National Award for Copdock & OI CC
January 19, 2023COPDOCK & Old Ipswichian CC are ‘overwhelmed’ to have won a National award for their work in the community.
The club won the Connecting Communities category in the ECB Grassroots Cricket Awards.
Copdock were put forward for the award after winning the category in the Suffolk Cricket awards, which were hosted at Essex County Cricket Club in a joint venture with Essex and Cambridgeshire Cricket Boards.
The award was for the cricket club’s work with refugees living in the village, their partnership with Achilles Youth FC and using the club’s pavilion to host a ‘Friendship Club’ to help people with their Mental Health.
Martin Taylor, the club’s head of facilities and lead groundsman, said: “As a club we are overwhelmed to have won a national award for our work in the community.
“It would not have been possible without the support and goodwill of our partners and thus I would like to add my own thanks to David and the gang at Achilles Youth Football Club, and Peter and Sheila Herd from IFA for their amazing work in setting up, supporting and running the ‘Friendship Club’.
“We have always believed we have a role to be ‘much more’ than just a cricket club and it’s lovely that the values and work have been recognised in this way.”
Martin Taylor (left) is pictured above receiving the award from Suffolk Cricket’s Senior Cricket Development Officer Andrew Blanchard (right) at Copdock.
The Suffolk winners were as follows:
Volunteer Grounds Management Team of the Year: Mildenhall CC
Unsung Hero: Martin Trimby (Yoxford CC)
Safe Hands Award: Neil Spencer & Chieko Shinomiya (Yoxford CC)
Rising Star: Louis Blanchard (Stowupland CC)
Lifetime Achiever: David Stephens-Row (Battisford & District CC)
Inspired to Play: Suzan Shepperson (Nowton CC)
Growing the Game: Craig Woollard (Worlington CC)
Game Changer: Lera Tarasenko (Ipswich & East Suffolk CC)
Cricket Innovators: James French (Walsham-le-Willows CC)
Connecting Communities: Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC
Tags: Andrew Blanchard, Copdock & OI CC, ECB Grassroots Cricket Awards, Martin Taylor
Categorised in: Club Cricket