The wholesale refurbishment of the Evans Pavilion at Big Side in 2017/18 has been an unqualified success. Cranbrook School students, staff and parents now have a 21st century facility to rival the very best.

The £184,000 renovation was funded by a substantial donation from a generous benefactor who prefers to remain anonymous. You can see the sparkling renovated frontage as the backdrop to our 1st team’s good luck message to OC Ruaridh McConnochie before his appearance in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The Evans Pavilion was named after Frank Evans who was the master in charge of cricket at Cranbrook for more than 30 years. Frank was the founder and first President of the Lynxes Cricket Club which played its first match against Old Suttonians in 1947. The Lynxes’ archives record that the original Evans Pavilion was built in 1963, funded by £7,000 from the Old Cranbrookians and opened by Mr F W L Evans on 13 July 1963.

The recent building project includes an extension, reconfiguration and refurbishment of the internal layout including a new kitchen area and changing facilities. There are also now dedicated spaces to discuss tactics and coaching, external lights and a hardcore parking area.

Head of Rugby at Cranbrook, Tom Hillier, said, "The refurbished pavilion now provides a superb focal point for all our rugby training sessions and matches at Big Side. It is enjoyed by all our age groups at the school and is a facility of which we are genuinely proud. The Pavilion now offers four changing rooms, toilets and showers for the players, separate toilet facilities for visitors, a well-equipped kitchen, a main meeting room with TV, a coaches’ office with a computer and a great sized storage room. The rugby teams can now change in comfort up at Big Side and can use the main meeting room to analyse matches using the TV or on flipcharts. That has been a great help to all who have used it."

Gary Marshall, President of Lynxes CC, is equally enthusiastic about the new facility. He said, "It is a great improvement and will be greatly appreciated for many years to come by those Lynxes cricketers that will come back in the future."