Rev. Bob Burd (Year Elected - 2004) - Deceased

Bob’s position is unique in that, as his title implies, he was a Moravian Church priest – to those who say, “What?”, arguably the Moravian Church’s most famous son was Sir Leonard Hutton, former England and Yorkshire captain.

Bob ministered in Yorkshire for several years before travelling extensively abroad.  After a largely unspectacular playing life he took up umpiring and progressed rapidly through the ranks, when his duties permitted, reaching the Minor Counties Panel where, in 1970 he was to have umpired the first class match against the touring South Africans.  As we all know, the match and the tour never took place and Bob’s chance was gone, never to return.

Bob returned to live in Hornsey (he was originally from there – all the travel round the world and he finished up 10 minutes from where he was born!) where he became a founder member of the League Umpires’ Panel.  His Minor Counties career came to an end when most matches began on Sundays – a distinct drawback for a man of the cloth.

Bob became the Panel’s second Chairman and remained in office for several years; a very popular officer and, when his League days were over, he continued to stand in matches for the Law Society and various school matches.