24 Hour Boundary Walk

We are Earlestown Cricket Club and we are fundraising for a mower to cut our outfield... A cricket club founded in 1882 for the Viaduct works employees, Earlestown CC has a rich history with several former players representing Lancashire and even England. Now playing in the Southport and District Cricket League both on and off the field of play the club has made progress with a terrific volunteer led committee who have made the club a part of the community with a thriving junior section and close links with schools, charitable organisations and local people young and old with big plans in place to grow and grow. In 2022 we will have 2 weekend teams, 2 midweek teams and an under 13's. 

We are completely volunteer led, we have no support from the social club side and any bills we have to pay we raise our own money. Our biggest financial outlay each year is cutting the cricket outfield. In recent years we have paid a private firm to help us at almost £3000 each year. Poor service and high cost led us to purchase a set of gang mowers to be pulled by an old clapped out car given to us by a club member. Our small budget meant we couldn't purchase the market leading gang mowers, instead a cheap set that have given us constant headaches and taken up valuable time from our volunteer grounds team meaning every week has been a challenge. 2022 will see us have 2 Saturday teams, 2 midweek teams and a brand new under 13's section so having the field cut every week with little fuss will be even more important. We need to purchase a new outfield cutter, fit for purpose and reliable. We simply don't have the funds for something suitable so on the 5th November two of our members are to embark on a gruelling 24 hour walk around our pitch in order to raise funds to cut the grass and make the club look like a cricket club.

The money we raise each year covers our costs and rarely leaves us with any money for projects or improvements. During Covid Lockdowns we had to fundraise to survive and since lockdowns ended we have seen an upturn in people wanting to play and get involved with our club. Our aim is to get our 1st team promoted and create a sustainable and opportunity rich 2nd team that allows players old and new to enjoy cricket in a relaxed and fun way, whilst blooding as many youngsters as we can.

We had hoped the lightweight gang mowers would be the answer for our outfield, sadly they have caused more problems than they have solved. Its clear that if we want to continue to grow as a club we need a solution. We need a fit for purpose outfield mower, unfortunately we cant afford one and must fundraise and ask for help to get one. Without a suitable outfield the game of cricket can be a miserable experience. If people don't want to play at our ground because of a poor and over grown surface our club will suffer. A well cut outfield looks very nice and our local residents will know we take pride in our club and may even decide to come and join us whether a non playing member or playing member. If we can raise funds for a new machine through our 24 hour walk the club will save thousands every year and be able to put money raised through the year into other more affordable projects.

Without the right equipment, preparing any sports pitch is difficult. Volunteers are hard to find and keeping them is even harder. The problems our outfield causes us has left several volunteers tired and ready to retire. By completing this project we hope to inject new life into these members and have a club we can be proud of because of how our ground looks.

Realistically we need to funds in place to make a purchase by end of January, early February.

The boundary walk will be completed by 2 extremely long serving Etowners. Club captain Karl Allan and former mid week team captain Liam Fletcher have well over 500 games for Etown in the bank and both began their cricket journeys with the club as under 13's. Both a part of the groundsman team they both have experienced the stress of cutting the outfield and the idea of the boundary walk came from hours and hours spent on it trying to cut it.