In 2023, the Committee undertook three major projects to reduce the Club's environmental footprint, which will also significantly contribute towards securing the Club's long-term financial sustainability.

• Reconfigured and insulated the bar storeroom in order to significantly reduce the amount of energy required to cool the barrels.

• Replaced all of the Clubhouse lighting with efficient LEDs and motion sensors.

• Replaced the aging hot water boilers with modern and more efficient units.

The Committee is now looking at options for the potential installation of solar and/or wind energy generation in order to further reduce the Club's need to buy electric off the grid.

With the installation of the bore-hole in 2019, the Club drastically reduced the amount of mains water it uses. However, the Committee is looking at how mains water usage can be cut further.

There are many other things, both big and small, that the Club and its members can do to increase their combined environmental impact. As a member, if you have any ideas you'd like to share, or perhaps you wish to be involved in an environmental project at the Club, then please contact the Committee.

Nature Area

In the corner of the ground between the Nursery and the Fire Station, in what was once an unloved space full of brambles,  stinging nettles, and rubbish, is an area that since 2009 has been slowly converted into a nature area by Sidcup Cricket Club, a project which is still ongoing.

In what was once an eyesore, the space is now filled with:

• Native trees, shrubs, and mixed hedgerow.

• Dead wood in the form of standing dead wood, log piles, and a dead-hedge.

• Species-rich grass, including a cornfield meadow.

• Native wildflowers.

As the years have passed, biodiversity has been increased, especially among the amount and variety of birdlife and pollinators that visit. Lesser Stag Beetles and bats have been seen, and hopefully wildlife such as hedgehogs will make it their home in the years to come.

Recognition

In recognition of the combined efforts of the Club and Sidcup CC, the Tackling Climate Change Award 2023 was awarded by Kent County CC to Sidcup CC. As the county winner, SCC was also entered into the national ECB awards, where it was Highly Commended.

To hear more, listen to the following Community Cricket Podcast, where Committee member Robert Peirce discusses these projects.

https://pod.link/CommunityCricketPodcast/episode/8533e732b698cd44bf9a4dfb496e7028