Let's Get the Griffin Going!

We all believe  in sport for all. But all too often, it isn't.

Far too few young people in London have access to top notch sports facilities that are truly socially inclusive. That's particularly true for inner London communities, for People of Colour, and for women and girls.

The Griffin Sports Ground is all about changing that. 

This beautiful playing field in Dulwich has just been taken over by a new charity dedicated to inclusive sport -- the London Youth Sports Trust.

In the winter, it'll be home to football clubs with the same mission of social inclusion and diversity -- Lambeth Tigers, Battersea Park Rangers, and Girls United. These draw many of their members from communities who would otherwise have no access to facilities of the Griffin's quality.

In the summer, it'll be home to Dulwich Cricket Club Women and Girls (it's the first cricket ground we know of to be women and girls first),  to Carnegie Cricket Club (a historically Black club with a West Indian heritage) and to the African Carribean Cricket Association. It'll also support programmes to advance racial diversity in cricket -- the urgency of which has of course been highlighted by the Azeem Rafiq case.

We are confident of securing substantial grants to redevelop the ground as the best in the area -- but we need to raise substantial match funding to secure the most critical of these. That's where we are asking for your help.

If we meet our £100,000 target, we will be able to unlock a much larger grant from Sport England. This will enable us to replace the ground's drainage system, which is broken and forces the cancellation of far too much sport, and to replace the pavilion's kitchens, which are key to our ambition of providing a community hub to young people who often have nowhere safe and inclusive to gather and socialise.

We will also be able to fund cricket equipment such as covers, batting cages and roll-on wickets which will make the ground much more suitable for a much broader range of cricket activities, and the community outreach that is so important to our plans.

How you can help

Any donation will make an impact, and we hope you might also consider running your own sponsored activity or fundraising event to contribute to the fundraising effort. 

We have found that the children and young people who play for our partner clubs, and their friends and family, are especially effective fundraisers!

A Dulwich CC junior girl, for example, raised more than £3,000 through sponsored batting last summer to fund repair of the junior square.

Perhaps you might consider one of the following:

- a sponsored run (perhaps the Dulwich or Herne Hill ParkRun?)
- a sponsored cycle ride, swim or walk
- sponsored cricket activity -- ask sponsors to pledge an amount per run you score, or per wicket you take, or even per game played
- a bake sale
- sharing the Griffin story and the donation links with family and friends.

If you'd like to do this, we can share a simple sponsor form we've created via Google Forms -- this link should take you to a soft copy  that you can download and adapt (please save a copy so the master is available for others). Any issues, please markgfh1 at gmail.com. 

Thanks in advance for your contribution and for your help!