A cricket club threatened with closure over a £53,000 insurance bill has offered the company invloved a sponsorship deal in an attempt to bring an end to the saga.  

Chingford Cricket Club, established 130 years ago, warned its members back in November that the club would close if it was forced to foot the bill "ruthlessly pursued" by an insurance company over a disputed, unsettled claim dating back to 2010.  

The grounds in Kimberley Way, feature 22 protected trees, which date back 150 years, many years before the road itself and subsequent homes were built in the 1950s. 

The club received a letter from Halifax Home Insurers in 2010 claiming damage to an extension at the back of a couple's home caused by roots, but since 2009, the club has not been insured for tree damage because of known subsidence, which it says it has no control over. 

Halifax Home Insurers hired Lyons Davidson Solicitors to pursue the £53,000 bill, which includes £13,000 in interest. 

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

From left, Chingford Cricket Club members Bill Birch and John Woodland, Iain Duncan Smith, life vice-president Jeffrey Runciman, president Derek Lacey, Michael Blake and Cllr Matt Davis

Now, Conservative group leader for Waltham Forest, Cllr Matt Davis, and Chingford and Woodford Green MP Iain Duncan Smith have written to Halifax proposing an alternative solution. 

Cllr Davis, said: "The community cricket club is being ruthlessly pursued but does not have the money being sought by your solicitors and have told them that." 

They are asking Halifax to off-set the debt as a sponsorship deal in which the club would agree to place advertising around the Chingford grounds and on their kit. 

Mr Duncan Smith, said: "If the club is forced to foot the £53,000 bill, it would almost certainly spell the end for the 130-year-old club which is a great asset to the local community.

"We have written to Halifax Insurers to ask if they might view the monies as a sponsorship payment, rather than a debt to be recouped, in exchange for which the club would agree to place Halifax advertising around the ground and on their kit.

"We must now wait with baited breath to see what Halifax decides. Let us hope they see sense and agree to help save a club which has been a part of Chingford since 1884."

Member and former president of eleven years, Jeff Runciman, said: "We've had no response from the Halifax or indeed the council.

"The whole situation continues to be uncomfortable."

Halifax Insurers has been contacted for a comment.