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#7 – George Wood
George is one of the Yorkshire League’s most experienced umpires. He joined the Yorkshire League panel in 1997, having started his umpiring career in the Bassetlaw League in 1983. He qualified as a full member of the Association of Cricket Umpires & Scorers in 1992, and in that year he started umpiring for Derbyshire seconds. He continues to stand regularly in the second XI competition, and, this season has stood in two Derby seconds games, in which his colleagues have been John Hampshire and Darryl Hair. In a second XI game a few years ago, he stood with an even more famous umpire - Dickie Bird.
Memorable matches for George have been the 2003 Yorkshire League Knock-Out Cup Final, between Sheffield Collegiate and Doncaster; a Cockspur Cup quarter-final between Barnt Green and Widnes; a semi-final of the National Village Knock-Out Cup at Elveston in Derbyshire; and the final of the Derbyshire Presidents Trophy between the Derbyshire League and the Shropshire League. George is a member of the Yorkshire League Umpires’ Committee.
As a cricketer, George was a ‘one club man’, playing all his club cricket in the Bassetlaw League for Cresswell Colliery as an opening bowler. He started playing at 14, and at 16 was invited to the indoor winter nets at Derby. He played some Club & Ground games at Derby in 1962, and was a Derbyshire seconds regular in the following two seasons. In 1967, he represented the Bassetlaw League against the Huddersfield League, taking three wickets. George finally retired from playing at the end of the 1982 season.
George spent most of his working life underground, as he puts it, at Cresswell Colliery, then spending his last two years in the Coal Board above ground at Clipstone Colliery, before being made redundant in 1989. He then worked for the MoD for ten years in security at the Army Training College at Welbeck. After his retirement from the MoD in 1999, George started working as a volunteer ‘car ambulance driver’ – an occupation which he is able to fit around his Derby seconds umpiring commitments!
George’s other sport was golf, from which he retired in 1998. George lives with his wife, Beryl, and his cat, Lucky, in Worksop. His daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren live nearby. One of George’s main interests is travel, and he takes three holidays per year, including an annual trip to his timeshare in Spain, usually before the start of the season – which accounts for his invariable ruddy complexion.
This year, to celebrate their 40th Wedding anniversary, George and Beryl are taking a trip to Honolulu and Las Vegas in October.