The well-known umpire Don Brooks passed away on 21st January aged 81. He was long standing member of Tiddington CC where over the years he had been player, captain, and latterly President. Since becoming an umpire, he held various positions in the Oxfordshire Association of Cricket Officials (OACO) and at the time of his death he was President. In recent years he would attend many matches around the county in his role as an umpire assessor, always striving to maintain a high standard of umpiring.
He organised the Bernard Tollett and Wilf Bennett Cup competitions for several years and implemented regional rounds to encourage club participation. A member of the OCB for 40 years, he would be a regular attender at AGMs and Members Meetings where he would invariably make helpful contributions to discussions.
He had a great passion and love for cricket in the county and was very proud of his son Jack’s progress from Tiddington to the first-class game.
His umpiring colleague Ian Royle has provided the following recollections:
“I can’t really remember when I first met Don, but he was the one who insisted I move from umpiring in the old OCA into the Cherwell League and then pushed me to move up the umpiring ladder into the Home Counties Premier League. I was obviously doing something right in his eyes even if the players may not have always agreed!
In the 200+ games I have done in the HCPCL since then there is not a season has gone by that I have not gone back to Tiddington after a game to seek Don’s advice on an incident from my game or just to chew over things in general. When we discussed things, we didn’t always agree but he was always happy to agree to disagree and there was never an argument, always a discussion – whenever I could get a word in edgeways!
Don will be sorely missed by many in the cricketing world as already evidenced by comments on other threads and I will certainly miss his friendship and wise counsel, both for myself and for those we train as umpires at Tiddington where he was a fixture on our courses, keeping the tutors on the straight and narrow from the back row.”
The Hon Secretary of the OACO, Anton Saverimuttu, has also commented:
“I would like to add that I first met Don during the Umpiring Course in Tiddington in early 2013. I kept on learning from him about Umpiring since that time and during the last few years we became friends. Don became President of his beloved Tiddington Cricket Club in 2022 and in 2023 he became President of the Oxfordshire Association of Cricket Officials.
I managed to see him at the JR Hospital on the 13th of January and we had a long chat. I shall miss him as a person as well as an Umpiring Legend.”
Oxfordshire Cricket said:
“Don’s contribution and value to Oxfordshire cricket was immense. He will be sadly missed by players, officials, volunteers, clubs and the whole game.”
The former Chairman of the OCB, Chris Clements, adds:
“Don was a highly principled man. He had strong family and social values to which he was extremely committed. His life revolved around his family, trade unionism, socialism, umpiring, cricket and gardening. Always strong in debate, Don was incredibly likeable and well respected.”
His funeral service is to be held at the North Oxfordshire Crematorium and Memorial Park, Tackley, OX5 3ER on Friday 8th March at 1pm. This will be followed by refreshments at the Tiddington Village Hall, Albury View, Tiddington, OX9 2 LY.