The old pavilion is the oldest full structure on our site, having been built by the Royal Army Corps of Engineers on the remaining foundations of the original Clubhouse that was dynamited by the retreating occupying forces in 1944. It was moved to its current location in 1956, as the old Clubhouse was rebuilt.  It now serves 2 functions:

• 50% as a cricket pavilion
• 50% as a storage space for our ground care machinery.

In 2016, it was in a parlous state, and the Club didn't have funds to repair or maintain it.

With support from (the then President) David Colson and the management team, the cricketers took on the task and set about raising the necessary funds from seasonal dues, “tea” payments, and volunteer coaching, amounting to around €7K in increased revenue per year, which enabled the financing of a step-by-step renovation:

• A new roof in 2018, for €9.5K, revealing that the structural beams were badly damaged
• 2021: Removal and disposal of old ceiling by volunteers to give access to rotten structural beams
• Renovation of 75% of the exterior in 2022, for €26K
  • Replacement of rotten structural roof beams
  • Replacement of 12 very rotten windows
  • Complete replacement of the rear siding.  Post-Covid, as the new management team set about cleaning up the Club, the “plastic lean-to” erected behind the pavilion was removed, to reveal the damage that it had done
    
    (Click for full-sized pictures)
  • New gutters and downspouts
  • Replacement of 4 doors and frames with new structures built by SAC volunteers

The newly completed and repainted front is shown here, with a new sign detailing its history, in March 2023.
,
as is the renovated rear.

• This left only one side of the structure to be assessed … which was hidden behind a shipping container placed against the wooden wall around 2015.  With a lowest quote of over €20K to move the container and only €12K available, progress seemed blocked for at least a year.  To move the container, we needed to build an access road for the crane over the football field and then move the shipping container with a large crane. However, with the temporary road for the pool works, there was an opportunity to reduce the quote to €14K. The crane company then called just before Christmas 2024 and said that if we could arrange for the work to happen between 25/12/2024 and 1/1/2025, they would do it for under €10K. With some rapid schedule changes to be on site, the shipping container was relocated so as no longer to damage the old pavilion in December 2024.
• Once it was moved, the extent of the damage it had caused was clear. Our team was concerned that the whole side of the building would collapse.
  

Andrew Jackson, ably assisted by Chris McCarthy, gets stuck into the structural repairs


(9/9/2025)

And with a lick of paint, our pavilion is ready for the next 80 years.

(9/11/2025)

Many people have contributed. However, the Club and Section would particularly like to record their immense gratitude to Andrew Jackson, carpenter extraordinaire, without whom this would have been impossible.

The Management Committee