Hambledon to rise from ashes

Hambledon Cricket Club will get more than a facelift when the crowds of volunteers set to work on a new temporary pavilion over the 2008 NatWest CricketForce weekend.

The historic club, founded in 1750 and long regarded as the ‘cradle’ of cricket, will emerge like a phoenix from the ashes after a fire ravaged the old pavilion back in September 2007 and decimated much of the club’s unique heritage.

But seeing the clubhouse charred and mostly ruined proved a turning point for some members who resolved to see good come out of their disaster.

As Jennie de Mellow explains in the NatWest CricketForce 2008 - Blogs, she heard an item on Test Match Special about NatWest CricketForce and promptly asked her father, club secretary Chris de Mellow, to register Hambledon.

In the meantime, a fundraising programme was started based on the insurance pay out from the fire and a new temporary timber pavilion, measuring 30' x 14’ was ordered.

Then it was announced that Hambledon had been selected as a NatWest CricketForce showcase club, which was when their vision for the future started to take shape with ideas mooted for a long-term replacement structure costing £400,000.

Over the NatWest CricketForce weekend, from April 4-6, the pre-fabricated timber hut will be assembled and prepared for the forthcoming season.

Southern Electric, who sponsor the local Hampshire league, have offered to connect them for free and other suppliers will contribute materials and services for the installation of a new bar and a new kitchen.

Dulux, for example, has generously offered to supply paint, brushes and rollers free of charge.

Scores of volunteers are expected to attend and Chris de Mellow sees the weekend as an opportunity to secure the club’s future for the next few decades.

“We are ambitious about what we want to achieve longer term and we are keen to get our message across to the people in the village. NatWest Cricket Force gives us the opportunity to say ‘look we had this disaster and this is how we want to move on’," he said.

“There is not a lot of public money out there. The insurance money will kick start the fundraising. We have a benefactor who is looking to support us in a substantial way but we will need private money and that is the message we need to get across.

"We are negotiating with a local farmer for a second ground that will be served by the pavilion so we have a very exciting vision and want to make as much noise about it as we can.”

Thanks to chairman David Mills, who runs travel company Nature Trek who organise wildlife and conservation trips, plans are also afoot to set up a Hambledon Wildlife area at the club.

These dovetail nicely with the ECB’s ‘green’ theme for NatWest CricketForce 2008, as do the installation of a water butt system and glass recycling scheme, which are both being explored.

The Hambledon project is one of the biggest to be undertaken for NatWest CricketForce so organisation of volunteers is already proving a daunting task.

“On the Friday, we are expecting around 50 volunteers alone from the Hampshire staff at the Rose Bowl who have offered to come along and paint sightscreens or do whatever is required," de Mellow added.

“These will include a proportion of the squad who will be given projects to do - though I would rather have John Crawley showing our youngsters how to bat than wielding a paintbrush, so there will hopefully be some coaching going on as well to make it a real event.

“And then there will be more volunteers arriving over the weekend and they will all need jobs. It’s pretty daunting but the end result will be worth it.”