Stoolball news tagged with ‘people’

Rosemary was the moving force behind the reconstitution of the National Stoolball Association (NSA) in 1979 after its demise in 1943 on the death of W W Grantham, the founder of the stoolball Association for Great Britain.

Rosemary fought tirelessly to press forward the virtues of the game of stoolball and was forever seeking to achieve national publicity for the game. Her contacts in high places was rewarded during the 1990s, when two ambassadors for the game of stoolball, Fay Jolly, representing Surrey, and Kay Price, representing Sussex, were present at a Sportman’s evening hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Rosemary played her stoolball at Ockley on the Surrey/Sussex border and was a founder member of the club. Following the death of her husband Tony, Rosemary moved first to Bishops Castle in Shropshire and then more recently to Charlbury in Oxfordshire.

Rosemary was the inaugural Chairman at the NSA’s formation in 1979 and became President in 1985. She remained in touch with the game and regularly attended the annual general meetings. She had the sharpest of eyes for detail and accuracy and was an avid collector and dispatcher of newspaper cuttings relating to sport and particularly stoolball. Rosemary was a forthright and fearless lady in her approach to life and enjoyed a good fight.

She will be sadly missed and perhaps her explicit comments above the first hymn at her funeral service said it all. It read “Loud, cheerful singing please”. Everybody duly obliged as they embarked on ‘Guide me, O thou great Redeemer’.

It is with much sadness that we must record the death of Rosemary Hobbs, the NSA’s President, on 2 July 2007 at The Churchill Hospital, Oxford. Her funeral took place at St Margaret’s Church, Ockley in Surrey on Thursday 19 July. Amongst the mourners were a number of her friends from the world of stoolball. Tributes to her full and demanding life were paid by her daughter Angela and son Michael.

It is good to report that since the end of last season Michelle from Uckfield Stoolball Club has given birth to a little boy, and Pat Goldsmith’s daughter, Claire, from Wivelsfield Green Stoolball Club has had a little girl, Emily Bronwin. Congratulations to you both.

Now we come to the sad part. During the winter we learned of the deaths of three valued older members in the world of stoolball. The first was Peter Cornford, who was an umpire with Denton and South Heighton Stoolball Club.

Peter was a staunch supporter of stoolball and universally regarded as a very nice man. He was most disappointed when his club dropped out of the Mid Division of Sussex and for a time used to bring his granddaughter to play for Ringmer juniors. Hopefully she will continue to play stoolball and retain the family connection with the game.

Following very quickly on Peter’s death we learned of Doreen Mayston’s passing. Doreen was in her 80s when she died and was still very much involved with Ditchling Stoolball Club.

She played all her stoolball with Ditchling and on her retirement from playing, she took over the role of scorer until she felt she could no longer keep up with the game.

She was a Life Member of Sussex County Stoolball Association and a Vice President of Mid Division. In 1999 she was decorated with an MBE for “services to the community,” and apparently held up the Investiture queue for quite a while when, in response to the question “what is stoolball?” she told the Queen all about the game.

Very recently, on 4 April, members of the National Stoolball Association (NSA) attended the funeral of Joyce Coleman, who on her day was one of the most prolific batsmen ever to play stoolball. In one particular game she scored 267 runs, and this remains a record in Sussex stoolball to this day.

Joyce played most of her stoolball with Fairwarp until they dropped out of North Division Sussex County Stoolball Association in the 1980s, and after that she played intermittently for Wivelsfield Green Stoolball Club.

On her retirement she remained a fervent supporter of the Sussex county game and she and her sister, Peggy Thorlby, were always to be found in their deckchairs at the major fixtures.