Chichester cricket club grab their chance to shine with both hands

Graeme Bennison from the club was awarded the Chance to Shine club of the year award the Brit Insurance Annual Achievement Awards at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

The award, sponsored by Cricket Foundation partner the England & Wales Cricket Board, recognises the contribution of the volunteer club managers who administer Chance to Shine.

Chance to Shine is the Cricket Foundation’s charitable campaign to educate 2m state schoolchildren through cricket by 2015. In 2010 nearly 4,000 state schools and 450 cricket clubs were involved.

Bennison’s visionary approach has inspired people to get involved with Chance to Shine and he has worked hard to develop links between Chichester Priory Park and local bodies and promoted all aspects of cricket for all ages.

The judges were impressed with Bennison’s infectious energy and enthusiasm for the programme, which has inspired school teachers and cricket coaches to get involved.

Chichester PP’s junior and girls’ sections continue to go from strength to strength under Bennison’s management.

Bennison was presented with the award by former England captain Mike Gatting, now ECB managing director of cricket partnerships, at Lord’s, where he Governor of the Bank of England and Chance to Shine president Mervyn King and England stars Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott and England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards were also present.

Wasim Khan, chief executive of the Cricket Foundation, said: “We rely on the hard work of volunteers to make the programme a success and Graeme is a great example of someone who has devoted a lot of time to our campaign.”

Bennison said: “I don’t know what to say, to be honest. I certainly wasn’t expecting anything. We used Chance to Shine as a vehicle to drive girls’ cricket into the club and have really developed our girls’ section.

“We’ve gone from nothing to 40 female members and a very successful women’s section in three years, which is amazing.”