Cricket nets open in Pinner

A cricket club in Pinner had an opening ceremony of their new state of the art cricket nets earlier this month. Pinner Cricket Club, on Montesole Court, officially opened the nets before their first league game on May 2. Daniel Langan, club captain of Pinner CC, told My Pinner & Hatch End News that he was delighted that work had finally finished. He said: “Towards the end of 2013 the club committee decided it was the time to invest time, money and effort into removing and restoring the old derelict cricket nets at the club which had not been used since the 1970s. “Over the course of 2014 we approached numerous grant bodies and with a lot of hard work we managed to obtain a £10,000 grant from the Football Foundation and a £3,000 grant from the Middlesex Cricket Trust. This still left the club with £13,000 to find. “During the 2014 cricket season we held numerous fundraising events such as race nights, quiz’s, raffles, fun day and a 24 hour walk. “During the 24 hour walk, one member walk the whole 24 hours. This event raised over £4,000. With numerous kind donations from members, in December 2014 we were able to place the order for cricket nets. The club had raised the £13,000 in little over a year. “The building work started just after Easter and has now completed. This is a huge step in the ongoing development of cricket at Pinner CC. We can now offer more specialist coaching to our members and a state of the art facility like this will enable the club to attract new members.” A representative from Lynda Jackson Macmillan Centre was also attendance at the opening ceremony and the club have recently announced a joint sponsorship with the cancer group moving forward. Daniel added that the club felt it was their duty to give something back to charity. He said: “After all of the help we have been given by our members and grant bodies the club has decided to give something back to those in need and this partnership is the first step towards that.” Club President Alan Kay added: “It has been years since we had nets at Pinner CC, this is a massive achievement and credit to the committee and members for their hard work.”