An appeal aimed at raising at least £6m over two years was launched by Yorkshire County Cricket Club at their annual general meeting at Headingley, when it was revealed that an anonymous £1m donation had already been received.

Known as the Yorkshire Pride Appeal, the fund will be aimed at reducing the club's bank overdraft, making final payments to their former landlords, Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company, and developing a state-of-the-art pavilion and media centre which will help make Headingley become "the Lord's of the North".

The chairman of the Appeal is Robin Smith, who stepped down as club chairman at the meeting and was replaced by former chief executive, Colin Graves.

Smith will chair a steering committee of eight, each of whom will be responsible for raising funds in their own area.

The areas and their leaders are: dinners and events (David Hall); merchandise (Simon Parsons); Yorkshire cricket community (Ian Townsend); promotional activities (Ian Bishop, marketing director); corporate world and major donors (Colin Graves, club chairman, plus Michael Ziff, chairman and chief executive of Stylo plc); innovation (Stewart Regan).

Addressing members for the first time since taking up his appointment last week, Regan said the purchase of Headingley last December was seen as a major coup for the people of Yorkshire.

It ensured that international cricket would be played in the county for at least 15 years.

Yorkshire were now appealing to those same people, including the cricket-loving public, to assist them in their short term development plans by supporting the Yorkshire Pride Appeal.

Regan also said that the England and Wales Cricket Board had now been awarded the new Twenty20 World Championships in 2009 when all Test nations would take part and they would also stage either the 2015 or the 2019 World Cup.

These events presented a fantastic opportunity for Headingley to benefit from international cricket and fill the stadium and it was the club's intention to have redeveloped the ground to a 20,000 capacity by then.

Smith confirmed that Yorkshire would be "bidding hard" to stage matches in both tournaments when the eyes of the cricketing world would be on Headingley and its new facilities.

Director of Cricket, David Byas, said he remained fully committed to a strong work ethic and to playing games to the highest standard.

While the team had not finished top of the Second Division table in the Championship last season they had still achieved the primary objective of promotion.

But their one-day cricket had been marked by some average performances and it had at times been a mystery why they had performed so poorly in the Sunday League and Twenty20 Cup.

Byas thought that the signing of Australian fast bowler, Jason Gillespie, would give their attack a real cutting edge.

He pledged that the playing side of the club would do everything in its power to see that the new era started in a successful vein.

The meeting elected former Yorkshire and England fast bowler, Bob Appleyard, as president in place of the retiring David Jones.

They also voted Geoff Boycott on to the Management Board, along with Leeds City Council's deputy chief executive, Dave Page.

Tony Vann was elected a vice-president of the club.