Public support helps secure £8,000 for improvements at Etherley sports ground

A RESURGENT dale cricket club has bagged £8,000 of funding after the public backed its cause.
Etherley Welfare Association won the cash through Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme – scooping the third highest vote tally at the supermarket’s St Helen Auckland branch.
The money has been passed on to Etherley Cricket Club to spruce up the welfare ground in its 167th year.
Its entrance gates have already been restored and there are plans afoot to repair the clubhouse asphalt road surface and install outdoor gym equipment.
Club member John Raw has been the liaison officer between the club and Etherley Miners Welfare, which owns the ground.
“We are now entering year five of our five year plan in the reinvigorating of this grand old club,” said Mr Raw.
“We would like to thank everyone who voted for us at the local Tesco. The running and funding of the welfare ground is a never ending task.”
The club fell on hard times in 2011 when both its senior teams folded, but a band of committed members and volunteers rebuilt it by concentrating on its junior section.
A senior XI returned in 2015 and £90,000 grant-backed changing rooms opened the same year.
The new £8,000 funding had been earmarked for five projects around the ground, however, given the club didn't win the top prize, Mr Raw said the club would “cut its cloth accordingly”.
He added: “We are just like any other organisation – we need plenty of volunteers.
“Long ago when I first got into cricket, the last game of the season took place and your club went into hibernation until the following spring.
“That is certainly not the case now.”
The project aims to improve the “look” of the site, create “natural play equipment” and involve volunteers in planting and installing willow structures.
Paul Roe, chairman of the Etherley Welfare Association, said: “The site is used by the local cricket club and is an amenity used by local dog walkers and families.
“This money will help us enhance the existing natural areas and make it more attractive for casual users of the site.”
The welfare ground trustees are hoping to bring the adjacent football field back into use with harrowing underway and reseeding due this year.
It is hoped the football field will be bedded in for the start of the 2018-19 season.