£500,000 Pavilion gives Little Common a sporting chance

That's one team for each of the 40 years that Ken Cherry has nurtured the dream of building a sports pavilion worthy of the name.

Meanwhile, Peter Winchester and colleagues from Little Common Cricket Club were in their whites ready for a home match after which they could entertain their visitors without the embarrassment of their years in a cramped wooden hut without running water or toilets.

Together with the Little Common Stoolball Club, Rother Council and Sport England the clubs have forged a partnership.

After 10 years dedicated effort, this resulted in Rother chairman Cllr Robin Patten cutting the ribbon to open the 500,000 new building.

Sport England senior development manager Steve Padfield handed the chairman a giant cheque symbolising the 307,857 Sport Lottery grant which has gone into the scheme.

Rother has assisted the scheme. The clubs have raised 20,000 - and members and friends have done much of the work to fit-out the shell of the building.

But, Steve Padfield brought a warning to the proceedings.

"The pavilion is being opened at a time when Lottery money is coming down. We may look back on this as the halcyon days when this and the Rye swimming pool were possible.

"There may not be as much money available in future."

The national Olympic bid, which he was sure everyone supported, would also swallow large sums. His message to the public - "Keep buying Lottery tickets!"

Little Common sports pavilion was an example to all clubs who shared grounds with other clubs but who wanted their own pavilion.

It demonstrated what working in partnership could achieve. Town Mayor Cllr Deirdre Williams and Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby were among those at Saturday's opening ceremony who heard Cllr Patten describe the pavilion as the result of 10 years of hard work and community partnership.

Also present was Maureen Brampton whose late husband, Ivor, had been football club president when the project was initiated. The chairman paid tribute to the clubs for their persistence - the Sports Lottery bid was made in 1998 - and their fund-raising, to Rother head of community development Alwyn Roebuck and sports development officer Adrian Gaylon.

He said: "This pavilion clearly demonstrates that partnership working with the voluntary sector does work."

Such has been the impact of the new pavilion that the cricket club has reinstated its Colts team. In fact it now has two.

Peter Winchester paid tribute to the efforts of Ken and Margaret Cherry, cricket secretary Peter Smith and football club secretary Daniel Eldridge who played a major role in compiling the Lottery bid.

He thanked Rother community services director Tony Leonard (present as a six-a-side referee), Alwyn Roebuck, Brenda Mason and Adrian Gaylon.

Forty was the day's recurrent theme. Peter Winchester said around 40 organisations had supported the clubs' fund-raising, including Old Town Preservation Society and Bexhill Round Table.