Cricket has been played in Storrington for over 200 years; the first newspaper record of a match was in 1798. In more recent times, the Club was a founding member of the Sussex Invitation Cricket League in 1977.
Over recent years focus of the club has been on developing our youth section once again. This year will see three cricket teams fielded for the first time in a number of years. We shall be have u14, u11 and u9 teams in addition to our "All Stars" group which is for children aged 5-8 years old.
A committee of Cygnets' parents was formed as an adjunct to the Club's main committee that serves the senior section of the Club. An increasing number of the parents are actively involved in the coaching and practice sessions for the juniors. Our endeavours and progress with the junior section have been strongly supported by the development officer at Sussex County Cricket Club.
As with many other sports, youth is the future of our Club. We are therefore planning to secure and maintain the Club's future with the installation of an all-purpose outdoor Net that can benefit the development of our expanding Cygnets section. We are fortunate in having a Leisure Centre adjacent to the Cricket Pavilion where indoor coaching and training takes place out of season. But, our outdoor net facilities are very basic and, by today's standards, somewhat unsafe, and we are therefore planning to replace these out of date facilities.
For a number of years we have had close links with Storrington Primary School that is just a few hundred yards distance from our cricket ground. The school does not have a cricket net facility. It is our intention to promote to the school the English Cricket Board's latest initiative for introducing cricket to young children in the 5 to 8 age group - being called "All Stars" - as an extension of the established Chance to Shine programme. Our planned new Net would be made available for the school to use.
In 2016, we decided to investigate the feasibility of installing a fully enclosed 2 Lane outdoor Practice Net that is 7 metres wide and 30 metres long. The Net we have chosen is approved by the English Cricket Board. Our selected installer are leaders in bespoke manufacturing of sports "systems" that meet our needs.
The project was approved by the Club’s Landlord, Storrington & Sullington Parish Council, and planning permission was obtained from Horsham District Council thus enabling us to concentrate on fund raising.