The England and Wales Cricket Trust (EWCT) has awarded a grant of £36,000 and a £47,500 interest free loan to Usk Cricket Club towards the cost of a substantial upgrade of the Club's old pavilion. The Club also received grant support from Monmouth County Council and the Vital Villages Fund. The EWCT's grant aid programme aims to finance capital projects, including renovations to improve facilities which contribute to sustaining and increasing participation. Usk Cricket Club was identified by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Wales as a club of strategic importance and because of the strength of their junior development programme. Usk Cricket Club's Chairman, Mike Kear, said: "We were delighted to be awarded the EWCT grant and loan because we urgently needed to upgrade our changing facilities. Our old pavilion has been transformed and we now have two large changing rooms and an umpires' room, each with integral showers and toilets, there are special facilities for people with disabilities with easy access into the pavilion and our social room and bar have been refurbished. The new design and specifications are in accordance with England and Wales Cricket Board specifications and provide changing facilities for our female cricketers. In addition, the staircase to our scorebox has been improved and some central heating has been installed." "In recent times the Club has made good progress as we have achieved ECB Clubmark and Focus Club Accreditation and it is pleasing that our junior development programme has been recognised by ECB and Cricket Wales." "We have two senior league teams on Saturdays and a senior side on Sundays and, in addition, we have over 80 junior cricketers at the Club. We have also extended our junior development programme by providing cricket opportunities and coaching at the Usk Church in Wales Primary School." "We are extremely grateful to the EWCT for their most generous financial support because we could not afford this expensive upgrade of the pavilion from our own resources. We also express gratitude to the Monmouth County Council (£5,000) and the Vital Villages Fund (£5,000) for their support. The Vital Villages Fund is funded by the Monmouthshire County Council under the Rural Development Plan for Wales. This grant is partly funded by the European Agricultural Fund." "To raise sufficient funds to re-build the pavilion in the present economic climate has been a real team effort with active support from our Club members and supporters and we are grateful for all their fundraising efforts. We are pleased we have raised the standard of the Club's facilities and we regard the grants as an investment in cricket at the Club for the future and for the long term benefit of the local community." EWCT Trustee, Brian Havill, said: "The England and Wales Cricket Trust is pleased to support projects that sustain high quality participation and enhance facilities. Investing in projects such as this one allows clubs to make their facilities as welcoming and accessible as possible to members, players, spectators and the local community generally and it is important that cricket clubs have access to funding, such as through this grant aid programme to enable them to achieve this." Peter Hybart, The Director of Cricket Wales, said: "I am pleased that Usk Cricket Club has been awarded the grant because they have a very good cricket development programme and they have worked hard to promote cricket in the schools and the community generally. Cricket Wales recommended Usk Cricket Club because they have enthusiastically embraced all the ECB development policies and the facility is key to further development of cricket in that locality."