Devon Cricket Board - Devon old boys to open Conrwood's new pavilion

Devon old boys to open Conrwood's new pavilion

Above – Cornwood club members take a break from labouring on the new pavilion. Below. The bar area

SUNDAY, MAY 30

MORE than three years of planning and hundreds of hours of work come to fruition tomorrow when Cornwood officially open their new £425,000 pavilion at Oak Park.

The club, which runs four Saturday sides and a legion of youth and ladies' teams, grew out of its old bungalow-style pavilion years ago.

Thanks to a massive grant of £201, 580 from the England and Wales Cricket Board, who have also offered an interest-free loan of £50,000, and grant aid from Sport England (£55,000) and the Devon County Community Council (£55,000), the club were able to start building the new pavilion last September.

Other grants and donations came from Devon County Council, South Hams District Council, the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and the generosity of club members.

Cornwood ticked the boxes with grant awarders having been identified as club of strategic importance by the ECB and the Devon Cricket Board. In layman's terms, they are a busy club which encourages people to play cricket.

The new pavilion contains four changing rooms - there are two full-size pitches at Cornwood - showers, toilets, facilities for the disabled, an umpires' changing room, scorebox, garage and bar.

The finishing touches were completed last week, in time for tomorrow's showcase game on the ground to celebrate the opening of the new pavilion. A Cornwood XI will play against an Old Devon XI put together for the match.

Nick Goodlife, the Cornwood club's development officer, said the ECB award was crucial to turning architects' blueprints into reality.

'We were ecstatic when we received he award because it enabled us to move forward with our new pavilion project, which had become a priority need,' said Goodliffe.

'We also acknowledge, with gratitude, the other grants and the substantial support from our own club members.

'This has been a major project for us and we regard the grants and financial support given to us as an investment in cricket for the long-term future.

'Essentially, we are a community, village cricket club and we now have four senior teams, more than 100 junior members, including newly formed ladies' and girls' teams. Because of the continued increase in the participation and playing of the game, the new facilities were essential.'

Brian Cruse, the ECB's funding and facilities manager, said the development at Cornwood would boost the grass roots of the game.

'It has been planned to input new impetus into the playing future of the local community,' said Cruse. 'As the investment matures, cricket locally, I am confident cricket locally will go from strength to strength,'

Cornwood president Gavin Dollard will perform the opening ceremony for the new pavilion after a gala lunch for invited guests.

The Devon team, put together by Cornwood's former county player Duncan Boase, is:

Julian Wyatt, David Tall, Jeremy Williams, Andy Pugh, Keith Donohue, Matt Hunt, Matt Theedom, Mark Gribble, Tim Ward, Arwyn Jones, Boase.

DCB Ltd, University of Exeter Sports Hall, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QN Company Registration Number: 7024773