Over the next year or so we will be following the development of a 2nd ground that is being developed to the side of the current ground at Sharley Park. The website will feature an online diary style article with updates throughout the development of the 2nd ground until its first use which is due to be at the beginning of the 2005 season. The updates will mainly be written by Steve Eyre, the club secretary, who has been one of the main people behind getting the grants and go ahead for the work.

The updates will appear as the main headlines when they first appear on the website but they will all be available through the main "2nd Ground" feature page accessed from the front page.

For those that know the ground and layout at Sharley Park, the new ground will be located on the far side of the ground from the current pavilion. As is mentioned in Steve's first article it is believed to have been a ground many years ago. The image below gives a rough indictation of where the ground is :-

"Let Work Commence"

Clay Cross Cricket Club is pleased to announce that work has now commenced on the new cricket ground at Sharley Park.

This the culmination of a lot of hard work within the club and a recognition by Sport England that Clay Cross Cricket Club has developed into a well run, competitive club that has the potential to go much farther.

In 1988 the club had 13 players and was a member of the North Derbyshire Cricket League. Since then membership has grown and the club has two teams in the Derbyshire County Cricket League (DCCL), a Sunday team in the Mansfield Cricket League, a team in the North Derbyshire Indoor League and several youth teams in the Chesterfield Youth Cricket League. Since joining the DCCL the club has won the cup twice and enjoyed numerous promotions. As I write the first team are in with a strong chance of promotion to Division 2.

The present ground at Sharley Park was probably built in the 1870’s. Prior to this there is evidence to show that the owner of Clay Cross Hall used to sit in his front room and watch games take place. This suggests that the new ground was the site for the original ground in the 1850's. Although the site is far from flat, a ring of mature trees surround the site suggesting they were planted as part of the boundary.

The main funding for this project has come from Sport England with Derbyshire County Council contributing £11,000 with the possibility of WREN Recycling donating £15,000. North East Derbyshire District Council has allowed their land to be used.

Generally the project has been well received in Clay Cross with numerous bodies supporting the application to Sport England. However, some local residents did get up a petition that was submitted to the planning authorities. This was based on possible damage to local property from cricket balls and increased noise from cricket watchers. However it seems that they had been wrongly informed of the position of the ground. A cannon would be needed to get a cricket ball into the garden of the nearest house! Planning permission was granted.

The company chosen to complete the contract is Boughton Loam Ltd of Kettering. They are a well-respected company in the sports ground construction industry and work to very high standards and the club are very happy to be working with them.

The first part of the project will be to spray the current surface with grass and weed killer. After a couple of weeks the earth moving crew will take off the topsoil and grade the subsoil giving an almost flat base. There needs to be some slope to the new ground to allow rainwater runoff. The topsoil will be replaced and the whole ground seeded. Then an eight-pitch square will be constructed and by 2005 the new ground will be ready for use.

The first stage in pictures :-

	© Clay Cross CC 2003

Related Links:
2nd Ground Update Page