Newcastle Cricket Club have crossed the boundary for their £6,000 crowdfunding target in an effort to recover from a difficult year for sport – and now has two days to try and reach a stretch target of £8,000.

The club, which has now been closed since October 2020, relies heavily on the profits from their bar and function room to operate and cover necessary costs involved in the upkeep of the building and team.

It has been the beneficiary of grants and has leant on the government’s furlough scheme to help them through the multiple closures of the pandemic.

However, due to a year without income from functions and the large utilities associated with maintaining such a large building, the club decided to take inspiration from other local teams that had led successful crowdfunding campaigns.

Phil Hudson, senior cricket operations director at the club, told JesmondLocal that the crowdfunding campaign had been incredibly successful.

“We’ve exceeded our target and we were relying on almost £2,000 from Sport England to do that, so that was fantastic and was incredibly invaluable to us,” he said.

The generosity of the funding has also paid for renovations to the bar area and the possibility to create seating areas that are outdoor but under cover for inclement weather. These efforts aim to make the club more conducive to outdoor socialising ahead of reopening in April.

Hudson said: “We are very fortunate that we have an awful lot of outdoor space comparative to some of the other bars on Osborne Road, and will be able to offer a space for everyone.

“We have a lot of space and if the weather’s nice it’s a really beautiful place to spend some time.”

The club has plans to focus on youth and female teams, with the relaunch of their women’s team later this year.

“We have big ambitions to employ a specialist female coach to make it as inclusive as we possibly can,” said Hudson.

The crowdfunding money will also help towards paying for junior coaches, coaching education programmes, insurance and necessary CRB checks that will all encourage as many juniors to take up cricket as possible, helping to further secure the future of the club.

If you would like to donate and browse the incentives please do so at the club’s crowdfunding page.