A LOYAL servant of North Tawton Rugby Club has been honoured for his long service to the club as a volunteer.

David Quick, the director of Rugby at North Tawton RFC, was presented with a National RFU ’Valued Volunteer’ award at a ceremony at Twickenham Stadium in London, the home of England Rugby, by England Rugby head coach Eddie Jones.

David has played more than 500 games in the first team at North Tawton RFC and still plays occasionally.

He is a former coach of the first team and the ladies’ team at North Tawton and was a Devon Referee Society referee for two years.

He has been a volunteer at North Tawton RFC for 36 years, a role which has included many activities from marking out pitches, maintaining the grounds, to looking after the clubhouse and even stints behind the bar.

Mr Jones presented David with a framed certificate, a bottle of Bollinger champagne and two engraved glasses.

He and his wife Sarah, who is secretary and fixtures secretary at North Tawton RFC, were treated to a weekend in London to attend the ceremony.

They also attended dinners and enjoyed a guided tour of the stadium, changing rooms, control centre and watched matches at Twickenham, where more than 4,000 people are employed.

At the dinner before the ceremony, which was before the recent England v Argentina game, David and Sarah were seated at the same table as the Argentinian ambassador.

David was nominated for the award by the Devon RFC president Treve Mitchell.

David was the first to receive his ‘Valued Volunteer’ award at the ceremony and the citation read: ‘This is a major honour of Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer Recognition Programme.

‘We thank those who have given an outstanding contribution to rugby.’

David said it was a “great honour” to receive the award and said that he and Sarah greatly enjoyed their time being treated by England Rugby.

Their son, Simon, is a first team player at North Tawton, and daughter, Natasha, was also a player with the woman’s team.