As the new cricket season shivers into being and youngsters look once more at the sad reality that is our current pavilion the Cricket Club can’t but long for the day the new pavilion is ready. And with huge amounts of work now completed behind the scenes on developing training programmes, safeguarding policies and a host of other things that are needed for the young people Mission EmployAble will train and employ in the café there, everyone at Mission EmployAble is similarly desperate for the Pavilion to spring into being.

But first we need the money! Let us share with everyone in Chorleywood the great news of our fund-raising success to date. We are quite certain we are now in a position to start building very soon.

Fund raising has continued throughout 2020/21 despite all the COVID restrictions and has been very successful. We have raised over 80% of our target funds to date, including £100,000 pledged by Sport England. We have nearly a million pounds in the bank and pledges from reputable grant making charities for another £730 thousand including the Sport England commitment. This is enough to cover the building costs and, thanks to the offer of a generous interest free loan to be available if required, we are now ready to start the building of the pavilion with confidence. But we still have to raise funds to pay back that interest free loan, to pay for a pilot project for Mission Employable and to pay for the start up costs of the café. So during the remainder of this year we will continue to fund- raise.

To allow everyone involved to sleep well at night, a large UK based charity has pledged to underwrite the entire cost of the build, thus guaranteeing that nothing we can think of will stop money being available to get the pavilion completed.

The Parish Council has asked us for certain guarantees and assurances which we are talking to them about. As soon as these discussions are completed, we will be in a position to start the building and we are all excited about the prospect.

We would like to thank both the local Chorleywood community and the wider community for the support for this project to date. We have had many kind words of support given to us and people have responded incredibly generously to all our fund-raising events.

We now look forward to a new cricket pavilion and a new community café that will equip and train young learning-disabled adults for employment in the local area and provide a wonderful facility for cricket, refreshments and facilities on the Common.

More fund-raising events are planned for the remainder of 2021 which will be advertised locally soon, including an additional day on the 3rd May to see the Bluebells as local support resulted in the 2nd May being sold out!

Thank you again for your continuing and much appreciated support,

Steve Dunning Chair, Chorleywood Cricket Club

Katharine Weston Chair, Mission EmployAble

Posted by Steve Dunning on 24th Apr 21

£50 Robin Webb

£10s Kevin O’Donnell, Jamie Mulholland and Terri Pinnock

Posted by Martin Tyler on 24th Apr 21

£50 Chris Moore

£10s Andy Stothart, John Chadwick and David Brabham

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 7th Mar 21

We know you will share our excitement that work is about to begin on the new Cricket Club pavilion and Mission EmployAble training café. The original 1960s building which is in bad repair will be demolished in March. The new pavilion will enable the Cricket Club to grow and to extend opportunities to play cricket to girls, women and people with disabilities.

It will also house a café run by Mission EmployAble, which, in conjunction with Bucks College, will train young adults with learning disabilities, via supported internships.

The café will be open every day to all comers, serving delicious home-made food for snacks, light lunches and afternoon teas, all with magnificent views of the Common. The café will also have a small gift shop.

Keep an eye out on the website's new buildings page which will show you how we are doing. The building site will be protected by the contractor Boom Construction Ltd from day one by secure and newt fencing as recommended by the ecologist, and parking and welfare facilities for the contractor will be provided on-site.

We especially wanted to thank all of you who have supported our fund-raising efforts so far. The Cricket Club and Mission EmployAble's joint scheme was launched to raise £2m, £1.7m of which has been raised already.

We will have plenty of new events planned during 2021 and have some spaces available for the Charity Golf Day on the 16th April. Click here for ticket details.

The new building is due for completion in late 2021/early 2022.

Posted by Martin Tyler on 20th Feb 21

£50 Anthony Shuster

£10s Tom Smithson, Natalie Hinds and Jeremy Hinds.

