In front of over 350 guests from all aspects of sport in the county Don Picking, Neville Pettitt, Helen Ballam and Barry Denny accepted the award on behalf of the club, having beaten the other short listed nominated clubs. Evidently there are over 1200 registered Sports Clubs in Suffolk, and we were adjudged the best!

Our Club Mark certification was a pre-requisite, and other factors that were declared important were our inclusion of Triathlon into our activities, the huge increase in membership, our Go Ride youth programme, our strong connections with schools and the Priory School in particular, including the integration of their special needs students within our activities, and the investment of £30 000 into our first ever real headquarters in our 80 year history. Not mentioned, but probably helpful to our cause was the part we played in the Suffolk stage of the Tour of Britain, the BBC coverage of which was featured in a short but brilliant film during the evening.

We came away with the Annual Touchline Trophy, an engraved glass plaque to keep, a certificate and a £100 cheque ~ and evidently we may be nominated for the Eastern Region Awards ~ but that’s too much to contemplate !