Brownett.

David Dooley, Sawley and Long Eaton Park Cricket Club

I am sure everyone involved in Derbyshire cricket joins Sting In The Tail in wishing the club the best of luck with their attempt at obtaining a grant. Follow their progress here on "the independent voice of Derbyshire cricket".