SUFFOLK rugby stalwart Mike Lubbock received his Torch Trophy Trust Award from the Countess of Wessex at a ceremony in London. Mike, 74, was presented with the award for a lifetime of outstanding voluntary work in rugby before leading figures from the world of sport who attended the ceremony at the Army & Navy Club, Pall Mall, London.

SUFFOLK rugby stalwart Mike Lubbock received his Torch Trophy Trust Award from the Countess of Wessex at a ceremony in London.

Mike, 74, was presented with the award for a lifetime of outstanding voluntary work in rugby before leading figures from the world of sport who attended the ceremony at the Army & Navy Club, Pall Mall, London.

Each year the trust, of which Sir Bobby Charlton is president, chooses between 18 and 20 winners, based on their outstanding contribution to their particular sport at its grass roots.

“These people are truly the heroes of sport in the UK,” said Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the Central Council for Physical Recreation, who organise the awards.

“The people who have won are just a handful of those who contribute week-in, week-out to our sporting landscape. Without them, there would be no Ashes or Rugby World Cup-winning sides or Olympic medallists. The awards are rightly about recognising that enormous contribution and to thank them for it.”

Mike's extraordinary career saw him appear for Norwich School, Norfolk and Eastern Counties Schools, Norwich RFC, Loughborough College, the RAF, Suffolk, Eastern Counties, Stoneygate, Ipswich, Leicester, the Midlands and the Barbarians.

He was on the Eastern Counties Suffolk Schools committee and was an Eastern Counties and London Schools selector. He became president of Suffolk Schools RUFC before helping to found Woodbridge RUFC in 1969. He was president of Woodbridge and also the Suffolk RFU, and also coached Suffolk and Suffolk Schools as well as international players at the northern coaching course in Northumberland.