Hadleigh Cricket Club mourns the loss of its president Gary Girling

A man described as the ‘father of Hadleigh Cricket Club’ is being mourned after his death last Wednesday night.

Gary Girling, who was 72, had served the club for almost six decades as a player, groundsman, chairman and, most latterly, president.

As a mark of respect the club has announced that it will not be posting anything on social media over the weekend.

Speaking about Mr Girling on the Thursday Night Sports Social on Radio Suffolk, the show’s co-presenter and a former player and chairman at Hadleigh CC, David Mann, said: “The secretary of the club, Gary Wiles, I think he has tweeted tonight describing Gary as the father of the club and I think that sums it up brilliantly really.

“Gary’s been poorly for a while but it’s still a massive shock to the club to lose someone that was groundsman, first team captain, president, chairman.

“He has lived in Hadleigh all his life and played for the club when he was 14 and stopped when he was about 55, so he is Mr Hadleigh Cricket Club.

“It will be a massive blow for the club because as Gary said he is the father of Hadleigh Cricket Club.

“It is really sad news.”

Mr Mann described how Mr Girling had helped him when he became chairman of the club, saying: “He was a massive help to be because you will remember that I was pretty adamant that Hadleigh Cricket Club needed to change the pavilion and extend it and bring it up to 21st century standards.

“And of course, these things don’t come cheaply and a lot of Gary’s generation all thought what is this chairman going to do.

“He’s going to bankrupt the club, all of that, but Gary was brilliant, he smoothed the way and made sure all of those good people on the committee supported the project.

“A great man. He will be a sad loss to Suffolk cricket.”

In a post on social media, Hadleigh CC said: “Thank you all for your kind words and messages, which demonstrate what a popular figure Gary was in cricket and beyond.”