Groundsman rewarded at the Palace

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Groundsman rewarded at the Palace

A GROUNDSMAN swapped his roller for royalty this week when he received a prestigious award at Buckingham Palace to acknowledge his decades of voluntary work.

Graham White received the President’s Certificate from the Duke of Edinburgh after 35 years of effort at Sissinghurst Cricket Club, which includes preparing the ground, finishing work on the club’s new pavilion and all the odd jobs that keeps the club ticking over.

The 59-year-old civil engineer enjoyed his day at the palace but insists the award should not just be for him.

He said: “It is an honour no doubt about it and a once in a lifetime experience. The Duke of Edinburgh discussed what we did at the club and he seemed to be quite well informed.

“It is a little bit embarrassing really because there is a whole team of men and women that volunteer at the club. Really the award is for everyone at the club rather than just me.”

The certificate is the highest honour the National Playing Fields Association can bestow on an individual. Prince Philip is the President of the NPFA, a charitable organisation established in 1925 which aims to protect and promote recreation space.

Graham grew up in Sissinghurst and joined the cricket club in 1963 as a 15-year-old opening batsman. He first took over responsibility for maintaining the pitch nine years later.

In addition to his duties on the pitch, he came up with and helped organise fundraising activities to help the club’s negligible finances.

After many years of jumble sales, fetes and sponsored events, the club has been able to expand its playing area, improve the pitch and build a pavilion which has been extended several times to include a bar and kitchen.

Although Graham’s playing days are firmly behind him, he still spends up to five nights a week at the club in the summer and even in winter can be found doing odd jobs two or three nights a week.

Chairman Terry Crowe nominated Graham for the award and paid tribute to everything he had done for the club.

He said: “It can be seen that Graham has been the chief architect for fundraising, development and improvements to the club.

“This has all provided excellent facilities that now include a fine pavilion and a high quality cricket square that is being used for Kent Under-13 girls’ county matches.

“Graham has given a lifetime of voluntary work in many different capacities to Sissinghurst Cricket Club so that current playing members can enjoy the fantastic facilities developed by him and his friends.”

Graham thanked his wife for her patience over the years but modestly refused to admit his commitment was out of the ordinary.

He said: “Everything done at the club is on a volunteer basis – in clubs like ours we have to do these things otherwise they would not exist.”

Do you know someone at your club who deserves recognition for years of selfless volunteer work? Let us know at sports@kosmedia.co.uk.

By David Pritchard

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POSTED: 21/10/2007 09:15:00

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