Bank of England (BOE) Cricket Club held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Friday 29th November 2024, where our members unanimously voted to change the name of the club to "West Wimbledon Cricket Club".

What does this mean?

We were formed 116 years ago and many of our members have been with the club for a long period of time, so this is an emotional moment for us. We are therefore taking steps to ensure the continuity of the club into this new phase of it's history:

• We intend to remain affiliated to the BOE and will continue to advertise for and recruit players from within the institution. We will also continue fixtures with (among others) our long-standing public service opponents.
• The club’s colours and logo will provide an ongoing link to our past.
• Our historical statistics will carry forward from the old name to the new, and our history and trophy winners will continue to be celebrated on our website, Play Cricket and elsewhere.
• Our league positions in the new Surrey Cricket Championship will not be affected.

Beyond that, it is the members who make a club, and those same individuals will still be involved, at the crease, at the bar, and in the work that keeps the club going. It is important to recognise our history and to retain it and our links to the BOE where we can, whilst making it clear we are now primarily a local community club. Nonetheless, it is a continuation of the same entity, rather than starting from scratch.

Why are we changing?

The key reasons for this are:

• A change has been a possibility ever since we were forced to leave our historic home at the BOE Sports Centre in Roehampton at the end of the 2019 season. The club of today has very different needs to the club of the past, so we need to evolve with the times.
• The current name makes it more challenging to recruit players at both adult and junior levels from the local area. It suggests, wrongly, that we are not a fully open club.
• We have significant investment needs at our playing locations. It is very difficult to source sponsorship or grants to support these needs under our current name, which suggests we have greater financial resources and support than is the case. Although we always make it clear that we are affiliated to the BOE, but no longer funded by it, this is often ignored by those outside of the club.
• The timing is right with the men’s league restructuring, whilst we are also starting a new junior section and creating a new women’s team. Our existing main sponsorship deal ending also means this an ideal time to make such a change, to help support our investment needs.
• It will be unsustainable to carry the BOE name when a significant majority of our players are not current Bank staff or pensioners.

Why West Wimbledon CC?

We believe this is the best option to help the club achieve its goals and ensure longer term prosperity:

• Our ground at Beverley Meads / Wimbledon Rugby Club (WRC) is located within the area known as West Wimbledon and provides an explicit geographical reference point for the club. This will help to develop ties within the local community as we build for the future.
• The new name provides opportunities for greater synergy and cross promotion with WRC. We can more easily recruit from within the existing members of the site, particularly the 500+ members of the junior section.
• Many of the potential recruitment and fundraising benefits of associating to the Wimbledon catchment area and international brand can be achieved via a related name.

Why do we not have a BOE reference in the name?

We spent a considerable amount of time exploring whether there was a viable way of doing this. However, we were unable to establish any feasible alternative that provided the necessary flexibility in helping solve the recruitment and financial questions posed by the existing name.

What are the next steps?

Over the coming weeks and months, we shall be updating our website, social media and other communication channels. Members should also look out for offers related to this news e.g. we plan to provide playing shirts and hats with the new name for all existing adult members in 2025.

Additional details on plans for the club will be discussed at the regular Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday 7th February.