Newark Ransome & Marles Cricket Club president David Smith says club’s future is in doubt after 195 years
President David Smith has appealed for help as Newark Ransome & Marles Cricket Club fight for their future.
The 195-year-old club, based at Kelham Road, have been badly hit by flooding in recent years and Smith fears they could go out of existence if they continue to suffer.
With Newark, once one of the top amateur sides in the country, sat on a floodplain, Smith accepts they won’t be able to keep the water away.
But if they could invest in their own drainage, it could make all the difference in limiting the impact.
“We are in dire straits,” said Smith, a retired PE teacher.
“If we get another flood this winter, I think that could see us off. It could be the end.
“Houses have been built close to the ground and they’ve put a big bank in front of the houses to prevent them from flooding.
“A few years later, they built the bypass and they built a great big bank to put the road on.
“So, now we’ve got a bank either side of the pitch and the water’s got nowhere else to go but over our wicket.
“The drains that should take the water away, which are run by the highways department, are completely blocked.
“I’ve no doubt they’ve got a budget for maintenance and we’re not a priority, so the last flood we had, the water sat on there for about four months and killed the wicket and ruined the pavilion, so we can’t use that any more.
“We’ve had people down from Lord’s, from Trent Bridge, and from the local council and they’re talking about £100,000 to put it right, which frightens me to death, but we wouldn’t need £100,000 if we could get the drainage sorted and so when the water comes on, we can actually get it off pretty quickly.
“There’s a lot of good people at the club but we’re a club in crisis.
“I’m hoping there might be some ex-Newark players out there who have been successful in life who, with a little bit of publicity, might come to our assistance.
“I just want to put it out there that we’re in need of help.
“What we need is a great big drain to get the water off the pitch when it inevitably comes on because what happens is once it rains too much on the Derbyshire hills, it ends up in the Trent and once Nottingham is threatened with being flooded, they open the floodgates and send all the water down to Newark.
“Newark’s used as a floodplain, we aren’t going to stop that, what we need to do is somehow get the water off.
“I think we’re in great danger of losing the club unless we can solve this problem. We’re just about on our knees.”
Newark have three Saturday teams and a Sunday friendly team, as well as women’s and girls’ cricket and junior sides.
They have a rich history but will struggle to attract players without a solution to their flooding woes.
“Within the area, you’ve got Collingham, who play in the Notts Premier League, and they’ve got lovely facilities and a lovely pavilion, so we lose out to them,” said Smith.
“Just up the road you’ve got Balderton, and they attract players, and Farndon. “We’re in competition with local teams in the area and inevitably people look at our facilities and think ‘we aren’t going there, it looks like a dump’.
“Newark, in the 1970s, were champion of champions, the best team in Nottinghamshire. If you won the champion of champions in your county, you went into the national knockouts and Newark got as far as the semi-finals.
“Some people were a little upset with the defeat and there was a feeling Newark were probably the best amateur side in the country but it’s fallen into steep decline.
“We’re hanging in there now and the floods are the last thing we need. The club’s fighting like mad but, unfortunately, we’re up against it.
“I’m hoping someone might want to come along and see what they can do to help us.”
Anyone interested in helping the club can make contact via the get in touch section on their playcricket.com page.