17/04/2023
Tonight as our under-9s and under-11s smashed their first fitness and skills session of the summer season, our CrowdFunder campaign smashed its target total!
Thanks to a surge in donations and the generosity of our supporters we can now not only pay for the refurbishment of our training nets but also try and raise money to buy extra things our young players need.
Tonight's session showed how passionate the children are about playing cricket, learning new skills and staying healthy and active.
The coaches struggled to keep pace at times, (as some of the photos show 😉) as the kids powered their way through planks, jumping jacks, burpees, press ups and sit ups, before breaking out into skills sessions.
Smashing our fundraising target was a fantastic way to start the summer season and with 29 days left on the clock still, the sky's the limit to what our 'Fix Our Nets' campaign can achieve for young cricketers in Liverpool!
11/04/2023
What an Easter Monday morning of crowdfunding cricket!
As rain clouds threatened it really did feel like the Thunder versus Lightning fixture was going to get weather to match the team names!
But the young cricketers at our club are made of stern stuff (as are the parents, coaches and helpers) and 46 players got through three innings to raise £500 in match fees and another £150 from well-earned refreshments.
It was a fantastic turn out from across the age groups and it means we've raised £6000 so far in our crowdfunding campaign to fix our nets.
Local businesses are starting to show their generosity and offer freebies for us to offer as paid-for rewards on our crowdfunder page here:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/lcc-fix-our-nets
https://readerbarandrestaurant.co.uk/
https://instagram.com/west.coastcoffee?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
http://www.neilsmithhair.co.uk/about/
https://92degrees.coffee/
https://www.dumanrestaurant.org.uk/
Please keep spreading the word about our 'Fix Our Nets' campaign using your social media and professional networks.
We have raised 29 per cent of our £20,000 target with just 35 days left so the more people who know about us, the better chance we have of raising the money for our new facilities.
Keep following this page for updates on what the players have been doing to raise sponsorship.
21/03/2023
More than 200 young people from across Liverpool hone their cricket skills down at the nets in Aigburth but after 20 years they are starting to show their age (the nets not the juniors!).
That's why this spring our young players from across the junior age groups at Liverpool Cricket Club are embarking on a series of fundraising challenges to generate enough sponsorship to patch up the astroturf, replace the stumps, mend the fencing and buy brand new nets.
The cricket nets are a vital part of training for all cricketers, providing a hard, dry surface to practice bowling and batting in. They allow cricketers not taking part in a match to practice their skills without facing the wrath of the groundsman, and the nets prevent the odd slog destroying any nearby greenhouses.
Although these photos show members of the under 9s and under 15s making the best of the facilities, a closer examination would reveal astroturf worn down to the concrete beneath, moss and weeds sprouting out of bare patches, stumps fixed to rusting springs, and nets with holes big enough to pass a rugby ball through.
The costs are surprisingly high (between £37,000 and £43,000) but wholesale, comprehensive renovations are needed to give these young player the facilities they deserve.
Last year we hosted visiting junior side from Ireland and Jersey to play at Merseyside's most famous cricket club (the ground hosted Australia in 1930 with the great Don Bradman rating it one of his favourite grounds in the world, and later, in the 1980s, welcomed the West Indies). And amongst our juniors are children who have sought refuge in the UK having fled violence and war in their home country, discovering a welcoming community here in Liverpool and a place to play their most-loved sport.
So how are we looking to raise the money? Well, we believe in youngsters learning the value of money and of hard work so this April we'll be challenging our junior players to "Get Fit to Fix our Nets” by seeing themselves a variety of fitness and cricket-themed endurance tasks in order to impress their family, friends and neighbours so they dig deep and donate.
Some will be throwing and catching a cricket ball a thousand times in a month, others will doing 500,000 steps in four weeks, and some might even do a 24-hour run-a-thon (anything to keep them busy during Easter holidays!). More activities will be posted on this page and we'll be sharing videos and photos of how they are all getting on.
We'll be incentivising them to hit certain fundraising targets by offering Liverpool Cricket Club merchandise and we'll be putting on several community and social events at the club to help players and their families get to know each other better.
If you live locally or run a business in the area and would like to support our junior teams, then all donations however small, are gratefully received and very much appreciated.
Our young players have found a sport they enjoy and are good at and being able to 'Fix Our Nets' after 20 years of use and neglect will make a big difference to their physical and mental wellbeing, and help the club remain an integral part of the south Liverpool community.
To support our Crowd Funder appeal click here https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/lcc-fix-our-nets?tk=MTY3OTU5NTg2MTAxYzA1NzhiMTVkYzE3MzA2YWYzYTYwYzBmOGQwZmM3MDU2MjhjODA=
21/03/2023