Post by Acumen on Feb 7, 2022 13:13:40 GMT
I regret to report that Sheila Dorothy Hill MBE (b.10aug28) died on 22nd January 2022.
Funeral arrangements can be found at www.ctbutterfield.com/006NvHyFA/Sheila-HILL
She held many important roles in ACU&S. In later years, she lived with her sister in Yorkshire. Sadly missed after a very long and productive life. She was appointed M.B.E. in 2011.
On 2nd March 2022, The Times posted a brief statement: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sheila-hill-obituary-2s6ghpfpr
A brief tribute can be found at www.middlesexccc.com/news/2022/01/great-of-womens-cricket-sheila-hill-passes-away
MCC posted www.pdfhubonline.com/install-app/?dist=ggl&campaign_id=11657618877&adgroup_id=130133174561&placement_id=death-obituary.com&creative_id=583565693517&bd=PHUKMPTTX&d_id=ggl&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhJyItZGj9gIVe0cVCB3mKgtjEAEYASAAEgKjGvD_BwE
A longer tribute by Leslie Cheeseman in his History of ACU&S:-
"Born - shall we say - a long time ago", Sheila modestly answered the Author's enquiry. It was possible, however, to disclose that she was educated at Bromley Grammar School for Girls, Kent, and later at Oxford's Somerville College, where she graduated in mathematics.
Her involvement with Cricket began at school and, what is more, this also included an introduction to umpiring! It would seem that pupils at Bromley were encouraged to take umpiring tests in addition to playing in each of their sports and the tests on cricket umpiring consisted of a written paper and a practical in both umpiring and scoring. This necessitated officiating under the eagle eye of the Games' mistress in House Matches. "A long way from a Benson and Hedges Final", said Sheila, "but probably just as keenly contested". With such an early baptism to the art of officiating in "the best of all team games", it is perhaps readily understandable why she had little problem in satisfying the A.C.U. examiners in later years!
On leaving Oxford, she was appointed to teaching posts at Roan School for Girls at Greenwich and Eothen School at Caterham, Surrey. This was following by nearly 30 years at St. Paul's Girls' School at Hammersmith, West London. In the late 60's she was appointed Head of Mathematics there until 1980, when she held the (possibly unique) title of Surmistress (or deputy Head) at the school, equivalent to the very ancient title of Surmaster at the St. Paul's (Boys') School. (Author's note: This possibly explains the origin of her later insistence of being called "Chairman" rather than "Chairperson" or even "Chair" on her subsequent election to the highest office of the Association).
Her sporting involvements at University had included representative fixtures in Netball, Tennis and, perhaps most significantly, as Captain of the Women's Cricket XI. She was to join A.C.U. in 1964 and has since spent most of her time in Women's Cricket, encompassing everything from schoolgirls indoor, 6-a-side fixtures, through to international games. Particular highlights have included the very first World-Cup Final in 1973, when England Women trounced Australia at Edgbaston and other Test Matches and one-day Internationals against Australia, India, New Zealand and the West Indies.
Her first 'public appearance' within the Association was as the contributor of an article in the October, 1972 issue of the Newsletter "How's That?", when she recalled the personal experience of standing with a strong (?), silent partner who failed to call such niceties as "Play", "Wide Ball" and "Over" and all of whose overs never had more - sometimes, less - than six deliveries, fair or unfair, and with any appeals answered by a shake of the head, rather than by any form of utterance!
Her next "honourable mention" came in the recorded Minutes of the 1974 Annual General Meeting when she enquired of the recommendations to be made by the Development Committee in regard to the future representation of National Bodies, such as the Women's Cricket Association and the Service Organisations.
The election of Tom Smith as a Life Vice-President, in 1975, created a two-year vacancy for the position of an elected Councillor. This was filled by the nomination and appointment of Sheila as the first woman member to be elected to General Council. She had already been active as a long-serving member of the Women's Cricket Association and had also been a regular and respected delegate to represent Hillingdon and District A.C.U. at Council for several previous years. None present at this time could have thought that Sheila would continue to serve on Association Council uninterrupted for the next 25 years, either as an elected Councillor, or as an Officer.
11 April 1976, saw her describing her approach to training, as she demonstrated a delightfully simple and wholly practical training aid to the third annual training seminar at Keele University. This was the first of her many attendances and contributions over the years to this national workshop.
