Fareham & Crofton cricketers prepare for the off ...
Fareham & Crofton cricketers have already begun clocking up the miles in a bid to raise funds for their club and a local mental health charity.
Joint 1st XI captains James Headon and Chris Davey came up with the idea of a sponsored bike ride to help cover some of the Hampshire League club’s running costs during the pandemic.
Starting this weekend, a group of players will be aiming to cycle the distance that the 1st XI would have travelled from their Bath Lane HQ to every away County League Division 1 game and back in 2020.
The distance works out at around 1,500 km, which is around 930 miles. The players have a week in which to cover all those miles.
Half of all cash raised will be donated to the club, with the other half donated to The Moving On Project, which provides counselling and mental health services for children and young people aged 11-25 in the Fareham and Gosport area.
Target
After just one bike ride, which took the cricketers out through Stubbington, Hill Head, Lee-on-the-Solent and down through the Gosport peninsular, the club’s initial fundraising target of £1,000 has already been passed. It currently stands at almost £2,100.
If the charity cycle ride proves a success – and its looks as though it will – Fareham may make it an annual event, perhaps as a part of pre-season fitness training.
Fareham & Crofton chairman Charlie Stubbs estimates it costs in the region of £40,000 to run the club every year.
‘That sounds like a lot of money for a recreational cricket club,’ Stubbs said. ‘We’ve had a grant of around £7,000 from Sport England, and Fareham Borough Council have frozen our rates for a year.
‘We have to try and cover the costs somehow. In a normal season we’d have annual subscriptions, weekly match fees, with the Bath Lane clubhouse bar from which we usually aim to make an £8-10,000 – but its not been open for cricket since August last year .
Joint 1st XI captains James Headon and Chris Davey came up with the idea of a sponsored bike ride to help cover some of the Hampshire League club’s running costs during the pandemic.
Starting this weekend, a group of players will be aiming to cycle the distance that the 1st XI would have travelled from their Bath Lane HQ to every away County League Division 1 game and back in 2020.
The distance works out at around 1,500 km, which is around 930 miles. The players have a week in which to cover all those miles.
Half of all cash raised will be donated to the club, with the other half donated to The Moving On Project, which provides counselling and mental health services for children and young people aged 11-25 in the Fareham and Gosport area.
Target
After just one bike ride, which took the cricketers out through Stubbington, Hill Head, Lee-on-the-Solent and down through the Gosport peninsular, the club’s initial fundraising target of £1,000 has already been passed. It currently stands at almost £2,100.
If the charity cycle ride proves a success – and its looks as though it will – Fareham may make it an annual event, perhaps as a part of pre-season fitness training.
Fareham & Crofton chairman Charlie Stubbs estimates it costs in the region of £40,000 to run the club every year.
‘That sounds like a lot of money for a recreational cricket club,’ Stubbs said. ‘We’ve had a grant of around £7,000 from Sport England, and Fareham Borough Council have frozen our rates for a year.
‘We have to try and cover the costs somehow. In a normal season we’d have annual subscriptions, weekly match fees, with the Bath Lane clubhouse bar from which we usually aim to make an £8-10,000 – but its not been open for cricket since August last year .
