Astley Bridge Cricket Club transforms its clubhouse

Astley Bridge Cricket Club has transformed the well used clubhouse giving it a new lease of life.

A £50k grant from the Valencia Communities Fund was used to revamp the clubhouse, along with the help of volunteers.

The Valencia Communities Fund provides funding for community, heritage and biodiversity projects around the UK through the Landfill Communities Fund and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund.

The clubhouse has recently been revamped (Image: Astley Bridge Cricket Club)

The club was closed for just over seven weeks, during which time its old fixtures were ripped out and replaced with new ones, the chairs were reupholstered, and new drinks  on tap.

Committee member at the cricket club, Lesley Cryer, said: “It was really tired. The function room dressed up well, but when you looked around it was really tired and desperately needed revamping.

“The furniture has been revamped, most have been repurposed, but we have bought some new furniture.

“Two ladies spent all their evenings reupholstering 80 chairs.”

Astley Bridge Cricket Club have revamped their clubhouse (Image: Astley Bridge Cricket Club)

She continued: “It wouldn’t have been possible without the volunteers. On the first day alone, I added up the hours that they worked and 100 hours of volunteers’ time went in.

“The rooms were tired, but now they are an attractive space for people to enjoy.

“The contractors were brilliant, they’ve gone above and beyond to help us reopen.

“It’s wonderful now that we can open again and families and friends can be together.”

New drinks have been put on tap (Image: Astley Bridge Cricket Club)

Lesley added: “It’s a club at the heart of Astley Bridge. There’s an allotment society, a bike club, the Road Runners meet here.

“We want old and new members to come along and make themselves at home. The club isn’t just for cricket, it’s a place for all ages to come and socialise, whether they like cricket or not.

The clubhouse was closed for seven weeks while it was revamped (Image: Astley Bridge Cricket Club)

“People came in on Friday and said ‘wow what’s happened, it looks like a completely different club.’”

Astley Bridge Cricket Club is available to host functions. Anyone interested can ring the club on 01204 415515.

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at zach.harrison@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @zachhjourno.