WORK is due to start within weeks on a new clubhouse at Settle Cricket Club following official confirmation of a grant of nearly £209,000 from Sport England.

Settle-based builder John Marklew will carry out the project which is set to start by October 1. The estimated total cost is in the region of £260,000.

Having submitted a bid for funding several months ago, the club were confident that the proposal had been accepted. But - with the project having failed to get off the ground for a number of years - they wanted confirmation in black and white before annoucing it to the public and this duly came last week.

With the current clubhouse - a second-hand timber-based structure - on its last legs, chairman Malcolm Dodgson said it was vital the new project went ahead.

He said: "The current building wouldn't have lasted another winter. We've limped along for about five years. With the ground as nice as it is, it needs a decent clubhouse. A cloud has hung over the club for a few years so it is such a relief to get the funding. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work by people at the club." The old building is set to be demolished.

The club have been waiting most of the summer to get the green light for the scheme.

Project coordinator Anthony Bradley said: "It has dragged on and there's been ups and downs. It's a relief as some of the members were thinking it wasn't going to happen and we'd spent money up front which we weren't going to get back. It's no one's fault. These things do take time."

The new stone-built clubhouse will incorporate two changing rooms with showers, an umpire and first aid-room, a kitchen, a bar and a social area.

Dodgson emphasised the importance of having a good bar facility at the club as it was a major source of income. With Settle being one of the more attractive destinations in the league, he said visiting teams often brought large numbers of spectators.

Improvements to the set-up off the field can only help to attract new players to an already successful set-up on the field.

Having won the Ramsbottom Cup for the second successive season, the first team are currently top of the Ribblesdale League and just three games away from clinching a historic league and cup double. The second team have also won promotion.

As well as the £208,656 from the lottery-funded Sport England, £10,000 has been raised by the club itself through a buy-a-brick scheme.

Grants of £5,000 have been awarded by Craven District Council and North Yorkshire County Council while a number of local businesses have also pledged funds. The club's landlord, Robert Bell, is also contributing substantial funding to the development.

In addition to the new clubhouse, the square is also set to be relaid during the closed season and a new two-lane practice net will be built. The majority of funding for these schemes will come from the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Sport England is the strategic lead for delivering the Government's sporting objectives in this country and has invested in the region of £2bn into sport in England since 1994.