We feel very aggrieved that this decision has made made purely on the prinicpal that we are only wanting this grant to increase participation in cricket in Dundrum. Whilst this is not the case, we do wantto see more numbers at our club, but to do this, we need to improve our facilities and we cannot do this without a grant. 

Dundrum and the surrounding area has higher rates of long term unemployment, housing benefit claimants and income support claimants. Dundrum has also got over 31% of household offically in relative poverty. These people need to have a social focal point in the Dundrum area where they can gain physical exercise, feel as if they are part of something and are contributing to the local community,

The hard work of the fund-raising committee and Alan Gordon in particular, have come to nothing so far in the struggle for cricket to receive a small percentage of the funding that other sports clubs in Northern Ireland receive on an annual basis. Perhaps it's time for us to rethink our strategy and decide what we want to gain from funding and where we need to make the improvements.

This can only happen at the AGM on 2nd November. The vast majority of the financial decisions of Dundrum Cricket Club are made every month by the fund raising committee. At the AGM, everyone gets a chance to air their views. We, in Dundrum, are blessed with the most forward thinking Club in the NCU. We may not have the money to improve our club and the facilities for our people but we can work hard to earn the money for these improvements. Raffles, car boot sales, auctions, golf classics - all these things are what we need to organise in the next few months - so step forward and be part of it.