AN urgent Stump up for Sheepscombe appeal has been launched to buy the village's Laurie Lee Field cricket pitch.
Sheepscombe Cricket Club needs to raise at least £25,000 by the end of September to buy its ground from the estate of the late author.
Lee, who died in 1997,was a keen supporter of the club. In 1971 he bought the ground to help ensure its future, club chairman Elisabeth Skinner said
"Thanks to the generosity of Laurie Lee's family over more than 40 years, Sheepscombe Cricket Club has long benefited from a stable, rent free home," she said.
Now the club had decided to buy the ground and was seeking donations, added Mrs Skinner.
Meanwhile, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's newest nature reserve Laurie Lee Wood was due to be officially opened today by his widow Kathy and daughter Jessy in Slad.
Laurie lived in Slad, which he immortalised in his semi-autobiographical novel Cider with Rosie.
