The Nutters have nearly reached the end of their fifth year of the new pavilion project. Our sixth should be one of the most momentous in the club’s history. Our determined aim is to erect the new machine store, demolish the old pavilion and erect the shell of the new building during 2018.

A recap on the the project to date:

We began our project in 2013 with the goal of replacing the pavilion with a building broadly comparable to the size of the current club house. We set ourselves a target to raise half of the initial £140,000 budget (for a timber replacement building) within three years, with the remainder of the funds to be achieved through £4£ grant awards.

We achieved that goal but what changed along the way was the outcome for the project. We can broadly summarise these changes into two drivers:

1) It became clear to the club that the insurance costs for a like-for-like replacement building would be cripplingly high. Our experience in raising 50% of our initial budget also focussed the members’ minds on the longevity of the new building. A timber build would have a life about one third of that of a block work building (block work carrying vastly cheaper building’s insurance premia).

2) We were approached by a number of community groups with inquiries regarding potential to hire the new pavilion for events. What became clear was the minimum size required for the common room and that size was much bigger than the cricket club’s own parochial need.

After much thought and given points (1) and (2) above and the cricket club’s long term aim to deepen its connection with the community and its contribution to Parish life, we decided to change the target project outcome to a block work build and a building with a footprint some 40% larger than the initial project plans.

This strategic decision had implications, not only for the project budget and a material increase in time to project completion but also the need to achieve a variation to our lease to permit a block work build and to extend the lease length to 125 years.

Fast forward to today - where we are, the next steps and our destination

1. We have raised more than £125,000 in committed funds for the project in five years (including the award of our first charity grant of £10,000 from the Peter Harrison Foundation). This is a rate of fund raising of over £2,000 per calendar month;
2. We successfully achieved CASC status with HMRC, permitting the club to reclaim 25% of Gift Aid on all donations;
3. We achieved, in partnership with the Parish Council, a new licence and lease for 125 years and permission to build in block work;
4. We redesigned the pavilion to accommodate local community group use requirements, the result being a 40% larger foot print when compared to the project outset;
5. We achieved permission for a separate machine store building and agreed its size and location;
6. We achieved planning permission in March of 2017;
7. We have submitted our application for approval of materials and await this critical approval from HDC (due by 25/01/2018);
8. We have commenced the construction of the machine store slab in readiness for the erection of the store building itself. The slab preparation has been conducted entirely by the cricketers themselves (see other news stories on the website for progress);
9. We have submitted an application to Biffa for £51,000 (decision point due in March 2018);

Our key 2018 milestones are as follows:

End March - erection of new machine store building

End April - demolition of the existing pavilion

End of August / beginning of September - to commence the construction of the new pavilion building shell (whether or not we have raise all of the necessary funds for the build budget).

So, it is our committed aim to build in 2018. We have to reasonably anticipate that unforeseen events may arise which impact our timeline. One such circumstance may well be the impact of a complex slab foundation for the pavilion. Early exploration of the sub-strata has identified inconsistencies which we were not expecting (we expected a fairly uniform strata of Horsham Stone over the foot print of the pavilion). We have engaged specialists to advise and conduct further in-depth exploration and analysis.

One other real positive is lending help to our cause. Three local people have registered a new charity with the Charity Commission specifically to help raise grants from large national charities who have the condition that awards can only be made to other organisations registered with the Charity Commission. The cricket club is not a charity. It is a CASC and they are very different things. Whilst the new charity - “Friends Supporting Sport and Recreation in Nuthurst Parish” - is independent of the cricket club, you may well see the charity active locally to help raise funds for our initiative.

In summary

The Nutters recognise that the pavilion project has been underway for some time now. Energies remain high, attitudes determined and execution focussed. Much has changed with our project in the first three years - an expansion in scope yes, but an expansion which is seeking to create a legacy for the cricket club and an amenity to serve the local community.

We continue to be enormously grateful for your support - be that in time, financial contributions or simply spreading positivity about our project. We are a volunteer organisation and an organisation where most people have full time jobs. We have achieved a huge amount today and we have much to do still. We will get there and 2018 should be a year where a new building rises from the ashes to make our Parish proud (and no, we are not going to burn it down!).

Should you have any questions, concerns or interest in matters we have not covered here please do not hesitate to contact Club Chariman, Kevin Barnes (242018 / barnekevin@gmail.ciom) or Club Deputy Chairman, Jonny Willis (273073, jonny@willisfamily.me.uk).

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and do please raise a glass to The Nutters and our project goals for 2018.