Two years later (in March 1978) she became the first woman to be elected to A.C.U. office as Assistant General Secretary and at one meeting of Council, at very short notice, she was to act as "Deputy" to the Deputy General Secretary at that time, Leslie Cheeseman. Leslie recalled her being "a tower of strength to me all year; a real treasure, responsible entirely for excellent, factual but, at all times, superbly diplomatic Minutes. Leslie was to renew the eulogy in his Annual Report for 1980 when he said: "A.C.U. has special reason to be grateful to Sheila Hill for the tremendous contribution she has made as the "First Lady" of the Association in fulfilling her role as Deputy General Secretary". She became totally responsible for the preparation of Aides-memoires, Agendas and the Minutes of all meetings of General Council and its Executive Committee. She had no peer when it came to displays of tact, diplomacy, orderly thought and accurate presentation. It was therefore no surprise when at the 1980 Annual General Meeting she was elected Deputy Chairman in addition to her existing role as Deputy General Secretary.
Sheila's unerring accuracy, and constant good humour were further factors which had made her an essential element of the Association's operational team and a welcome rose among the male thorns of the organisation! It was completely logical that she should be invited to step into the shoes of David Whiley on his retirement as Chairman of Council. In these varied administrative positions, she was, of course, to become an ex-officio member of all Association Standing Committees and invariably attended most of their meetings, making telling contributions particularly to the Finance, Technical and Passing Committee business.
She was later to join Leslie Cheeseman in his approaches to Col. John Stephenson, then Secretary of M.C.C., in seeking joint A.C.U./M.C.C. responses to Law Queries received. It was important that similar solutions were seen to be suggested by the two organisations in response to barrack room lawyers seeking to play off one set of official answers against those given by the alternate body. With this excellent liaison and co-ordination established, it was not long before Sheila was invited to contribute routinely to the deliberations of the M.C.C. Laws Working Party.
Included in one of his Annual Reports, General Secretary, Leslie Cheeseman wrote: "No one has done more to keep a sharper focus on the particular areas of concern and on what members wanted to achieve (rather than on the ultimate process of working itself) than Sheila Hill. Neither has anyone demonstrably better understood Association history, its aims and its objectives and how best to achieve them strategically. Perhaps subconsciously (and most certainly, unobtrusively), from the Chair she has given the lead in planning, of thinking before speaking and gently motivating all towards quality of eventual output rather than on quantity of input, and of avoiding the predisposition of some to go over the same ground more than once".
Following the death of Tom Smith, the Association had no need to look further than to Sheila to take over his former work as scribe for the further revisions and production of the Association Textbook: "Cricket Umpiring and Scoring". This was, of course, the only authoritative interpretation of the Laws of Cricket accepted throughout the world in cricket playing countries by the majority of umpires and scorers.
The dawn of the Millennium seemed an ideal opportunity for the M.C.C., the custodian of these Laws, to assemble a panel of "experts" to undertake this massive task. Sheila was included as one of two representatives from the Association - the other, being her colleague Robbie Robins. The meetings of this Working Party were to be convened for a total of 33 days, hours of play, 9.00 am to 6.00 pm and on top of this there were many additional hours of study of the various texts of the proposed drafts of the new Code.
On 16 March 1998, M.C.C. announced the names of the first women to be appointed as Honorary Life Members of the Club. Included in this number of the rarest species in the land was Sheila Hill. She had been invited principally for her contribution to Womens' Cricket and her work in re-codification of the Laws but one feels sure that her status as Chairman of A.C.U. & S. had also been in the mind of M.C.C. Officials making the nomination.
Sadly the vagaries inherent in democracy and the lottery of the postal vote were to see her narrowly defeated by a handful of votes in the electoral process for re-appointment as Association Chairman at the Annual General Meeting in March 2000. But the considerable knowledge and expertise gleaned from her previous involvement with all aspects of Association activity were not to be lost entirely, as she continued as a member of the Policy Committee, Technical Committee and a Trustee to the Association's Benevolent Trust.
A standing ovation as she relinquished the Chairmanship at A.G.M. 2000 was followed by an enthusiastic reception of the award of her Honorary Membership at the Annual General Meeting, held at Edgbaston on Saturday, 24 March 2001. The award
is the highest honour that the Association can bestow and no one has been more deserving of this distinguished accolade.
