Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

156 Despite this recognition the sad fact is, that, on a personal level, old cricket associates struggled to face Maurice in the later stages of his illness. They did not really know how to react to seeing someone they had always known as a strong immovable character now in such a debilitated condition. But, brother-in-law Gordon became an unsung hero at this time. He was a big strong man with, as Geoff recalled, “arms like tree trunks” and he finished up as Maurice’s main carer. As well as regularly bathing him he also had to attended to much of his basic personal hygiene and, as the loss of muscle control increased as the Parkinson’s disease advanced, this was not always a pleasant task. In the end Gordon became ill himself, with cancer, and was taken into hospital in the spring of 1966. An attempt was made to keep Maurice at home with the help of home nursing services but it was impossible and eventually a place was found for Maurice in Scotton Banks Hospital, near Knaresborough, but he was reluctant to leave his home. When the subject was raised his first question was, “What’s going to happen to No 2 College Road?” The house there had been his home for nearly 40 years but, more than that, in leaving the house he was finally saying goodbye to Connie. Though no longer there in a physical sense the house was full of memories of her and their time together and this was the final separation. It was a huge emotional upheaval, but there was very little choice - home care without Gordon’s input was not an option and Gordon, terminally ill, was to pass away that summer. While Maurice lay virtually bed-bound in Scotton Banks, far away from the public gaze, the world outside his window went on much the same as it always had. The summer of 1966 holds a special place in the sporting history of England but, despite his life-long love of football, even the World Cup winning celebrations passed him by. As one day followed another the here and now became increasingly unimportant and the battle to hold on to the remnants of a once vibrant personality was slowly lost. The seemingly endless Saturdays in the sun were almost over. But, 20 miles away, at Headingley, his coaching legacy was still in evidence for, in 1966, Yorkshire marched to their 19th Against the odds