Crime pays....Us!
Clubhouse Funding Coordinator Nigel Abbott received a cheque for £500 this week from Claygate’s local neighbourhood police team – PC Danny Bond and PC Jas Reed. The award was made from the Surrey Police Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) scheme.
Under the POCA scheme the police receive some of the assets confiscated from criminals. These funds can then be used to support local initiatives.
Once a year Surrey Police’s POCA Panel considers bids from local organisations and awards grants to successful bodies. Our award was supported by the local Claygate police team.
Nigel Abbott commented, “It's another boost towards our target of paying our £60k of loans quickly and yet another grant from a community based organisation”
With a little help from...Buddha?
What we’ve achieved has been through our own hard work and the fantastic response of the community. But how much could be put down to the work of the Almighty is something at which we can only guess!
However, every bit of assistance is good...and an opportunity appeared this month for some help from Buddha!
Nigel Abbott was in the Himalayas recently with son Kerry trying to climb a 21,000 ft mountain called Mera Peak. Having been hit by High Altitude Sickness at 20,000 Nigel returned to base camp where he spent a rest day with a group Sherpas.
As it was a pleasant day (only -10C!) the local Buddhist monk turned up to re-dress the prayer flags for the summer season and Nigel set to work to help them with the decoration of their pole.
But a thought struck him! As part of the prayers for the success of the crops and people’s health, would the monk also pray for the success of Claygate’s new clubhouse and a good season for the cricket club?! The monk agreed readily and the names were added to the prayer list!
Meanwhile a Claygate Cricket Cub hat was also added to the top of the prayer flag pole!
The clock’s ticking!
Project director Richard Waller paints the apex of the new building.
But as the clock ticks...there is still a massive amount to do to get the new building ready for the season. Please come down and help!
Going ...Going ...Gone...!
Going...
Going...
Gone...
A fund raising event ...when no one came!
We only recently realised the potential of the scrap metal in the old building, and with the demolition company poised to start ‘The Great Knock Down’, we organised a small party to strip all the copper from the old building – including the copper cylinder.
In a day-long spell, opening bowler Luke Webb demonstrated his professional skills by removing metal and electrical cable from the defunct building section by section, piece by piece.
And when we went to sell the spoils, what was the result of our hard day’s night? A fantastic £547.50!
A great effort by Mr Webb and the rest of the team and a terrific fund event ...when no one came!
22nd February 2012
Green credentials...green future
The new Claygate Clubhouse is not only looking good, but it’s environmentally friendly as well...
The new timber-clad clubhouse taking shape on the Recreation Ground not only looks attractive on the outside, but also includes a whole host of features designed to create a environmentally sustainable building.
‘Green construction’ as it’s known, refers to buildings that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient over their whole life - from concept and construction to operation and maintenance. Buildings using this approach are designed to reduce their overall impact on human health and the natural environment ...and use energy, water, and other resources as efficiently as possible. Achieving ‘green construction’ for the Claygate Clubhouse has required close cooperation between project director Richard Waller, architects Crane and Associates and construction company Woodward Alden.
“To be as green as possible was one of the objectives set by the project team” explained Richard Waller, “and we have achieved more than we originally hoped for. There have been some things that we haven’t been able to do as we’ve had to operate with an extremely tight budget all the way so original intentions for solar panels for example had to be abandoned because we could not afford the short term expenditure despite the long term benefit”.
So how is it achieving these targets? Well it’s quite a list!
Insulation, heating and ventilation
The building has been designed with high levels of insulation in the walls, floors and roof with very low U values - a measure of how well a building insulates. This will minimise the need for heating during winter and cooling in summer.
Space heating is provided by efficient under-floor heating in the clubroom and kitchen areas – the other areas in the building which are not used continuously will not be heated directly. The ventilation system is ducted and includes a Toshiba heat exchange unit to warm the incoming cold air in the winter and reduce heating costs
Water heating
Hot water is mainly required for showers after football and cricket and the gas-fired Ecoflow condensing water heater has a gross efficiency, of 98%. The efficiency of a normal non-condensing boiler is around 75%, but a condenser boiler extracts and recycles heat from the otherwise wasted flue gases. The boiler also has burners which emit low NOx and CO2 which both improves efficiency and reduces pollution.
Roofing
The roof tile covering is lightweight, coated, galvanised steel panels with the appearance of traditional roof tiles.This system has a much longer life compared to more traditional roofing products and is the only roof tile to be granted a 'Police Preferred Specification' status to help resist break-ins and importantly is resistant to cricket balls! The tiles also have a high recycled content making them very environmentally friendly and at the end of their life they can be easily recycled again.