Funeral arrangements can be found at www.ctbutterfield.com/006NvHyFA/Sheila-HILL
She held many important roles in ACU&S. In later years, she lived with her sister in Yorkshire. Sadly missed after a very long and productive life. She was appointed M.B.E. in 2011.
On 2nd March 2022, The Times posted a brief statement: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sheila-hill-obituary-2s6ghpfpr
A brief tribute can be found at www.middlesexccc.com/news/2022/01/great-of-womens-cricket-sheila-hill-passes-away
MCC posted www.pdfhubonline.com/install-app/?dist=ggl&campaign_id=11657618877&adgroup_id=130133174561&placement_id=death-obituary.com&creative_id=583565693517&bd=PHUKMPTTX&d_id=ggl&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhJyItZGj9gIVe0cVCB3mKgtjEAEYASAAEgKjGvD_BwE
A longer tribute by Leslie Cheeseman in his History of ACU&S:-
"Born - shall we say - a long time ago", Sheila modestly answered the Author's enquiry. It was possible, however, to disclose that she was educated at Bromley Grammar School for Girls, Kent, and later at Oxford's Somerville College, where she graduated in mathematics.
Her involvement with Cricket began at school and, what is more, this also included an introduction to umpiring! It would seem that pupils at Bromley were encouraged to take umpiring tests in addition to playing in each of their sports and the tests on cricket umpiring consisted of a written paper and a practical in both umpiring and scoring. This necessitated officiating under the eagle eye of the Games' mistress in House Matches. "A long way from a Benson and Hedges Final", said Sheila, "but probably just as keenly contested". With such an early baptism to the art of officiating in "the best of all team games", it is perhaps readily understandable why she had little problem in satisfying the A.C.U. examiners in later years!
On leaving Oxford, she was appointed to teaching posts at Roan School for Girls at Greenwich and Eothen School at Caterham, Surrey. This was following by nearly 30 years at St. Paul's Girls' School at Hammersmith, West London. In the late 60's she was appointed Head of Mathematics there until 1980, when she held the (possibly unique) title of Surmistress (or deputy Head) at the school, equivalent to the very ancient title of Surmaster at the St. Paul's (Boys') School. (Author's note: This possibly explains the origin of her later insistence of being called "Chairman" rather than "Chairperson" or even "Chair" on her subsequent election to the highest office of the Association).
Her sporting involvements at University had included representative fixtures in Netball, Tennis and, perhaps most significantly, as Captain of the Women's Cricket XI. She was to join A.C.U. in 1964 and has since spent most of her time in Women's Cricket, encompassing everything from schoolgirls indoor, 6-a-side fixtures, through to international games. Particular highlights have included the very first World-Cup Final in 1973, when England Women trounced Australia at Edgbaston and other Test Matches and one-day Internationals against Australia, India, New Zealand and the West Indies.
Her first 'public appearance' within the Association was as the contributor of an article in the October, 1972 issue of the Newsletter "How's That?", when she recalled the personal experience of standing with a strong (?), silent partner who failed to call such niceties as "Play", "Wide Ball" and "Over" and all of whose overs never had more - sometimes, less - than six deliveries, fair or unfair, and with any appeals answered by a shake of the head, rather than by any form of utterance!
Her next "honourable mention" came in the recorded Minutes of the 1974 Annual General Meeting when she enquired of the recommendations to be made by the Development Committee in regard to the future representation of National Bodies, such as the Women's Cricket Association and the Service Organisations.
The election of Tom Smith as a Life Vice-President, in 1975, created a two-year vacancy for the position of an elected Councillor. This was filled by the nomination and appointment of Sheila as the first woman member to be elected to General Council. She had already been active as a long-serving member of the Women's Cricket Association and had also been a regular and respected delegate to represent Hillingdon and District A.C.U. at Council for several previous years. None present at this time could have thought that Sheila would continue to serve on Association Council uninterrupted for the next 25 years, either as an elected Councillor, or as an Officer.
11 April 1976, saw her describing her approach to training, as she demonstrated a delightfully simple and wholly practical training aid to the third annual training seminar at Keele University. This was the first of her many attendances and contributions over the years to this national workshop.
