Uppingham Town Cricket Club 

Uppingham Town CC – Press Release for New Ground - February 2009.

Just before Christmas 2008, Uppingham Town Cricket Club took a major step forward in relocating from Newtown Road by acquiring approximately 8 acres of land. The new site is off the Old Leicester Road and will be the setting for two grounds side by side to cater for the burgeoning desire by local seniors and juniors to play cricket.

Uppingham Town were formed in 1872 and have played on various sites in and around the town – just after the Second World War they moved to play on The Middle courtesy of Uppingham School. Here they have remained, gradually developing changing and club house facilities. The location has proved very popular and as playing numbers increased in recent years the square has often been over played and the clubhouse whilst cosy and well maintained – proved too small for the numbers of parents and supporters that flock to the ground.  The club will remain entirely grateful to Uppingham School who have been phenomenally supportive and co-operative over the last 50/60 years.

The club now has 75 senior playing members, 130 junior members between the ages of 7 and 18 and a healthy social membership approaching 250. Three senior sides play weekend league cricket, two friendly weekend sides play various local clubs and 6 junior teams play competitive league cricket. A weekday evening senior side plays in the Burrough League too.

Junior cricket has not always been a part of the club, this started with a number of senior players taking their sons up to practise on a Thursday night at The Middle. Charlie Scott, the club chairman was instrumental in getting this started in 1990 with other parents helping out.

At that point there was just enough to make a team but as each year has passed the numbers attending Thursday Night Cricket has grown. Some of those initial players are now first XI players, having progressed through the friendly teams and 2^nd XI.

The new ground became more than a dream when Charlie Scott and Joe Nourish, both local farmers and active committee members identified a suitable site just over 2 years ago. A small number of the committee members then actively set about planning the move and looking at ways of funding the purchase and subsequent development of a pavilion.

The Leicester & Rutland Cricket Board helped brief the club on what steps they would need to take to open up funding opportunities from the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB). They introduced the committee to Mike Turner the former Chief Executive of Leicestershire CCC who now acts as a facilities consultant for the ECB.

To gain funding the club had to demonstrate its ability to run a club with an active junior section – the programme for assessing this is ClubMark. This required the club to have a number of volunteers qualified to coach cricket to ECB standards.

Within in an 18 month period the club had nine level one coaches and one level two coach.  In June 2008 Uppingham Town became the 1000^th accredited ECB ClubMark club receiving praise for the way it runs junior cricket and integrates youngsters into the club and senior cricket. Upon securing the accreditation funding was released by the ECB to make the ground purchase in late 2008.

The project is in two phases – phase one, ground purchase, install services, hedging / fencing, create drive and car park as well as prepare cricket squares and outfield. Phase two is the construction of the pavilion and practise nets. The total anticipated spend will be in the region of £600,000 over the next two years. So far the club have raised £315,000 from local and national sources, including the ECB, Uppingham Town Council, Cory Environmental, YOPs Fund, The National Sports foundation, Arnold Wills & Co. and other private donors. The committee have been uplifted by the encouragement, help and financial support provided by the above organisations

Since the land purchase completed in late December many club members have been working hard transforming the entrance and perimeters. Most Sunday mornings are being dedicated to this early preparation work ahead of Grantham based cricket ground specialist Stephen Pask laying the cricket squares and outfield in early March.

The club anticipate playing their first games at the new ground mid way through August 2010 – the challenge for now is to secure planning permission for the pavilion and the necessary funding. Any local businesses and cricket loving individuals who would like to help the club over the next critical 12-18 months please contact chairman Charlie Scott Mob. 0794 7038 500 or E-Mail sooscott1958@yahoo.co.uk Updates and information will continue to be available @

                                                                     www.uppinghamtowncc.co.uk 

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Last modified: Tuesday August 31, 2010 22:49