Portsmouth CC Crowdfunding in bid to build ‘the best cricket pavilion in Hampshire’

The club have submitted a planning application to the city council to redesign and refurbish their existing pavilion which was built around 50 years ago.

Chairman Rick Marston estimates the work at their St Helens ground - on the Southsea seafront - will cost around £70-75,000 and would ideally be completed in time for the start of the 2021 grassroots cricket season in April.

Marston had been confident of obtaining a grant of £10,000 from Sport England, but was this week told the application had been unsuccessful.

But the club should still have the necessary funds to plough on with the redesign, providing they can hit a £20,000 Crowdfunding target by early January.

As of yesterday, they had already raised almost £3,000.

‘The pavilion is starting to show its age quite dramatically,’ said Marston.

‘We need to do work on the roof and replace the cladding.’

‘We thought we might as well do a redesign to meet the growing needs of all our members.

‘This is something we have been thinking about for several years.’

The club have received several ‘generous pledges’ from members and also have funds of their own. Once the £20,000 is hopefully raised via Crowdfunding, Marston said they will have the cash needed to undertake the necessary work.

The club’s plans include:

Complete internal redesign of the pavilion;Cladding and general external enhancements;Improvements to the changing, shower and toilet facilities;A rooftop balcony;Disabled toilet facilities;Improved bar and cellar;New external entrance.

At present, there are two main changing rooms and a smaller room used by the umpires on matchdays.

Under the plans, three bigger changing rooms will be created with one of them to be used by the club’s female players.

‘The changing rooms are embarrassingly poor for the girls and women players,’ Marston said.

‘We are keen to increase the amount of female players at the club, and better facilities will help.

‘We also want to bring in disability cricket, but at the moment we haven’t even got a disabled toilet.

‘The changing rooms will be enlarged by taking space from existing cupboards and corridors.

‘We will be moving the bar forwards slightly, so that will give extra space for changing rooms.’

Portsmouth have had a positive response from local residents, and have the support of ward councillors too.

The pavilion plans have been drawn up by architect Paul Watkinson - a club member who has given his time for free.

There is no change in the pavilion’s current height, even with the introduction of a rooftop balcony, while new cladding will provide an improved aesthetic.

‘At the moment the dark brown cladding is not very attractive,’ said Marston.

‘When the work is done anyone walking past will see a big improvement.

‘There is no change to the height or profile of the pavilion.

‘We have consulted with our local neighbours but have had no negative feedback.

‘It would be amazing to start the work in January or February.

‘We put the planning application in a few weeks ago, so hopefully we might hear back by Christmas.

‘We could do the work in phases, but ideally we would get it all done by the start of next season.

‘The stars will hopefully align.

‘We have had some generous pledges from members, we already had some money saved up, and we have support from local councillors.

‘Now all we need is to find this last £20,000 to get us across the final bridge.’

Like most recreational sports clubs, Portsmouth CC have not escaped the harsh financial realities of the pandemic.

They did at least manage a truncated season, with games starting in mid-July and going on until the middle of September.

Though less than half of a normal season, it was far better than nothing.

‘We did lose a lot of potential income, I’d say about 30 or 40 per cent of what we would normally expect,’ Marston revealed.

‘We were thankful that a lot of members carried on paying their subscriptions.’

Portsmouth are eager to carry on improving their playing numbers in 2021.

For the first time in around a decade, they will be fielding four adult teams on a Saturday afternoon - the newly-created 4th XI entering the Hampshire League.

As mentioned, there are also plans to increase the girls and women’s numbers - with hopefully a women’s hardball team created by the start of the 2022 Hampshire Women’s League season.

In terms of the 1st XI, the club are desperate to return to the top flight of the Southern Premier League for the first time since the late noughties.

In a shortened 2020 SPL season, they defeated all four of their fellow divisional rivals in a combined Premier/Division 1 East league - raising hopes of a successful 2021 campaign.

To support Portsmouth CC’s fundraising campaign, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk and search ‘Portsmouth CC redevelopment’.