Sponsors
We don't currently have any sponsors, but we are very keen to identify a local company willing to work with us as we enter one of the key phases of our 140-year history.
1. The Future of Epping Cricket Club
We are presently embarking on a five-year plan, with the intention of improving all aspects of the Club, and are join us in our efforts to develop one of the local community’s most important sports and social facilities. Our main aim at this time is to identify a local company keen to become the Club’s main sponsor and willing to enter into a mutually beneficial partnership. Of course we would be delighted if companies who are not in a position to make such an ongoing commitment, felt able to make a one-off financial contribution instead, to help us achieve our fundraising targets.
2. Our Vision
Based in Lower Bury Lane, Epping CC is the town’s foremost cricket club, playing in the prestigious Shepherd Neame Essex League. We field three Saturday sides, two Sunday elevens. We are particularly keen to further develop our junior section.
The Club has a proud history, and since its foundation in 1865 has become an integral part of the Epping community. We are always mindful though of the need to look forward and to that end have drawn up the five-year pIan referred to above. Our specific goals for the next five years include:
a) Modernising and extending both our pavilion and nineteenth-century clubhouse. This will include gutting and re-fitting our changing rooms and creating a new kitchen/catering area.
b) Enhancing the quality of the playing surface. A significant improvement will require the purchase of covers and the appointment of a qualified groundsman able to dedicate the necessary time and effort.
c) Appointing a professional cricket coach to oversee the development of the town’s young cricketers.
d) Making our pavilion accessible all year round. As well as enabling us to host social/fundraising events throughout the winter months, the building of a tarmac road and car park would also allow us to make our facilities available to other Epping clubs and societies in search of meeting venues or function rooms.
3. Financing the Proposed Improvements – Community Investment
Of course the realisation of these ambitious plans will depend heavily on our ability to finance them. The Club is on a sound financial footing and numerous steps have already been taken to further increase revenue – we have increased Club subscriptions and match fees this year for instance, and have also set up a dedicated fundraising committee. This latter group has introduced a number of internal initiatives, including our flourishing ‘200 Club’, designed to raise money from members and friends of the Club. We are also investigating the possibility of obtaining grants, from such bodies as the Sports Council, the National Lottery, Epping Forest District Council and so on, and indeed were recently awarded such a grant by the Lords' Taverners.
We also hope to secure sponsorship though from local companies. It is our aim that we identify a partner keen to act as the Club’s main sponsor for the next few years, and also that we enter into ongoing relationships with other ‘subsidiary’ sponsors willing to make less burdensome financial contributions. We hope to gain the support of a number of individual patrons as well.
4. Benefits to Sponsors of Epping Cricket Club
Of course we intend that the relationship between Epping CC and its sponsors will be mutually beneficial. We believe that we have a lot to offer to corporate supporters and would specifically identify the following opportunities:
a) High-profile association with the town’s premier cricket club and the chance to help us develop one of Epping’s main sports and social facilities, whilst simultaneously improving sponsors' own community relations.
b) Local press coverage - match reports/photographs regularly appear in local editions of the Guardian as well as the Epping Star. Of course even more prominent coverage could be arranged as appropriate.
c) Direct association with a particular feature of our existing activities or planned improvements e.g. our Colts section, our cricket week fixture with the England Deaf XI, new covers or pavilion refurbishment.
d) The opportunity to advertise on our website, including external links as appropriate.
e) Participation in our annual team photographs, which could subsequently appear in both the local press and the widely distributed Shepherd Neame Essex League handbook.
f) The addition of an appropriate logo to our club shirts/sweaters/tracksuits.
g) Advertising space in our annual fixture card, distributed to 200 members and friends of the Club.
Of course there will be other benefits that we have omitted to focus on here, and we can naturally be extremely flexible in terms of accommodating any other specific requests.
5. Your Chance to Join Us
These notes provide a flavour of our ambitious plans for the coming years, and an idea of the various ways a sponsor's support could benefit both parties. One of the Club's reprsentatives will be delighted to meet with any interested parties to further explain our vision for the future of Epping Cricket Club, and to particularly discuss the specific ways in which you can partner us as we enter this exciting new period in the Club’s history.