Help Thorley Cricket Club raise another £120,000 to build new clubhouse that will benefit the whole community

Thorley Cricket Club would love to bowl over the whole community with a new clubhouse as it looks to expand its offering for everyone.

The club has so far managed to raise £95,000 towards the project and needs a further £120,000 to be able to start work on the new pavilion.

As well as looking to start a ladies' team and run softball sessions, the club is looking to run more sessions for community groups and charities such as Grove Cottage.

The club was established in 1911 and currently has around 40 adult members playing league and friendly cricket.

The youth section was established in 2008 and, to date, it coaches more than 100 children every summer aged seven and up. As well as offering professional coaching, all age groups play competitive cricket, suitable to their age and ability.

Thorley's dedicated and passionate committee have worked tirelessly to raise funds and grow the club. They now have permission from Thorley Parish Council to build the new pavilion having received approval in May 2020.

The current clubhouse was meant to be a temporary structure back in the late 1990s and is made up of an old portable cabin and random outbuildings which are now old and decaying. The club has outgrown the building and cannot expand without investing in new facilities.

"Our aim is to improve facilities for our current members, but also make it viable to get more juniors playing and we would dearly love to introduce ladies' cricket," said chairman Tim Lamb.

"We would also love it to be a bit of a community hub. We already allow Stortford Stags volleyball team to practise on the ground in the summer and to use it as a bit of a base.

"We also extended use of our ground to Little Hadham Cricket Club, otherwise they would have been another village team to fold.

"With grants and fundraising we think we are about half way to our £200,000 target, but that figure can be less if local businesses want to donate materials or furnishings."

On the pitch, Thorley suffered a six-wicket defeat to Farnham in their first home Tees Herts & Essex Border League, Premier Division game of the season on Saturday.

The hosts were put into bat by Farnham captain Tommy Cattell and a tight opening spell from Steve Griggs (2-9) and Matt Ireland (0-19) led to them being 70-3 off the first 20 overs. Wickets continued to fall at regular stages, with Isaac Waters (44) being the only top-order batsman to be in the runs.

When all looked bleak for the Gannets, some rearguard action from captain Adam Sydes (46 not out), Jack Lamb (33) and Adam Cooper (22) meant Thorley finished on 189-8 from their 45 overs.

Thorley's opening bowlers Lamb (2-36) and Cooper (0-19) started tightly, but a lack of wickets made defending a low total difficult.

A strong second-wicket partnership between Tom Radley (86) and Sam Hyne (55) made light work of the total as Farnham reached 190-4 with five overs to spare.

Go to www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/thorleyclubhouse to donate to Thorley's clubhouse appeal and visit www.thorleycc.net to find out more about the club.