The green light for Uppingham Town Cricket Club's new ground is the realisation of a long-cherished dream for players and members.
The club has bought eight acres of farmland off Leicester Road and hopes to bowl the first ball there in August next year.
The flourishing club has outgrown its existing Newtown Road HQ, which it rents off Uppingham School. It now has 75 senior p
laying members, 130 juniors aged seven to 18 and a healthy social membership approaching 250.
It will cost around £600,000 to relocate to the new ground and the club has already generated £315,000 from local and national sources, including the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Uppingham Town Council, Cory Environmental, the Youth Opportunity Fund, the National Sports Foundation, Arnold Wills Group and other private donors.
The plan is for two cricket pitches, a practice area and car parking. There will also be two pavilions – the main one boasting four changing rooms, facilities for the umpire, areas to store ground maintenance equipment and playing kit, plus a bar, cellar and kitchen area. A smaller pavilion is also planned next to the second pitch so players don't have to walk all the way back to the main building.
The cash generated so far will pay for the land, the laying of two cricket pitches and development of the outfields. The club needs to raise more money to help pay for the main pavilion.
Uppingham chairman Charlie Scott said: "Everyone is excited about the new ground. We shall have improved facilities and the security of owning our own ground."
The 137-year-old club has played at various sites in and around the town and moved to its current ground just after the Second World War.
The pitch is leased from Uppingham School and has proved popular over the years. The clubhouse is cosy and well-maintained but it is now proving too small for the increasing numbers of players and members now associated with the club.
Uppingham Town now fields three senior sides in league cricket, two friendly weekend teams, a weekday evening XI and six junior league sides. The development of the junior section of the club allowed it to bid successfully for a variety of grants to facilitate the move.
Youth cricket began when a number of senior players started to take their sons to practice on Thursday evenings. Mr Scott and other parents started a team in 1990 and some of those original youngsters are now playing senior cricket for the club.
Mr Scott said: "The school has been very generous to us and we are very grateful for everything they have done for us.
"We have had to vacate the ground in mid-August so the school can use the pitch which has meant we had to play our home matches earlier in the summer.
"One good thing about the move is that we will no longer have to vacate our ground early and we can play there all the way through the summer."
The new ground became more than a dream just over two years ago when Mr Scott and fellow farmer and committee member, Joe Nourish, identified a suitable site off Leicester Road.
Leicester and Rutland Cricket Board helped the club initially and put them in touch with former Leicestershire CCC chief executive Mike Turner, who is a facilities consultant for the ECB.
The club had to demonstrate its ability to encompass a thriving junior section to attract funding for the project. Over the next 18 months 10 new coaches were trained to help with the youth teams, leading to Uppingham Town CC being awarded the prestigious ECB ClubMark status, the 1,000th club to do so.
Teams of volunteers have been working away at weekends preparing the new site. Services have been installed and work carried out on hedges and fences ready for when Grantham-based cricket ground specialist Stephen Pask lays the squares and outfield in early March.
Mr Scott added: "We are indebted to the co-operation of the farming families – the Scotts of Ayston and the Turners of Belton – in the purchase of the land and access rights to make all this possible.
"It's a lovely site with easy access and we are looking forward to being able to play on it around August 2010. The quality of the facilities will also enable us to play higher level cricket if we want to in future."
Any local businesses or individuals interested in helping the club in the run-up to their relocation is invited to telephone Mr Scott on 0794 7038500 or email him on sooscott1958@yahoo.co.uk