Drainage and water usage
Drainage has been designed with sustainable drainage techniques using a combination of attenuation ( storage) and use of the existing field drains. All the roofing water is returned back to the playing areas whilst foul water is pumped away to the main sewer. Water consumption has been reduced by using water efficient WCs, urinals, showers and taps.
Lighting
All lighting is on movement sensor switches so it won’t be possible to leave lights on when rooms aren’t occupied and all the lights themselves are low-energy down lighting which have little warm up time and each one pro
duces approximately the same amount of light as a regular 50w halogen light, but with only 10w of power.
External timber cladding
The building is partially constructed from timber and externally it is timber clad. All the wood is certified from sustainable sources so providing a very low carbon content in terms of the fabric
of the building.
...and landscaping
The external footpaths are constructed using recycled building waste as the sub-base. The surplus excavated material from the foundations have been used to form a landscape feature ‘The Mound’ within the recreation ground which not only saved over £2k , reduced transport-related Co2 production but also created a popular new viewing area for both football and
cricket.
Steve Wells, Chair of the Claygate Recreation Ground Trust added, “The distinctively green
environment of the Recreation Ground, with the woodland glade and walk, the
beautiful aged ‘landmark’ oaks on the edge of cricket ground, dictated that we should ensure
a green building and I am absolutely delighted by what the design and build team
has achieved'
Tuesday 31st January
Champions to help Claygate Clubhouse
Champion Timber has become the latest local business to help the Claygate Clubhouse project.
Champions, whose Claygate shop is based only a few hundred yards from the new building, have offered £500 of internal and external timber supplies to the building.
Clubhouse project director Richard Waller commented, “This is extremely good news for us and takes us another stage on in terms of meeting our targets for the building. Champions are a very well known and respected local timber supplier and we are extremely grateful for their support”.
Champion Timber Sales Director Terry McDermott explained, “We were very impressed by the
nature of the project and undoubtedly it will have a considerable benefit to the whole of the Claygate community. We delighted to be of assistance in bringing the plans to fruition”.
The new facility will replace the old clubhouse building which is more than 60 years old and in extremely poor condition. The project has been fundraising for nearly two years and the funding level required was reached last August. Building continued though the Autumn and the building was secured by the end of last year. The fit out, much of which will be achieved through volunteer help, is now being carried out and the building is expected to open in time for the new cricket season at the end of April.
Claygate Clubhouse project director Richard Waller
shakes hands on the deal with Champion Timber's Sales Director Terry
McDermott and Claygate branch salesman Lee Davis (right) in front of
the new building.
19th January 2012
Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport to open Claygate’s new community clubhouse in May.
Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (andMP for South West Surrey) has agreed to open Claygate’s new £330,000 community clubhouse on Friday 25th May 2012.
The new facility will replace the old clubhouse building which is more than 60 years old and in extremely poor condition. The project has been fundraising for nearly two years and the funding level required was reached last August. Building has continued though the Autumn and with the building now secure, the first phase is complete. The fit out, much of which will be achieved through volunteer help, will be carried out throughout the Spring and the building is expected to open in time for the new cricket season at the end of April.
It is envisaged that the new building will attract a wide range of community groups in addition to the main users - Claygate Cricket Club and Claygate Royals Football Club.
Dominic Raab MP for Esherand Walton who has actively supported the project throughout commented, “In a year which will be dominated by the Olympics, it’s vital that we recognise the efforts of a local community in terms of improving sporting facilities at a very different level. We are delighted that the Secretary of State has committed to come and open the new building which will be a fitting tribute and recognition for all those who have supported the project financially and all the volunteers who have worked so hard to bring it to life.”
Stephen Wells, Chairman, Claygate Recreation Ground Trust added ” This is the biggest public building to be built in the village for many years and will be a significant step forward in creating an attractive and important community facility for use and enjoyment for generations to come.
One of the great things about the project has been the reaction and assistance of a whole range of local people. From local government we have received grants from Elmbridge Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Claygate Parish Council, as well as support from the Football Foundation and the Veolia Environmental Trust.
In addition, there has been a variety of other funding support such as commercial sponsorship from local companies and a huge amount raised from events and donations. However £60k of the total is in the form of loans, so we still have a big target to reach the point when the building is debt free .Fundraising will continue therefore for some time.”
Detailed plans of the opening will be announced in the future.
