Two people heavily involved in cricket in the county of Surrey have been nominated for awards in The Cricketer Magazine’s Pride of Cricket Awards this year.
Sutton Cricket Club’s Joseph Lunn is nominated for the Fundraising Hero award. Joseph died in March 2021 at the age of 19.
Whilst battling a rare form of cancer (synovial sarcoma), Joe raised over £15,000 for the Rays of Sunshine charity by completing a 100-mile cycle in 2020.
He was due to raise more money through a virtual walk up Mount Kilamanjaro, but sadly lost his battle with his cancer back in March this year.
“He was a true hero to everyone around him, he was always smiling and never complained once about his illness,” said Sam Schofield, his nominator.
Surrey, Whitgift & ACE Programme coach Simon Jackson is nominated for the Community Hero award.
He was nominated by Hina Ghumra, who said: “Simon Jackson is a former professional cricketer and ECB advanced coach with a strong history of facilitating and providing high quality cricket coaching in a variety of environments.
“Simon is actively involved in supporting the community in many different ways and we feel he would be an excellent and deserving winner of this catergory in 2021.
“The Ace Academy is a charity set up to give members of the black community in London access to Cricket. Whitgift’s cricket academy head coach, Mr Jackson has been part of this ground-breaking scheme since its inception in January 2020 as one of their lead coaches and mentors to under-14s and under-19s.
“The opportunity to further support the growth of the sport he loves, in a community with which he has a strong connection, was a no-brainer for Mr Jackson.
Whitgift’s 2025 vision encourages students to give back to the community and to explore causes that are personally meaningful to them, and the School equally supports staff involvement in community work.
For Mr Jackson, a typical week at the academy would normally involve coaching sessions every Wednesday from 6-10pm at the Kia Oval during Winter and then a mixture of training sessions and fixtures over the summer period. As with most sporting programmes in 2020/2021, the academy has adapted to providing weekly online Zoom gatherings for the members which include various cricket challenges and Q&A sessions with some of the charity’s ambassadors including former Surrey and England players Alex Tudor and Monte Lynch as well as current West Indies player, Rovman Powell.
Whitgift is delighted to support Mr Jackson in his contribution to the community and to see his efforts and expertise focused on this great initiative. “
