BANKFOOT have been hard at work during the close season with a busy programme of upgrades to their facilities at Wickets Close.

But they are attempting to develop on the field too, heavily investing in youth.

Back to the off-field work going on down at Bankfoot, and the clubhouse has been completely re-wired and decorated, while the bar has been given a facelift by club captain James Lee and the furniture reupholstered.

The club have also been busy installing fencing all around their ground, which is used by three football teams too. It is now totally enclosed with entry gates.

The driveway and car park have been levelled and a surface dressing will be applied nearer to the start of the 2021 season.

On the field, the ambitious Division One team – who were founder members of the Bradford League way back in 1903 - are looking to re-establish a junior section and are keen to have an under-nine side this summer.

They also plan to run All Stars again.

Club chairman Greg Colehan – one of only two bowlers currently playing to have taken 1,000 Bradford League first team wickets – is leading Bankfoot’s transformation programme.

He said: “As a club, we are wanting to improve on and off the field and during the winter a lot of hard work has taken place.

“I am sure our members and visiting teams will appreciate the improvements to the clubhouse when we are able to open it.

“As well as the fencing, which improves security around the ground, we have invested in a new wicket mower and we plan to buy a new water hog before the start of the season.

“These may be difficult times due to Covid-19 but being closed has given us chance to do the work we wanted to do with the clubhouse.”

Bankfoot began upgrading their facilities last year when they made improvements to their dressing rooms, which included creating separate entrances for each team.

They also have plans for further improvements when finances allow.

Colehan added: “We want to invest in new wire fencing at the scoreboard end of our ground as a duty of care to the people who live in the houses adjoining the ground.

“We also want to invest in new sight screens, and it could be that we are able to utilise the height of the fence to install white sheeting on it.

“We want to keep improving and even a week or so ago, we had a working party tidying up around the ground. There were things like old netting and sheeting which have been hidden away behind the scorebox and all of those have been removed.

“The club is ambitious, and we will continue to work hard to move forward on and off the field.”