Mayor opens new cricket nets at Stanley Deason

The Mayor of Brighton & Hove recently visited Stanley Deason Leisure Centre to officially open a new cricket facility in East Brighton.

The Sussex Cricket Foundation, which is one of 6 charities the mayor is supporting during his mayoral year, paid for a new 4-lane indoor net facility to be installed at the East Brighton leisure centre as part of its Urban Cricket Plan, which includes a commitment to help improve local facilities.

To complement the new nets, we teamed up with Freedom Leisure to fund specialist LED lighting at the venue, which will act as a vital training hub for local clubs.

There was also a generous contribution from Rottingdean Cricket Club, who will now deliver training sessions for their junior, men’s and women’s teams at Stanley Deason.

Cricket - like all sport - has the potential to do so much good

The Mayor, Councillor Mohammed Asaduzzaman, was delighted to officially open the nets and was joined by representatives from Stanley Deason Leisure Centre, the Sussex Cricket Foundation, Rottingdean Cricket Club and some of our hard-working staff.

The Mayor said: “The Sussex Cricket Foundation does some amazing work in the city and when I became mayor, it was an obvious choice for one of the charities I will be supporting during my mayoral year.

“It was a real pleasure to visit Stanley Deason Leisure Centre and see the new indoor nets and hear about the collaboration between the council, the charity, Freedom Leisure and Rottingdean Cricket Club which made them possible.

“Cricket – like all sport – has the potential to do so much good, not only helping people get active and improve their health and wellbeing but bringing the community together and promoting important shared values. 

"I look forward to hearing how well-used the new nets become over the coming months.”

A new facility for the local community

Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Director for the Sussex Cricket Foundation, added: “This new facility provides the local community with a place to train or play during the winter months and also acts as a facility for the Foundation to use for our community-based programmes.”

Tim Devitt, Chair of Rottingdean Cricket Club, added: “This significant enhancement aligns perfectly with our mission to foster cricketing talent and support the growth of the sport within our community.”