ACO NEWSLETTER - Ecb - England and Wales Cricket Board

Awards and RecognitionHonorary Life Memberships are awarded by the ECB ACO Board to those nominated from the MembershipServices Committee. The Board was delighted to approve the nominations of Keith Sutherland (Durham) and DavidHeap (Lancashire) to join the existing list of Honorary Life Members.Below are the individual submissions that were approved by the Board. Congratulations to Keith and David.Keith SutherlandKeith has filled many positions for both the ACU&S and ECB ACO sincejoining the former in 1987 when he started his umpiring career. He was aMinor County and Second XI umpire before he had to retire because of backproblems in 2000 but this did not stop his work for the ACU&S and ACOwhich continues to this day.Keith was secretary of the ACU&S Durham Branch and also secretary ofthe Durham Association of Umpires and Scorers and at present he is secretaryof the Durham ACO – a position he has held since its formation.At a regional and national level he has held many posts. He was the firstrepresentative of the North Region on the ACO Board and at present he isNorth Regional Secretary.As well as filling these various other posts, Keith has run courses inDurham for many years. There is no-one in our organisation more deserving of the honour of Honorary Life Membership than Keith.David HeapWhen you look at some men there is a saying, find a busy man and givehim some more. That is David – a workaholic. He never stops up in theNorth.David began playing junior cricket at Little Lever before moving on toplay senior cricket in 1965 at Kearsley CC in the Bolton League, where heremained until 1972, becoming a very good left arm bowler. After one yearat St Andrews (1973) in the Bolton Association, he returned to the BoltonLeague to play for Westhoughton CC until 1983.He then took up the call of the men in the white coat and began umpiringin 1984, becoming a full member of the ACU in 1989. He became an instructorin 2001 and has run many courses throughout the Bolton and Manchesterarea. He became the North West Training Officer taking over from IanBishop in 2007, where he helped many instructors on their courses, assessing and offering advice. He became the Education Officer for theLCB ACO in 2009 and his expertise in that field has been invaluable to the LCB ACO, attending many national meetings of Education Officersas well as training courses in tutoring, assessing and scoring, organising courses not only for umpiring at all levels, but helping thecounty Scoring Officer with her courses too. He has been dedicated to the role and it is with regret he steps down this year but will continueto tutor courses locally.There is no-one more dedicated than him to the cause and it has been pleasure to have worked with him. A truly great person.Shepherd-Frindall Award WinnersThe winners of the Shepherd-Frindall awards are determined by the ECB ACO Board following the review of the nominations ineach category. This year the nominations were particularly strong and the following four were chosen as the 2012 winners.Congratulations to the nominees and winners.Ed: It’s easy to congratulate the winners, but we would also like to thank those who nominated someone for this year’sShepherd-Frindall awards. Maybe it’s you who should be nominated next year…Bob McLeod – League Panels andAssociationsBob was one of thefounder members ofthe Surrey ChampionshipUmpiresPanel and is nowserving his 26th seasonon the Panel. Hehas always been regardedby playersand clubs alike asone of the top recreational umpires in Surrey.From 2001 to 2008 he served as Chairmanof the Panel and was responsible for the creationof a transparent list system, allowing thebest umpires to develop and rise through thesystem, and the author of the Blue Book – aninvaluable umpire’s guide to navigating theChampionship’s playing conditions. ThePanel now uses Bob’s considerable mentoringtalents with those umpires considered to havethe most promise to stand in the top levels ofclub cricket.He is also a Boundary Assessor, and inthese roles is able to inspire and develop umpiresof the panel. For many yearshe organised the panel of umpires to standin Surrey CCC 2nd XI matches. Outside Surrey,he has been the Chairman of the ClubCricket Conference’s Umpires and ScorersCommittee for some years and in that role heused his considerable organising skills to greateffect. You will not meet a nicer man. He hasbeen a model for promising officials in Surreyand beyond – both as an umpire and a man.Chris Fortune – Young Officials AwardSince 2009, when the young officials pro-e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 8 contact us on 0121 446 2710