Kent’s Young Leaders in Cricket met Sir John Major at Lord’s in recognition for their volunteering.

Robert Littlechild joined the programme in its inaugural year way back in 2011 having previously been involved with volunteering at his club, Old Elthamians, the previous year.

Robert attended Hurstmere School in Bexley and has always been a keen cricketer, captaining the school side on occasion and successfully skippering his club side to North Kent Cup final wins at under 12 and under 14 level.

Hurstmere School were the first Bexley School to support and join the programme in that year and continue to be strong supporters of the programme providing a focal point for the borough of Bexley.

It has seen 40 young leaders progress from the school having collectively volunteered 700 hours in the community.

In addition, a further 50 leaders from across the borough were given the opportunity to complete their training at Hurstmere which has meant a collective volunteering effort of 1,700 hours on volunteering and £1,000 fund raising has taken place. Hurstmere’s role within the community inspiring leaders cannot be under estimated.

2011 was a tough year for the leaders at Old Elthamians having lost one of its own leaders and staunch supporter of the programme, Ben Daniels.

Ben was instrumental in convincing the wider community to support the programme at a meeting just a month before he passed away from an undetected heart condition.

All of the leaders that year showed great passion and desire to follow in Ben’s footsteps by following his example.

Many of them have embarked on their own fund raising projects for Ben’s Memorial Fund and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) over the years.

For Robert, the added pressure of taking over captaining a team, many that were a year older and technically better players, showed his leadership qualities. The pressure didn’t stop there for him as he was nominated to speak in front of over 200 people at the first presentation at Lords later that year.

Robert has since used the programme to carry on his coaching career and has successfully completed his Level 2 Cricket Coaching award.

Now at Bournemouth University having completed his first year, his volunteering in the community and leadership skills assisted him in gaining his place studying Economics down on the south coast.

He still plays cricket regularly for Old Elthamians and coaches a whole host of different age groups from 5 to 15 at the club.

His winter sport sees him playing American Football for the Bournemouth Bobcats and he has just recently volunteered to take over as their Treasurer.

The programme boasts many success stories and claims how, at 14, the leaders can start laying foundations for University places and gaining an advantage when applying for courses.

Robert, being the oldest leader to be presented to Sir John Major at Lord’s, is a testament that many of the skills and competencies he learned has seen him progress further five years after he completed the programme.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Young Leaders for Cricket is a fantastic initiative set to grow from strength to strength, throughout the country and across other sports.”

Former Prime Minister Sir John Major, who presented the award, said: “I warmly congratulate all the young leaders who have taken part in this impressive programme.”

ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison added: “Young Leaders for Cricket is a shining example of the power of cricket to make a positive difference in our communities. What Paul Daniels and his team of volunteers has achieved is extraordinary and we will continue to work with him to support and develop this inspirational programme.”