Millie Jones wins Empower Award for Super 1s contribution

Millie Jones won the Empower Award at the Lords Taverners Impact Awards

Millie Jones was recognised for her efforts in Warwickshire Cricket Foundation's Super 1s programme when she earned the Empower Award at the Lords Taverners Impact Awards at the The Oval in London.

Joe Chapman

2026-10-24T10:00+01:00

Warwickshire Cricket Foundation (WCF) celebrated a winner at the recent Lords Taverners’ Impact Awards ceremony, as Millie Jones scooped the Empower Award for her efforts and support of the Super 1s programme which is run across the county.

Millie, 21, has an under-developed eye, a condition which has caused sight problems. She has also experienced difficulty with communication due to a global developmental delay.

That made her teenage years less than straightforward; Millie, who underwent speech therapy, struggled with unfamiliar environments, especially in social settings.

“I was quite a shy person,” Millie said, of her childhood and growing up. “I didn’t like meeting new people or going to different places I’d never been to before. It is quite hard to find good places for people with special needs or who struggle to communicate.”

Introduced to the Super 1s by a friend, Millie immediately took to the programme, organised by the Lord's Taverners and funded by the Berkeley Foundation. It is run by WCF at various hubs around Warwickshire.

The Super 1s programme was set up to ensure young people with disabilities were permitted a place in which they could enjoy playing cricket while also developing their confidence and building relationships.

Millie, from Solihull, has now spent around five years attending sessions at the Knowle and Dorridge Hub and staff have witnessed a noticeable difference in her personality.

Millie Jones receives her Empower Award at the Lord's Taverners Impact Awards

“She is so chatty now,” Nigel Perry-Ogden, WCF’s Disability Development Officer, said. "She’ll talk to anyone! She has definitely grown in confidence in terms of her speech.

“When I first met her, she was relatively quiet. She’d say hello but would not say nearly as much as she says now. Working with that group every week, she has built up a really good relationship and with Dean [Wattison, SEND coach], who does most of the coaching at that hub.”

More than merely establishing herself as a regular attendee, though, Millie has begun to spread the word and has directly influenced the arrival of new faces at Super 1s sessions, including girls with who she has become friends at college.

As well as inspiring others to join, Millie has also taken it upon herself to make newer participants feel welcome, included and supported.

“One of my big things now is trying to increase girls' participation and how we can do that and having advocates like her is really important for that,” Nigel explained.

“We had a group of six girls who came on a residential last year and she really took on a leadership role within that. There were a couple of girls who weren't quite as confident and she was always checking in on them and making sure they were alright as well, which is amazing given where she was.”

Millie has since utilised her newfound confidence and has spread her social wings in order to volunteer at a local youth club and with the Rainbows each Wednesday. She is also studying Level 2 Health and Social Care with the long-term aim to work with young children in nursery or school.

“If there are more girls coming [to the Super 1s sessions] that would be good,” she added. “I am here for them to feel more included. I think it would help them to feel more confident.”

Nigel put Millie forward for an award, not only because of the progress she has made in her own personal development, but because of her above-and-beyond attitude which has helped to grow the K&D Hub through the introduction of new members.

The winners of the Lords Taverners Impact Awards 2026

“I thought of nominating Millie because of the growth that I've seen in her as a person but also because of the things she's done for us as a programme,” he said.

“In terms of bringing more people…the Knowle and Dorridge Hub now is absolutely flying. It's one of the real successes over the last over the last couple of years, in terms of growth. “When I first took on Knowle and Dorridge, you maybe had three or four regular participants - now we've got a group of a dozen and eight or nine of those are coming every week.

“That's in no small part down to Millie and her mum, who is a massive advocate for the programme and for us.

“It was a no-brainer for me to nominate Millie, she really deserved recognition for what she has achieved and what she does. Luckily, she was chosen for the Empower Award.

“Not only has cricket empowered her, she has empowered other people to grow and come out of their shells.”

Millie’s award-winning progress also highlights further the crucial work and opportunities which Warwickshire Cricket Foundation’s SEND team afford their participants through cricket.

Nigel, along with his team Dean and Sachi Manokaran, lead hubs around the region which allow young people with any disability to partake in the sport.

“It just shows that we put on really inclusive and safe environments that people feel they can come and enjoy, no matter their background and it shows the relationships that we have, with the people on the programme to make them feel comfortable,” he added.

“You can do everything you want regarding the physical environment, but we are part of that environment and we need to be friendly, inclusive and all those things that we stand for.

“Being able to build those relationships means that I know the participants well enough to make nominations like this.”

Millie was presented with her award by England men's batter Ollie Pope and England mixed disability batter Jonny Gale.