The Twelfth Man 2016

15 Second XI and was also an active member of the club committee. He was also often seen at the ground assisting the groundsman and for a time took on the role himself. At the time of his death he was President of the cricket club. On the field, Herbert always took his cricket seriously, so much so that he would book his holidays – Monday to Friday – through the summer and rarely had a family holiday that involved being away on a Saturday, . He was a patient, kind individual who would always find time to talk to all ages about his beloved cricket and in his later years he used his patience and friendly manner to assist with the WCLS coaching classes. He was proud that he had the opportunity to pass on his cricket knowledge and when watching the current England squad with a twinkle in his eye and his boyish smile he would comment that it was he who taught Joe Root to keep his bat straight. Kevin Gaskell Former secretary of Monk Bretton CC and WCLS member Wombwell’s long-standing and hardworking Chairman, James Greenfield, was the worthy 2015 recipient of the Society’s award that is dedicated to those who have made a significant contribution to the game in Yorkshire. Many WCLS members though may know very little about the person to whom the award is dedicated. This short piece then is an attempt to resolve that and also to briefly detail some, if not all, of those who have received one of the Society’s most important awards, since its inception back in the 1970s. A splendid photo of Mr E.H.Umbers MBE JP featured on the inside page of the 1960 Society magazine, The Twelfth Man , and beneath were these words of tribute: “Mr Umbers is a well- known figure in local cricket circles and is a supporter of many sports other than cricket. We, as a Society, are extremely fortunate to have such a great sports lover as one of our patrons.” The 1976 Twelfth Man magazine carried a short tribute to “Senior Society Patron” Ted Umbers, who died at the end of January that year, aged 78. I’m certain the compiler of the tribute would have been the Society’s founding secretary Jack Sokell. He wrote: “Ted had been a great supporter since our early days and was our longest serving patron.” Ted (E.H.) Umbers had been the Barnsley and District representative on the Yorkshire CCC committee and it would be Jack Sokell who succeeded him in that role in 1974. In March 1976 the Wombwell committee met to choose a successor to their long-standing Patron and at that gathering introduced a new award, for ‘Services to Yorkshire Cricket’ in memory of E.H.Umbers. Yorkshire’s whole-hearted bowler, Tony Nicholson, who retired from the first-class game in 1975, was the inaugural winner. The second recipient, in 1977, was Norman Yardley In Memory of Ted A brief background to the EH Umbers Award for Services to Yorkshire Cricket by Mick Pope Ted Umbers (left) with his Barnsley successor on the Yorkshire CCC committee and Wombwell’s founding secretary Jack Sokell