The 2025-2026 off-season at Ferguslie Cricket Club promises to be an extremely busy one, after the Paisley club received planning permission to build new state-of-the-art changing facilities.

Ferguslie hope to raise enough money, via a combination of grants, local fundraising and a benefactor’s donation, that would see two changing rooms, a match officials room, toilets and showers, and a communal space built adjacent to the current pavilion at Meikleriggs.

If adequate funding is raised in time, construction is set to begin this winter, with a hope the new facility could be close to completion by the beginning of the 2026 domestic season.

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“We’ve recognised for a while that our changing facilities, particularly the away dressing room and umpires changing room, were really not fit for purpose for modern day sport,” said Ferguslie Honorary Vice-President Stuart Black. “Through an opportunity provided to us through a substantial donation, we thought that now was the time to explore an upgrade.

“We’ve currently got three or four applications in for grant funding, to try to maximise the donation that’s been given. We’ve had excellent news from the Cricket Development Trust of Scotland, who’ve donated a four-figure sum, and we’ve also applied to sportscotland’s Facilities Fund and Awards for All.

“A fundraising group has been set up within the club to look at grants and sponsors, to see if we can find support for a variety of different bodies, and additionally there is planning underway for members’ events including a dinner and a golf day.”

“It’s not just about improving what we have, but also about to trying to create a stand-alone area and potentially hire it out locally for other uses,” said Dougie Campbell, Ferguslie’s House Convenor.

“Ultimately, we’d like to create a community hub here at Ferguslie. We are hamstrung with what we have currently; we did consider if we should knock down the existing dressing room wing, but we couldn’t get much more for that money. This project has real potential to grow the club in so many different ways.

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A further reason to prioritise improvements off the field is the hope to introduce and build a fully-fledged women and girls cricket programme, after a spike in interest.

“For several years, we’ve run a social women and girls six-a-side event which has been very successful, and those numbers have been increasing,” said Stuart Black.

“This year we had nine teams and forty-five participants, and it’s clear there’s quite a few who were involved who have the talent to take the next step in their cricketing journey. Allied to the growth of women and girls’ cricket across the area and around the country generally, we see the potential to start something here.

“Four female Scotland internationals from various age group levels began their career here at Ferguslie, including Lorna Jack-Brown, who of course achieved great success in eventually becoming Scotland’s most capped senior female player.

“Hopefully, if we put the right building blocks in place, and upgrading our facilities is part of that, then we’ll see numbers grow and provide opportunities for more women and girls to play cricket in Paisley.”

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