Following my note from before Christmas, I thought I would provide you with a quick update on where we are with the project to demolish the existing bungalow on the site and upgrade our facilities. You will find the plans here.

I informed you that we had been awarded a grant of £75,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy – in large part because of the notes of support we received from many of you - thank you!

I am pleased to report that since then, we have had further success:

A further grant of £10,000 from the MVDC Capital Fund

A grant of £20.000 from the Michael and Barbara Bell Foundation

We have also been given an extraordinarily generous donation by a club member of £28,000.

In addition, another member has kindly agreed to arrange for the demolition of the bungalow, which has been costed in quotes at about £10,000 and £12,000.

So, in cash terms we have raised about £130,000 against our target of about £200,000 and in addition have saved the demolition cost.

We are also receiving a huge amount of help and support from the club’s architect, Julie Martin of J Martin Architects.

There is still more to do. Led by our voluntary Commercial Manager, Kiran Talwar, we are working very hard on further bids. Our intention is to commence demolition as soon as possible and then to start the new build immediately after the end of the 2026 cricket season.

We believe this remains a realistic prospect and we will be in touch with further news and details of how you can help. In the meantime, if you have any questions or ideas that you think would help, then please do get in touch with me or Kiran.

Kind Regards
Richard Laudy
ACC President