We are delighted to learn that Mr Andy McCrea, Head of Technology & Design and Head of Cricket at CCB, has been awarded a British Empire Medal on the Queen's Birthday Honours list! Andy was nominated for his “services to cricket and young people in Northern Ireland”. He was very surprised to be awarded and is grateful to everyone he has worked with in the cricket community across Ireland and at Campbell. Andy is very excited by the current condition of cricket here at the College. 'I am delighted to say there is a lot of enthusiasm for cricket at Campbell ', he remarked, 'not just from the pupils but from the Campbell staff too'. A solid core of 12 staff assist Andy with the teams every Saturday morning. 'This is what makes Campbell such a great community and that we can offer so many opportunities to the pupils', he said.

Outside of Campbell, Andy is involved in coaching and coach education throughout Ireland and is a member of the Templepatrick Cricket Club. The club posted the following comments:

Congratulations to long-serving Templepatrick Cricket Club player, cricket coach and committee member, Andy McCrea on being named in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2022. Andy's tireless voluntary work spanning more than 30 years - as TCC Cricket Development Officer, as a coach with NCU and Cricket Ireland representative youth sides, as an NCU coach mentor and also with Cricket Ireland as a Coach Education Course Tutor and Assessor - has been recognised with the award of a “BEM for services to cricket and to young people in Northern Ireland.”

A BEM (British Empire Medal) is granted in recognition of meritorious ‘hands-on’ service to the community and TCC chairman John Busby said: "This award is very much deserved. Andy has been the main driving force behind the growth of Templepatrick Cricket Club for over 30 years. His hard work and dedication, establishing and growing our now thriving youth coaching programme, has been key in the club’s progression. He has given up thousands of hours of his own time to provide quality sporting opportunities for many young people throughout the country, encouraging them to enjoy the game of cricket and working with them to develop their cricket and personal skills. 

"Despite having a busy professional and family life, he has worked tirelessly for all these years - both within TCC and across the community as well as with the NCU and Cricket Ireland - coaching young players and mentoring new coaches, giving them the tools required to help develop future generations of cricketers at all levels. This is deserved recognition for someone who has given so much of their life to the promotion of cricket and the development of young cricketers and young people. I know that everyone at TCC, and in the wider cricket community, will be delighted for Andy and his family."

We at Campbell College are thrilled for Andy to be formally recognised and will follow up on this later in the year, when he visits Hillsborough Castle and Buckingham Palace to receive his award.

To learn more about Andy's work in the classroom, watch our recently posted Spotlight on Technology and Design where Andy discusses the project work and skills learned by pupils at Campbell.