MOUNT Cricket Club marked their 40th anniversary with a spectacular presentation evening at a packed Al-Hikmah Centre in Batley.

The club, who now play in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League, were presented with both the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service and Clubmark (from the ECB and Sport England) honours during the event.

QAVS (the highest award for volunteer groups in the United Kingdom) was presented to Mount by Tim Hare, Her Majesty's Vice Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire.

Mount also received a Clubmark award last year and development officer Abdul A Ravat said: "The benefits of receiving the accolades of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service and Clubmark are huge for a small club like ours.

"The QAVS is royal recognition of excellence. It allows us the use of the prestigious logos to enhance our fund-raising capacity and it helps with the promotion of community pride.

'Mount has been running community cricket for over four decades and what a journey it has been. But as Don Bradman reminded us – 'it's the responsibility of the current cricketing generation to ensure that the needs of the next generation are always considered'.

"Mount is a unique community asset capable of doing so much and we have lots of plans for the future, so a humble plea for your support, skills, expertise and, above all, prayers that together we can deliver our objective of improving the playing facilities and pavilion at the 'Field of Dreams'.

"We are working hard with the ECB, Yorkshire Cricket, Kirklees Council, Bardsley Construction, Staincliffe Church of England School, our MP Tracy Brabin and you, the Mount family, to ensure we collectively achieve that goal for the next generation."

Mount chairman Hanif Mayet added: "Mount's annual presentation evening is a keenly-awaited occasion where we celebrate the achievements made both on and off the pitch.

"This year to receive the recognition for the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service and Clubmark is a massive honour but equally a reflection of the trust placed in us by the community.

"On behalf of everyone at the club, a very big thank you to everyone for the support given to the club over the last 40 years and for the continued financial contribution as we are dependent on the generosity of businesses and residents to allow us to go on serving our community."

Also present was Yorkshire chief executive Mark Arthur and former Test umpire John Holder, who gave a captivating speech.

Arthur said: "On behalf of my wife Debbie and the two young cricketers that accompanied me – Matthew Waite and Josh Shaw – and all my colleagues involved with the family of Yorkshire cricket, I would like to thank you for your wonderful hospitality.

"What continues to impress me so much is the level of commitment that so many members of the community have to volunteering their time to develop the playing side of the club.

"Your achievement in girls' and disabled cricket in 2017 are to be applauded."

Mount were established in 1975-76 by enthusiastic cricketers Hanif Mayet (the current chairman) and the late Farid Karolia.

The club have since spread their wings to such a degree that six of their ECB-qualified coaches, plus local community volunteers, ran two cricket camps in Palestine in November.

The club showed dvds of the camps at the Kadir Sports Centre and Mount of Olives Sports Club during the presentation evening.

Mount's first team finished fifth in the Terry Wynne Second Division last season but their second team were promoted as runners-up in the equivalent division.

Individually, the highlight was Mohammed Makda scoring 1,050 runs, including an innings of 205 not out, and he also took the players' award.