A STALWART of cricket clubs and performing arts organisations in Bingley has died, aged 99.

Jack Bailey was a longstanding member and former president of Bingley Amateur Operatic Society and was also in Bingley Gilbert and Sullivan Society productions for many years.

Mr Bailey, who ran Jack S Bailey Funeral Directors in Bingley, was a keen cricketer and as a younger man he played for Bingley Congregational Cricket Club and was a keen member of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He played golf at Shipley Golf Club and was a lifelong member of Bingley United Reformed Church.

Former Telegraph & Argus sports writer Bill Marshall, who interviewed Mr Bailey recently for a cricket archive, said: “On Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings during the season, Jack Bailey set off to work on his beloved cricket ground at Beckfoot Lane. You might not think Jack’s dedication was exceptional - except for the fact that he was due to turn 100 on January 20, 2021.

“Jack’s family have been involved at Beckfoot Lane all his life, it was not unusual in the early days to have eight Baileys playing.”

Mr Bailey told Bill: “My grandfather James Bailey, a coal merchant in Bingley, had eight sons and five daughters and they formed a cricket team who played at Royal Nook up towards the moors towards Eldwick and Gilstead. They managed to find a flat piece of land as they needed to graze five stallions - two who used to pull coal barges and two who used to pull coal trucks while the other horse was resting.

“James managed to acquire some land at Beckfoot Lane and his sons - Smith, Willie, Thomas, Wilfred, Hanson, Rennie, Norman and James Eric - helped to form a team. We (Nigel and Stephen Bailey) also own the field on the other side of Congs’ ground - the horse field - and one of the first things my uncle Tom did was run a six-inch cast-iron pipe from the golf club down into a trough in the horse field so that the horses had some water to drink. We also used that for water to make cups of tea at the cricket ground.”

In his mid-teens in the 1930s, Mr Bailey used to score when Congs played in the Bradford Central League. The club had joint secretaries, and Mr Bailey recalled: “One was my cousin and the other was Edmund Hutton, a fine left-handed bat who said: “My younger brother’s only 15 and is twice the player that I am.”

Said Bill: “That younger brother was Leonard Hutton, who for many years had the highest test score of 364 against Australia at The Oval in 1938, made in 13 hours and 17 minutes. Leonard, born in Fulneck, near Pudsey, was knighted in 1956, played 79 tests for England in an 18-year span interrupted by the Second World War, averaged 56.67 in tests and was England’s first professional captain.”

Recently Mr Bailey, a regular attender at Congs first-team matches in the Craven League, provided a highlight of the club’s annual prize presentation with his Jack’s Gems - his own awards to club members.

Mr Bailey died on April 2 at his home in Aire Valley Court, Bingley. He and his late Irene, had a daughter, Christine, and a son, the late Michael. Mr Bailey had four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A memorial and thanksgiving service will be arranged when circumstances permit.