The Tony Coles Trust was set up to oversee two separate funds, one being a legacy made in 1997 by Tony Coles – a long standing member of Somerset C.C.C.- and the other being the Harry Burden Memorial Fund – created in 1995 in memory of a promising young cricketer who tragically died of leukaemia shortly before his eighth birthday. The two funds were amalgamated for legal and administrative purposes in 1999, and are registered with the Charities Commission.

Both funds have a common aim – to support youth cricket in Somerset – but the purposes of each are slightly different.

Tony Coles offers grants to help fund facility projects at clubs or schools, whereas the Harry Burden annually awards a bursary to support a young player’s cricket, as recommended by either Taunton C.C. or Somerset Cricket Board.

It hardly needs emphasising that the total fund at our disposal is not infinite, and therefore several competing applications will be carefully evaluated by the trustees.

The main conditions for each application:

  1. The maximum grant available for a single bid is £5,000
  2. The club or school making the application must generate 50% of the project cost from alternative funding sources.
  3. The application process and correspondence should indicate at least one named person with whom we can communicate.
  4. The bid should state the amount of grant that you are bidding for.
  5. Two competing cost quotations should be submitted for the project, which in certain instances (e.g. non turf surfaces) must be conducted via an approved ECB provider.
  6. You will need to demonstrate what the project aims to achieve within your club, and the total cost of the project.
  7. We need to know all other funding sources that you have applied for – or monies that you hope to obtain – before the project commences.
  8. Once an application is approved, and the money is granted, the recipient must inform the Trust of the date when the new facility is to be installed or first used. A trustee will then visit the club or school to view the project in use.

Applications wishing to be considered for a Tony Coles grant should be sent in the first instance to Andy Curtis adcurtis43@hotmail.com after which they are submitted to fellow trustees for their consideration. The Trust’s reviewing process usually takes a couple of weeks, after which the club is informed as to whether the request has been successful or otherwise.