A cricket club in East Ayton has received a £1,000 donation towards a brand-new training net.

Forge Valley Cricket Club was given the funding from Yorkshire, through our Community Champions scheme.

The Scarborough club, which runs two adults’ and two junior teams, is keen to improve its training facilities to help encourage more children into the sport.

Steven Boyes, the club’s safeguarding officer, said: “Persimmon Homes’ donation is wonderful news for the club. We have more than 30 junior players and desperately want to improve our training facilities. The new net will make a massive difference to our coaching sessions.

“As a permanent feature, the net will also benefit other children from the village, which we hope will encourage them to take up the sport. We are a diverse club that supports players of any sex, disability and belief. Any child of school age is welcome to attend. We want to ensure cricket is inclusive for all in the local community".

Each of the our 31 regional businesses make two donations of up to £1,000 every month to grassroots groups and charities across the region.

Scott Waters, managing director of Yorkshire, said: “Community Champions has allowed us to support dozens of good causes that are focused on supporting the heart of the community, so we were very pleased to award our latest donation to Forge Valley Cricket Club.”

In addition to our Community Champions scheme, We have launched its Building Futures initiative which supports groups working with under-18s. The scheme will make grants to projects across education & arts, health and sport, with the potential of a £100,000 prize giveaway.

Applications for the Persimmon Homes Community Champions or Building Futures schemes can be made at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity