Boughton Cricket Club

After another successful and well supported season in 2016 Boughton Cricket Club arranged a 'Posh Hog Roast' on Sunday 28th August. This was our major fundraising event of the season with all funds raised going towards the completion of our new pavilion which is now beginning to take shape (see picture) You may remember that we gained a grant from Sport England towards the project but needed to raise about £17K ourselves in addition to this. We are now well on the way to this total through various events that have been arranged over the past year as well as contributions from Norfolk Community Foundation and several very generous private donations. The club was fortunate enough to be able to use a wonderful marquee and facilities for the Hog Roast that had been used the previous night for a private party next to the ground off Wretton Road. After a clean up on the Sunday morning by a crew organised by Sue Pogmore who managed to assemble an army of hoovers, the carpets were cleaned and the tables were reset and the marquee prepared for its second 'big bash' of the bank holiday weekend. After a huge organisational effort by Clare Insall and Karen Short, we all prayed for some good weather but precisely on cue at 6.30pm the heavens opened and a storm ensued with quests running the gauntlet to get from their cars to the marquee. Thankfully the rain soon subsided and spirits were not at all dampened. Wendy and Tom Roberts had organised some wonderful salads to accompany the delicious pork supplied by Manor Farm Hog Roasts at Fincham and with plenty of wine and drinks available to wash it all down everybody enjoyed a thoroughly good evening. After the meal an auction and raffle were conducted by club captain Ben Wilkinson who was very successful in getting guests to dig deep into their pockets for some wonderful prizes and donated gifts. The evening concluded with dancing to music supplied by Nightlife Entertainment who kept the dance floor full until after 11pm. I can now tell you that the evening raised circa £3200 with is a fantastic sum and I must thank all of those from the local community for coming and supporting us with over 180 tickets sold. It was wonderful to see so many people not directly involved in the cricket club showing their support for us and what will be a great facility for the village and local community once our pavilion is built. I also wish to express my thanks to all of those who help organise such a successful event as there are too many to mention by name here. Our final fundraising effort for the year will be over by the time you read this which is Ben Wilkinson and his long suffering partner Anna, walking the Peddars way and Norfolk Coast Path over the weekend of 10th and 11th September with sponsorship raised again going to our pavilion fund and judging by previous history I'm sure this will also be a complete success.

Steve Short Chairman