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 14th Feb 21

Gulam will be remembered for many feats on the cricket field - promotion winning knock for the 2nd XI, just missing out on his 100 for the 4th XI on a baking hot day in Ramadan (and then keeping for 49 overs!), diving one handed catches under the nose of the batter for the 3rd XI, batting on, covered in blood, after taking one in the face on a dodgy track in the 4th XI, and countless other fine innings with the bat.

Most of all though, Gulam will be remembered as someone we all enjoyed playing cricket with. He was a true gent with a great sense of humour who was always open with advice and help for others ..... and he had the baddest batting gloves you'll ever see! He will be hugely missed.

Condolences to his family from everyone at CWCC and rest in peace Gulam.

Posted by Nigel Tyler on 29th Jan 21

£50 Barbara Bailey

£10s Meg Downing, Ken Buchanan and Lesley Neal

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 12th Jan 21

£100 Les Dacre

£10s Jonathan Rice, Charles Hardcastle and Meg Downing.

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 19th Dec 20

Christmas Wreath competition until the 27th Dec Click here for info

Mission WoofAble until the 20th Nov Click here for info

And lastly a message about the ultra running...

When the Ultra was cancelled, Brent covered the required 100 miles in 24 hours by running around Chorleywood and the surrounding villages, spurred on by socially-distanced shout-outs from individuals along the way. Along with his running crew who pushed him tirelessly throughout the day and night and kept us updated with pictures, videos and lap times. (Great for his family who were glued to the WhatsApp group over in New Zealand.) Without a doubt the best part of the run was being with his son Luke, 15, who ran alongside him for the last 11 miles.

On his return to Chorleywood Common in 23 hours and 41 minutes, Brent said that he completed the marathon in order to keep his promise to the charity. Chorleywood Common where locals were out with their families enjoying the sunshine just erupted into to applause when the two of them came racing towards the Cricket Club out of the woods. Brent said "It was an overwhelming finish. I really wasn’t expecting anybody to be there and when I came over the hill I was very surprised. I want to thank everyone for their fantastic support of a wonderful cause. I am especially proud of Luke who gave me such motivation at the end."

Brent has raised a staggering £10,810 for us here at Mission EmployAble. The last £2080 came in throughout his run on the 7/8th from many local families who crossed paths with him over those 24 hours. We have not heard the last of Brent and his determination to make a difference - watch this space.

"Amazing. What a wonderful achievement and huge thanks for such a massive fundraising effort and support" Katharine Weston: Founder of Mission EmployAble

Posted by Martin Tyler on 12th Nov 20

£50 John Chadwick

£10s Clive Radley, John Chadwick and David Jenkins

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 12th Nov 20

£10s Andrew Stothart, Jane Spurr and Chris Moore

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 5th Oct 20

£50 Derek Hussey*

£10 Helen Smithson, Marion Hampton and Brian Mulholland*

*Denotes contributions to CWCC Development fund.

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 20th Sep 20

£50 Meg Downing

£10s Alex Hodgkinson, Owen Edis and Charlie Hardcastle.

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 31st Aug 20

Posted by Martin Tyler on 2nd Aug 20

Virtual Comedy Night In with Friends (for over 18s)

A virtual comedy night in with friends comes to Chorleywood & surrounding villages in aid of local charity Mission EmployAble
Location: In your front room on Zoom
Date: July 3rd
Time: 8:00pm - 9:30pm
Tickets: £12.00 plus booking fee per household

Click here to buy tickets

Posted by Martin Tyler on 1st Jul 20

£10s Ryan Evans, Terri Pinnock and Steve Ord.

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 1st Jul 20

£100 Nigel Tyler

£10s George Dare, Peter Spriddell and Pepi Vazuez

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 30th Jun 20

£50 Charles Hardcastle.

£10s Meg Downing, Sam Hatfield and Susan Hinds.

Posted by Brian Mulholland on 2nd Jun 20

Posted by Martin Tyler on 29th Mar 20

The funeral is arranged for 1040hrs on Friday, 20th March 2020 at the North Chapel, West Herts Crematorium. Our thoughts are with Geoff's family and friends at this time.

Posted by John Chadwick on 17th Mar 20