Edinburgh South Cricket Club

Hi all,

Great to see so many people along to nets at the start of the season.   Work on our new square is progressing well.  We've invested a lot of money in it, and the great news is that through Inch Park, we have secured a position as full time groundsman to help look after it.  This should allow us to turn it into a first class square.

To do this, we are also needing to invest in new equipment, including a scarifier and covers.  Neither of these are cheap.  We've been very successful at getting funding from different sources over the last couple of years to pay for many of our initiatives.  In the current financial climate however, the money is starting to get harder to come by.  We are therefore considering using club funds to cover some of the remaining equipment.

We have the money to do this, but it means the healthy surplus the club holds gets smaller.  As the club's ambition grows, so does the cost of things to run.  Our overseas amatuer has also been a great success, but from next year we need to find the money for their accomodation and flights if we want this to continue.

Bottom line - we need to start fundraising.  We should be targetting fundraising of approximately £2500 per year.  This will allow us to continue to grow at the rate we are without having to trim back.  I'll be looking into potential private sponsorship opportunities, but the rest needs to come from ourselves.

We have a great facility now, so have an opportunity to congregate for dinners, quizes, etc.  Also, after the matches we are all there, so could start up bonus balls, run raffles etc etc.

Key thing - it needs people to help with this, and for the whole club to then get involved.  I'm therefore proposing we setup a fundraising group - a small number of people coming up with ideas, then taking them forward to fundraise for the club.

Calum has kicked this off with a pre-season meal in April, more to follow. 

If you are up for helping the club out with this, can you please get in touch with me.  Any time you can spare greatly appreciated, the club needs your help to keep moving forward!

Thanks in advance,
Paul