Compton & Chandler’s Ford’s ‘dawn till dusk’ Longest Day fund raising project was an overwhelming success with the cricketers raising £4,360 – a total they hope to increase to £6,000 in the next few weeks.
The money raised will go towards refurbishing the practice nets at the Memorial Ground in  Shepherd’s Lane, smartening up the clubhouse – and keeping the club’s head above water financially during a summer in which cricket remains in lockdown due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We normally field four Saturday teams in the Hampshire League each week throughout the season. With no cricket, we have no money at all coming in - but still have bills to pay,” pointed out club member Martin Halfacre, who helped organise the Longest Day project.
“One of our fund raising initiatives was a sponsored walk of the cricket boundary – the idea being for our members, friends and supporters to do 554 cumulative laps and walk the distance from Compton (where we are based) to Lord’s and back.
                                                                                     Anticipation
"Because of the fantastic take up we had on the day, we smashed that target and accumulated 1200 laps, which we reckon gets us to Durham’s county ground at Chester Le Street and perhaps a bit beyond !”
Compton’s members were at the ground from 5 o’clock in the morning till 9pm, with the cricketers themselves enjoying such much needed practice in the nets – in anticipation of playing some friendly matches later in the season.
Youngsters also got the opportunity to have some coaching throughout the day.
Compton & Chandler’s Ford are keen to push their fund raising efforts on to the £6,000 mark and donations can be made via www.crowdfunder.co.uk/compton-chandlers-ford-cricket-club-funding
“We are very much a community club, fielding junior teams at four separate age groups from Under-9s upwards, but it costs a lot of money to run, hence our need to stage fund raising activities like this,” Mr Halfacre added.