A MAN who has given 40 years of service to Embsay Cricket Club has been honoured.

Trevor Coe, 68, a former Embsay resident, received an honorary life membership at a recent club dinner.

"I was a little emotional, but the icing on the cake was when my daughter Zoe presented the certificate to me," he said.

Trevor, who has been at Embsay CC since 1974 and has been chairman for the past 25 years, said: "It all started when they called me and said 'we're one short, would you like to make the numbers up'?"

His role at the club blossomed.

"They needed a new secretary and asked me 'Would you like to do it? There's not much to do'," said Trevor. "This was in 1975 and was a time when we were tearing down the old pavilion and raising money for a new one. I was thrown in at the deep end."

For the next 11 years, he served as club secretary and was a second team player, who was known for his defensive batting capabilities.

He and former chairman Stuart Pope worked together to buy the ground, as well as widen and level it.

When Trevor became club chairman, he raised grants to buy new machinery, such as mowers and rollers, purchase new nets and doubled the size of the pavilion.

To raise money, Trevor came up with the idea of doing a fortnightly bingo, which is still run at Embsay CC today. He estimated it has raised around £50,000 since 1975.

Trevor, a Embsay resident for 33 years who moved to Keighley in 2002, said he could not imagine joining another club even though he no longer lived in the village.

"I'm Embsay through and through and could never have moved to another team," said Trevor. "My most treasured memory is when we won four trophies in 2002 - the First and Third Divisions and the Wynn and Cowling cups. We are only second team ever to do it."

Trevor played cricket for many years, but gave in the late 1990s.

He said: "I enjoyed playing cricket, but I gave up because we had quite and rich vein of youngsters coming through."

Trevor credited his success to two women who have supported him over the years.

"Throughout these 40 years, I've had two ladies behind me - my late wife Margaret and my current wife Ann, who is club secretary."

Ann and Trevor also play a major role in the Craven Cricket League, where Ann is secretary and Trevor is fixtures secretary and a life member. He has served the league since 1982.