These awards recognise outstanding achievements by young people, and each recipient receives a medal and certificate, while the club receives a grant from the Foundation to be spent on projects which give young people further opportunities.

The club has been partnered with the Foundation since 2003, and in that time more than 200 young people from the club have been recognised for their outstanding achievements and contributions. This year's winners were:

Mo Ahmad
Max Bird
Claudia Brunt
Alex Curley
Leo Hodgkiss
Ralph Moore
Jess Priestley
Felicity Russell
Alfie Taplin

It was also announced that Ray Calder had been awarded the prestigious Jack Petchey Foundation Leaders Award. Ray has been involved with the club now for a number of years, and his voluntary work has benefited many youngsters in a variety of ways. Ray initially became involved with junior cricket at the club through his own son's involvement, but while his son is now an adult himself Ray has gone on to put in even more time and energy in a number of roles. Ray has been senior 6th XI captain for a number of seasons and in this role he introduces many of our younger players to adult/senior cricket for the first time. This is often a difficult task for a number of reasons, but Ray's patience, enthusiasm and energy means all of these young players get such an enjoyable experience that they almost always want to keep playing the game for years to come. Playing wise Ray, who was a late starter cricket wise, has also improved his own game hugely in the last three or four years, which sets a great example to others and shows what can be achieved with hard work and application In more recent years Ray has voluntarily taken his early level coaching qualifications and put these to good use by giving up many hours a week to run training sessions for our very youngest players. Ray leads a number of the Friday night coaching sessions with our 5, 6 and 7 year olds and the fact that so many young players turn up each week for these sessions shows what a great job Ray does. Ray sets a great example to other members, young and old, in terms of what being a club member and volunteer is all about, and we hope he continues to set this example and be involved for many years to come.

Sir Jack Petchey set up the Foundation to inspire young people across Essex and East London to work hard and reach their full potential. Sir Jack sadly passed away last summer, aged 98.

Congratulations to Ray and all of our 2025 winners on their deserved recognition.

We must also thank the legend Fred Steel, who has been our Jack Petchey Foundation Coordinator for a number of years. It was great that Fred was at the game on Sunday to present the awards, along with the star of the day, Nick Browne.

**A list of all of our Jack Petchey Foundation Award winners can be found in the Information section of this website.