Two years later (in March 1978) she became the first woman to be elected to A.C.U. office as Assistant General Secretary and at one meeting of Council, at very short notice, she was to act as "Deputy" to the Deputy General Secretary at that time, Leslie Cheeseman. Leslie recalled her being "a tower of strength to me all year; a real treasure, responsible entirely for excellent, factual but, at all times, superbly diplomatic Minutes. Leslie was to renew the eulogy in his Annual Report for 1980 when he said: "A.C.U. has special reason to be grateful to Sheila Hill for the tremendous contribution she has made as the "First Lady" of the Association in fulfilling her role as Deputy General Secretary". She became totally responsible for the preparation of Aides-memoires, Agendas and the Minutes of all meetings of General Council and its Executive Committee. She had no peer when it came to displays of tact, diplomacy, orderly thought and accurate presentation. It was therefore no surprise when at the 1980 Annual General Meeting she was elected Deputy Chairman in addition to her existing role as Deputy General Secretary.
Sheila's unerring accuracy, and constant good humour were further factors which had made her an essential element of the Association's operational team and a welcome rose among the male thorns of the organisation! It was completely logical that she should be invited to step into the shoes of David Whiley on his retirement as Chairman of Council. In these varied administrative positions, she was, of course, to become an ex-officio member of all Association Standing Committees and invariably attended most of their meetings, making telling contributions particularly to the Finance, Technical and Passing Committee business.
She was later to join Leslie Cheeseman in his approaches to Col. John Stephenson, then Secretary of M.C.C., in seeking joint A.C.U./M.C.C. responses to Law Queries received. It was important that similar solutions were seen to be suggested by the two organisations in response to barrack room lawyers seeking to play off one set of official answers against those given by the alternate body. With this excellent liaison and co-ordination established, it was not long before Sheila was invited to contribute routinely to the deliberations of the M.C.C. Laws Working Party.
Included in one of his Annual Reports, General Secretary, Leslie Cheeseman wrote: "No one has done more to keep a sharper focus on the particular areas of concern and on what members wanted to achieve (rather than on the ultimate process of working itself) than Sheila Hill. Neither has anyone demonstrably better understood Association history, its aims and its objectives and how best to achieve them strategically. Perhaps subconsciously (and most certainly, unobtrusively), from the Chair she has given the lead in planning, of thinking before speaking and gently motivating all towards quality of eventual output rather than on quantity of input, and of avoiding the predisposition of some to go over the same ground more than once".
Following the death of Tom Smith, the Association had no need to look further than to Sheila to take over his former work as scribe for the further revisions and production of the Association Textbook: "Cricket Umpiring and Scoring". This was, of course, the only authoritative interpretation of the Laws of Cricket accepted throughout the world in cricket playing countries by the majority of umpires and scorers.
The dawn of the Millennium seemed an ideal opportunity for the M.C.C., the custodian of these Laws, to assemble a panel of "experts" to undertake this massive task. Sheila was included as one of two representatives from the Association - the other, being her colleague Robbie Robins. The meetings of this Working Party were to be convened for a total of 33 days, hours of play, 9.00 am to 6.00 pm and on top of this there were many additional hours of study of the various texts of the proposed drafts of the new Code.
On 16 March 1998, M.C.C. announced the names of the first women to be appointed as Honorary Life Members of the Club. Included in this number of the rarest species in the land was Sheila Hill. She had been invited principally for her contribution to Womens' Cricket and her work in re-codification of the Laws but one feels sure that her status as Chairman of A.C.U. & S. had also been in the mind of M.C.C. Officials making the nomination.
Sadly the vagaries inherent in democracy and the lottery of the postal vote were to see her narrowly defeated by a handful of votes in the electoral process for re-appointment as Association Chairman at the Annual General Meeting in March 2000. But the considerable knowledge and expertise gleaned from her previous involvement with all aspects of Association activity were not to be lost entirely, as she continued as a member of the Policy Committee, Technical Committee and a Trustee to the Association's Benevolent Trust.
A standing ovation as she relinquished the Chairmanship at A.G.M. 2000 was followed by an enthusiastic reception of the award of her Honorary Membership at the Annual General Meeting, held at Edgbaston on Saturday, 24 March 2001. The award
is the highest honour that the Association can bestow and no one has been more deserving of this distinguished accolade.