Cornish cricket club named Voneus Village Cup Community Legends for 2024

Grampound Road win prestigious prize

Cornish cricket club Grampound Road have won a national award for their commitment to the community they represent.

The club have received the Voneus Village Cup Community Legends award for 2024, which recognises the work of rural cricket clubs around Great Britain, both on and off the pitch.

In being shortlisted, Grampound Road demonstrated their value as pillars of their community, as well as showing commitment to the future, inclusion and sustainability.

The Community Legends competition is open to contestants in the annual Voneus Village Cup, which is administered by The Cricketer magazine and sponsored by rural broadband provider Voneus.

Grampound Road were semi-finalists in last year's tournament and are going well this year too. They will face a rearranged last 16 tie against Oxfordshire club Horspath, with the winner progressing to the national quarter-final and just two wins away from a dream final at the Home of Cricket, Lord's, in London on Sunday 15 September.

But the club also pride themselves on being a place for everyone in the surrounding area, whether they like cricket or not, and that has led to them being one of the five Voneus Village Cup Community Legends finalists for 2024.

Alex Rust, from the club, said: "We're delighted to be Voneus Village Cup Community Legends 2024. We're proud to be a part of our community.

"Winning this award is recognition the club is doing all the right things and the hard work our members put in is creating positive results. 

"Being named as Community Legends 2024 is a great honour and we couldn't be happier. It proves to us that the club is in a healthy place and moving in the right direction.

"We're excited to carry on playing a role in our community in the future. 

"Meur ras (Cornish for thank you)."

Organisations using their clubhouse include Knit and Knatter, Trelion Solar Farm, the Ladock and Grampound Road Low Carbon Living Group, The Fishermen’s Friends Committee, the Playing Fields Committee, Cornwall Cricket Board and Friends of Grampound Road School, while also serving as a collection point for clothing which supports Grampound Road Pre School, and food for the Trussell Trust.

The club has also served as the village’s de facto pub for the last 15 years – and a commitment is made to serving beers from local breweries.

Grampound Road currently have 152 members under the age of 18 officially on their books – around half of their total membership – with an ethos of picking homegrown talent instead of seducing players from elsewhere.

The clubhouse is situated above a natural borehole, which allows the club to use natural water sources for pitch preparation, while other sustainability innovations include the use of solar power and the planting of two ‘wildflower’ strips leading up to the club.

The competition is sponsored by Voneus and administered by The Cricketer magazine, and the judges were Voneus CEO Christopher Traggio, former England cricketer and Voneus Village Cup ambassador Lydia Greenway, and The Cricketer’s editor Huw Turbervill.

Christopher Traggio said: “Helping select the winner of the Voneus Village Cup Community Legends is a real highlight of the year.

“It was a tough decision for the judges, but Grampound Road CC’s outstanding dedication to its community and how it connects with the village resonated with all of us as it is at the heart of our ambitions here at Voneus.

“Many thanks to everyone who entered - we heard some amazing stories from all over the country – and huge congratulations to Grampound Road.”