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08
Sept
Cricket legends offer to help Studley Royal fire appeal
Four English cricket legends have offered to get involved in a £60,000 campaign to build a new pavilion at Studley Royal.
Studley Royal Cricket Club's deer park pavilion was destroyed by fire on August 30.
The loss of such a historic building shocked cricket.
Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook, ex-England coach David Lloyd and former England spinner Phil Tufnell pledged their support to rebuild it in an episode of Stick to Cricket today (September 8).
Lloyd, who lives near York, said the situation was “shocking”, adding: “Studley Royal is a great area, so we need a benefactor.”
He suggested approaching DIY SOS host Nick Knowles — who he described as a “swarthy, nice fella” — for help before Tufnell floated the idea of getting local firms involved in exchange for “a nice bit of advertising” and making a TV programme about it.
Vaughan then said: “We could do it. We’ll help them out. We can do a Stick to Cricket locally and raise a few quid.”
The pavilion's charred remains.
The exchange features in the latest episode of the weekly talk show Stick to Cricket, which is produced by The Overlap, which is also behind Stick to Football.
Stick to Cricket episodes can get hundreds of thousands of views, so the coverage is likely to boost Studley Royal Cricket Club’s fundraising appeal, regardless of whether the former England players follow through on their promise.
Botham played there
After the fire the club, which produced current Yorkshire players Ben Coad and Finlay Bean, set-up a £6,000 recovery fund, which hit its target within days.
The target has now been extended to £60,000.
About £9,000 has now been raised. One donor, Angus Shaw, pledged £500. You can donate here.
Former England captain Ian Botham hired the pavilion for a private match in the 1980s.
Its idyllic deer park setting was a factor in why an episode of All Creatures Great and Small was filmed there.
An archive photo with the pavilion in the background.
A cricket pitch was established at the UNESCO World Heritage Site by estate workers in the 1800s.
The workers later formed Studley Royal Cricket Club, which used the deer park as its main ground until its current Galphay Road site was built in the 1990s.
The club's third and fourth teams, along with its junior side, still use the deer park ground.
The pavilion was owned by the club, which rents the land for the cricket pitch off the National Trust.
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