LV= INSURANCE PRIDE OF CRICKET AWARDS 2023 - LV= FUNDRAISING HERO: With a mere £500 in the Chilcompton Sports Cricket Club's coffers and facing enormous bills just to move grounds and get a game on, Jacqui Nolan was handed a shopping list
Considering they were turfed out of their original home of 93 years in 2015, it's a wonder that Chilcompton Sports Cricket Club exists at all today.
But that the Somerset club thrives and grows less than a decade on is only possible thanks to the funds raised by the tireless Jacqui Nolan.
As a team with an ageing set of players and no youth section, having to find a new home could easily have rung the death knell for Chilcompton. But having had previous experience of fundraising for other ventures, the club turned to Jacqui – a mum to one of its players – for help.
"I was always brought up to support my local community, my son played for Stratton-on-the-Fosse [Chilcompton's former name] as it was, and my husband and I always supported whatever he was involved in with whatever skills we had to help… and fundraising was not new to me," says Jacqui on why she was asked to assist.
With a mere £500 in the club's coffers and facing enormous bills just to move grounds and get a game on, Jacqui was handed a shopping list. Her work since has landed her with an LV= Insurance Pride of Cricket Awards 2023 winner's trophy.
Net facilities at Chilcompton Sports Cricket Club, built thanks to Jacqui Nolan's fundraising [supplied]
Dave Travis, director of cricket and club secretary, explains the magnitude of the financial challenge in front of them: "We were needing around £15,000-£20,000 to get us started. So we fundraised, asked people to pay their memberships early, local businesses took part and we were able to get some grants.
"Through the help of grants that Jacqui had arranged, we bought the kit we required: a roller, two mowers, a scarifier, sight screens, covers, boundary rope. The list is endless."
But she didn't stop there, even while devoting large chunks of her time to care for her now late husband. Over the past eight years, Jacqui has continued to bring in additional cash to meet the ambitions of a club aiming to do much more than simply survive.
Soon there was money for a whole set of junior kit, permanent nets, a bowling machine and, this season, an electronic scorebox. It's estimated that she has raised in excess of £50,000 in that time.
"It's mind-blowing. If someone had said to me when we left Downside [their former home] that we would need that sort of money to start a cricket club, I think I might have had a different idea," says Dave.
"It leaves the club now in a marvellous position. We run three senior sides – two on a Saturday, one on a Sunday – we also have a senior T20 team midweek and this year we've run an under-13 junior team.
"We've had some success this year where our senior 1st XI have got through to the final of the Somerset Minor Cup at Taunton, and our juniors won the league for the first time ever against some much bigger clubs than we are."
So what's Jacqui's secret to being an LV= Fundraising Hero?
Jacqui has raised more than £50,000 for the club [supplied]
"The way I do the grant application is I start off saying ideally we would like a Lamborghini, then scale it down a bit: 'If you wish to give us a handcart, we'll still be more than happy!'.
"It shows the grant source that we're not being greedy, we are realistic and, in addition, we are looking to the future."
And her advice to other budding fundraisers: "Read the grant application very carefully to see what the criteria is; really think about what does your club truly need, not a wish list; do research about suppliers and costs; and I hate to say it, but you've got to spin what you want – pick out their keywords and match your grant application to those keywords.
"But just keep going. From pennies make pounds. Don't feel 'oh God, they've only given us 10 pounds'. That's 10 pounds more than what you started with."
"Everyone in the club is delighted that she's won this award. It's thoroughly deserved and we all know that without Jacqui there wouldn't be a Chilcompton Sports Club," says Dave. "We've got young lads and lasses coming through at 14 into our senior sides and they're the future of the club.
"I thank Jacqui for everything she's done on the fundraising."
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