Members of Kingsdon Cricket Club were struggling to raise funds to build a new club house and they faced the grim prospect of continuing to operate out of a converted shipping container.
But their appeal for help caught the attention of Adam Cain and Cinzia Iezzi who run the Kingsdon Inn and they pitched in with the crucial £500 which made all the difference.
Cinzia confesses that, as an Italian, she doesn't know the first thing about cricket, but that didn't stop her getting involved and as the picture proves, her cricket lessons on the makeshift pitch at the front of the pub are going well.
Now the club is looking forward to completing the work in the next few weeks and enjoying all the benefits of their new home next season.
"We heard the club needed help to raise the money for a pavilion so of course we knew we had to help. We can't have out local club operating out of a tin box, that's just not right," she explained.
Formed 28 years ago by Wally Elliott and Ben Carlisle, the club originally played on the pitch at Kingsdon Manor School, a special school run by Bristol City Council. The school closed in 2008 and was put on the market so the club had to move. The good news was the new owners invited them back and leased them a part of the playing fields. The bad news was the club had to create a new pitch, a new entrance and operated from the shipping container as their club house.
They had an ambition of having their own pavilion with a kitchen and dressing rooms. Plans were drawn up for a steel-framed, wooden design with a traditional verandah at the front, costing about £18k for the materials alone. The club had raised about £13k and they stood to receive an award of £5,000 from Valencia Communities Fund Environmental Company, but only if they could find a contributing third party that could provide £500 to release these funds, which is why the Kingsdon Inn's contribution was so important.
"We play friendly matches on Sunday afternoons and we're not a big club but over the years we have raised a lot of money to help other good causes. For once we had to put all our efforts into helping ourselves and we are really looking forward to having our new club house," explained Wally.
Spokesman Gareth Williams said: "We were very happy to provide the grant for the cricket club and it's particularly pleasing to see the whole community pulling together to create what will be a really important facility."