I was delighted when the impressible ‘Dr Dave’ asked me to write a few words for the Bunbury’s special 21st Anniversary brochure.  Can the Bunbury Festival really have been going for that long?

I was very fortunate to be able to make a living as a cricket ‘professional’ for more than 30 years.  These days watching the England Men’s Team isn’t quite so gut-gnawing and nerve-wrecking as it was when it was so crucially important to me in my previous role, but I still care.  Just as I care about the grass roots and the future of the game, which is what the Bunbury concept is all about.

As Chief Exec of the CCPR I am really lucky to be able to continue work within sport.  And its an exciting time to be involved when we have London 2012 to look forward to and when sport has never been higher up the political and social agenda.  CCPR can perhaps best be described as the CBI of sport and recreation, and we also seek to be the definitive independent voice for the sector.

In particular we speak up for community sport, promoting its value to the nation and in particular its contribution to the health of the population, cutting crime and anti-social behaviour raising standards of education and attainment and building community cohesion.  Sport is a huge resource, still largely untapped by Government and still badly under funded considering the extent to which it enriches so many aspects of national life.

While I don’t miss some of the more difficult issues in cricket and some of the petty politics, I do miss the people and the characters.  And what more larger than life character than David English?  Variously described as mad, passionate, energetic, obsessive, outrageous, indefatigable – David is, of course, all of these. I’ve never heard a bad word said about him.  He is literally everybody’s friend and his contribution both to youth cricket and to the many other charitable causes he has championed is just extraordinary.

Among David’s greatest achievements was masterminding the idea of an Under 15 Cricket World Cup.  Two tournaments have been held in the UK – in 1996 and 2000 – for which David amazingly managed to arrange well over a million pounds worth of sponsorship money in total.  And who will ever forget the day when over 10,000 people turned up to watch the Under 15 cricketers of India and Pakistan slugging it out (almost literally!) in the inaugural final at Lord’s?  MCC were caught completely off guard and had to send for extra stewards and police when the crowd started to get a bit boisterous!

One of my favourite memories of David was when I phone him to say that the first of the Under 15 World Cups was definitely on, following an ICC Chief Executives’ meeting.  David was in Regents Park at the time feeding the ducks.  So excited and utterly overwhelmed was he to receive the new that for a second I expected to hear the sound of a big ker-splash!

It’s been said of David that he never gives up and never takes no for an answer.  I remember fielding in front of the pavilion at Lord’s where David happened to be sitting.  Throughout the afternoon he constantly badgered me to let him have one of my Northamptonshire caps.  “It’s the only one missing in my collection”, he said.  “Maroon and gold are my favourite colours” he insisted.  “You are a great player Tim”, he lied!  In the end I gave in and let him have my spare cap.  How could I refuse?  This is a man who never gives up.  But, fair play, he’s never forgotten to thank me just about every time I’ve ever seen him since!

So good luck ‘Dr Dave MBE’ both to you and to everyone else involved in this very special celebratory year.  Have a fantastic 21st Festival and, above all, thank you for everything you’ve done for cricket, for sport and for young people.