Obituary - Roy Gibson; stalwart of Southport & Birkdale CC
Date: 5th March 2010
Notice has been received of the death of Roy Gibson
Southport & Birkdale CC is mourning the loss of former Club captain Roy Gibson, aged 89.
Roy joined the Club in 1937 and graduated to the 1st XI the following season, where he remained for the next 33 years! During the war he played in the same forces' XI as Hedley Verity and, on his return to Southport, captained S&B from 1950-53 and was a key member of the Club's championship-winning side of 1954.
Fifty years after the record-breaking summer of 1955, Roy recalled batting with Roy Fox, when the latter scored a Club record 1344 runs, only bettered in the Competition by Dr John Winter's total of 1423 for Northern the same season. Asked which, in his opinion, was the better bat, Roy commented that whilst he would pick Roy Fox if his life depended on it, Dr Winter was the only batsman in the Competition he would pay to watch!
Roy Gibson's father, Lt. Col. WR Gibson, was a leading light in the early days of S&B, his son Nigel, a more than useful opening bowler and, at a time when cricket teas were the preserve of players' wives and girlfriends, his mother, wife and sister all did splendid service in the kitchen, causing long serving S&B Secretary, Ken Porter, to say of the Gibsons, "Never has the Club been better served by one family."
The funeral will take place at Southport Crematorium on Wednesday, 10 March at 1.30 p.m.
TE
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