Is this the future of White Coppice Cricket Club?
Club allrounder Richard Bush, who is a qualified architect, has drawn up some artist impressions of what the club could look like in the future.
The plans include a renovated and expanded clubhouse, two training nets, a reconfigured players’ car park, and outdoor decking area.
The proposals are subject to obtaining sufficient funds, a full consultation and obtaining the necessary planning permission.
Bush, who works at Chorley-based healthcare architects Gillling Dod, said: “Everyone knows that 2025 is the club’s 150th anniversary year so we thought it would be timely to create some images of what the club could look like in the future.
“One of the biggest aspirational improvements relates to creating two training nets on the location of the existing car park in order to attract new players and raise standards.
“The pavilion is the focal point of the club and the beautiful surroundings and we’re looking at a refurbishment and extension to the side and rear.
“We’d also like better player facilities including improved changing rooms and working showers.
“A larger clubroom could be used for a social area, café or a bar, potentially bringing in more revenue – and having outdoor decking may encourage more local passers-by to stick around for a while and cheer on the teams.”
The visualisations include a reconfigured players’ car park to make space for the nets. This would require groundworks to infill the existing ditch and improvements to the track.
Bush said: “We would also hope to refurbish our iconic scorebox (and mower sheds) – in keeping with the surrounding area of course!
“I should make it clear that these are just artist’s impressions of what a development could look like and what White Coppice aspires to.
“I did the hand sketches but I’m grateful to Gillling Dod, who donated some of our visualiser’s time to create the renders.”
With improved facilities, the club would like to launch a junior division and a women’s team, but are currently benefitting from a boom – recently selecting 33 different players across three games in one weekend.
It’s a far cry from 2017 when the club had to field just seven players in one game.