The annual Suffolk Sports Awards will take place at Trinity Park, Ipswich, on Friday night. Fourteen awards will be presented and this section looks at the BBC Radio Suffolk Unsung Hero award. Next Wednesday we’ll bring you the winners from the event in the Ipswich Star and East Anglian Daily Times

David Barker & Paul Whittaker (Cricket)

The chairman and president of Bury St Edmunds Cricket Club respectively, Paul Whittaker and David Barker have worked tirelessly.

In December 2012, after five years hard work and planning by the duo, work started on transforming Victory Sports Ground into a super sporting venue, in partnership with South Lee School, St Edmundsbury Borough Council, England and Wales Cricket Board and Sporting 87 Football Club.

This year alone, David has brought in thousands of pounds of sponsorship, held junior coaching nights, manned the car park and organised the club’s golf day and dinner.

Paul has led the club in a difficult season on the field. Off the field, he is involved in fundraising and the building of the aforementioned project, as well as working behind the bar, being on car park duty, chairing meetings, rolling the pitch at lunch break and visiting other clubs to see how they operate successfully.

He has negotiated the ECB grant that has helped make the work on the new pavilion possible.

Rory Marriott (Running)

Rory, pictured, is the event director for the Ipswich Parkrun and Regional Ambassador for Parkrun UK, engaging with the local community.

He championed and organised additional events for Ipswich on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day and also initiates themed Saturday runs including fancy dress.

When establishing new runs, Rory trains and guides the new volunteers across the East. His input includes measurement and composition of potential new courses alongside use of the dedicated equipment including the results service.

Rory is fantastic at empowering others, making everything fun and achievable while never failing to impart his infectious passion on others.

Andrew Broome (Cricket)

Having become involved in cricket in 1964, Andrew played at Bury St Edmunds Cricket club for 30 years before retiring through injury.

He started scoring for Suffolk CCC and has amassed 28 years of service, and was asked to score at Lord’s in 2005.

Andrew again visited Lord’s again in 2007, scoring for Suffolk in the county’s MCCA final against Cheshire. Because of Andrew’s dedication to scoring, he became the county scorers officer in 2011.

This involves him training total beginners to the more seasoned scorers that wish to develop their techniques. Andrew has been the president of the East Anglian Premier League since 2004.