Hot, by Canadian cricketing standards, on the heels of the opening of the Thackeray Park cricket ground to serve the local community needs in the north-west part of Toronto, is a venture to create a landscaped area that includes a cricket field for the Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods. The cricket ground is to be developed at Valley Park Middle School, which apparently is one of the largest middle schools in the Toronto area, if not the largest.
Some $1.7 million is being sought to build “The Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field”. The project will include a landscaped cricket ground that can also accommodate a soccer ground and a baseball diamond, plus practice facilities for cricket and baseball.

The Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods were classified as “priority neighbourhoods” but the wording may change due to changes in leadership in the city of Toronto. A pile of time is being devoted to waffling away on whether the term “priority neighbourhood” is degrading or whatever – “inappropriate” would be a more diplomatic way to label the wording squabble – and a few dollars go down the drain, as well as time is used up on logo and labeling issues. Or, “image” and “branding”.

The best on-line description for this project in my quick search seemed to be on the Toronto District School Board website. There had been a on-line contest via a website (www.refresheverything.ca/valleyparkgogreen”) through which Valley Park might have been able to win $100,000, but the deadline date for votes and comments on that site was June 30, 2011.

You can find out about this project on facebook “The Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field Project” or on Youtube at Youtube.com\pmsgogreen, or email contact for information at vpmsgogreen@gmail.com.

On the nice form I obtained on my travels, there is a note about the ability to make a donation on-line at www.studentsuccess.ca/give.html using CanadaHelps or PayPal. Using CanadaHelps, a request is made to identify the donation for “Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field” in the fund/ designation drop-down menu to ensure the money goes to the correct project. Similarly, if using PayPal, there is a requirement to “add special instructions to the seller” and write in the “Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field.”

Partners in this project include Flemingdon Neighbourhood Services, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, eco schools, Toronto and Region Conservation, and the Toronto District Schoolboard.
A tree canopy will surround the playing area, there will be a running track, an ampitheatre and landscaping down to the Don River valley that will allow students to see nature in action. Just as if they were living in the countryside.

Best wishes to those involved in this project.

Eddie Norfolk