Local resident and Thurcroft Big Local partnership member, Cath McCartan, explains why residents chose to invest over half a million pounds in refurbishing a cricket pavilion, and how it has become a thriving sports hub in this former mining community near Rotherham.
Who would have thought that when local resident John Graham and I were sat watching cricket one afternoon, and he asked me if Big Local would give a grant to give the cricket pavilion a face lift, that it would turn into this.
There was a huge community turnout for the launch of Thurcroft Hub. It includes this adaptable multipurpose space.
When we held our numerous visioning events on how to make Thurcroft a better place, the top achievable idea on the list was the suggestion to refurbish the old pavilion. The old cricket pavilion was damp and dilapidated beyond repair. So in the end we built our new hub in its place. It wasn’t the £1,000 John had first asked for – it was a half a million pound investment.
Our youth club, who used to meet in the cricket pavilion, now has over 300 children on its books and they have been involved with this project from the beginning, coming up with the logo and the name Thurcroft Hub. When I asked why they had chosen the name and logo I was told, ‘The logo is holding hands and working together’. And 100 per cent of them chose the name ‘Thurcroft Hub’ because they were proud of Thurcroft and wanted to show it.
I would like to remember our past chair Alan Bucknall who sadly passed away in September 2016. I am sure he will be proudly watching down. Not particularly at the Thurcroft Hub but at the grants we have managed to secure to help sustain the project. One of his favourite sayings in our meeting was, ‘We can make this million into six.’
The grants we have secured so far include:
We have also applied to Sports for England for £42,000 for cricket practice nets and scoreboard. We have already submitted planning permission for this. And we have applied to Sheffield Hallamshire FA for £4,500 to help toward forming new football teams and replace our goal posts. From the responses I have received it looks very positive. So, we are on our way!
A local building contractor demolished the old pavillion and designed and built the new Hub. The finished Hub looks out over the cricket and football grounds.
The fantastic new facility is encouraging people to set up new sports teams. The sports hub has football pitches and a cricket pitch for both adults and children. Indoors, it has a sports hall for netball, basketball, tennis and badminton; modern and secure changing facilities for men, women and children; and a sports bar and kitchen.
We’re also integrating a conference/multipurpose room that will accommodate up to 80 people and an office/meeting room which will be available for hire.
As its name suggests, the Thurcroft Hub will also be used as a focal point for community activities in the area. It will be the base for Thurcroft Big Local and the place to go to get involved in working together to continue making Thurcroft an even better place to live and work.
