The Surrey Championship Umpires Panel was founded during the winter of 1986/87 and commenced operations at the start of the 1987 season. The Championship started in 1968 and prior to the formation of the umpire's panel, each club provided its own umpires. However 1987 saw the start of structured cricket in the Championship when the Surrey Cricketers League plus four other clubs were brought in to form a second division at both 1st and 2nd XI level. All this was possible thanks to increased sponsorship from our then sponsor Eve Group plc.
It was during the 1986 summer that Chris Brown, then Chairman of the Championship, approached Fred Garnett, a well-known Surrey umpire, and asked him if he thought he could raise a panel of umpires to stand in both the First and Second Divisions at 1st XI level. He agreed to undertake this task and quickly decided he would be unable to do it single-handed so enlisted the help of three other prominent Surrey umpires, Leslie Cheeseman, David Edwards and Peter Euridge.
During that winter there followed a series of meetings to get things moving. Fred Garnett was appointed as Secretary/Appointments Secretary with David Edwards as his assistant. All the clubs involved were circulated asking them to nominate umpires to join the panel and various other umpires were approached. Gradually the panel took shape until finally sufficient umpires had been recruited and appointments for the season could be made.
Sadly two of our founding committee are no longer with us. Peter Euridge died in 1995 and Fred Garnett a year later. David Edwards took over as Appointments Secretary in 1996 and for many years we had a worthy Chairman in Bob Bannell. Bob stood down as Chairman in October 2001 and sadly died two months later. He was succeeded by Bob McLeod who served until 2008 when he stood down and was replaced as Chairman by Jeremy Beckwith.
The introduction by the ECB of Premier Leagues (The Championship was one of the first to be so accredited) forced us to revise the structure of the panel and introduce a grading system for the umpires. Thus the top umpires are standing in the top matches. The Panel is the stepping-stone for those umpires wishing to graduate to bigger and better matches.
It is never good to be complacent however and we are always mindful of the continuing need to keep recruiting umpires. Anyone who wishes to join the Panel should contact the Appointments Secretary, David Edwards at 22 Kingfisher Gardens, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 8QZ. Tel: 020-8651 1087
or 07785 970890. e-mail: David Edwards
The criteria for membership of the panel are:
a) Must be a Level 1 member of the ECB Association of Cricket Officials (ECB ACO)
b) Must have a minimum of one season's regular umpiring experience
c) Must have up to date CRB clearance
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