Lives in Cricket No 6 - Bill Copson

Acknowledgements First and foremost I must thank Bill Copson’s son Michael, who provided a vast amount of background on his father’s life and many of the splendid photographs reproduced in the book, all from his family collection. Bert Cosford, a relative by marriage, gave me many details of the Copson family tree. My thanks also go to David Baggett, a former editor of the Derbyshire Year Book and the county statistician, who was able to answer a number of questions which I put to him with his usual alacrity. Geoff Porter, Secretary of Saltaire Cricket Club, also gave me most useful information on Copson’s wartime matches for that club. Jeff Driver, Chairman of Saltaire Cricket Club, supplied a most interesting document, the original contract signed between Copson and the club for the 1945 season. Tony Barker has kindly agreed reference to some of the material in his forthcoming book on the Bradford Cricket League. Philip Bailey has helped with the statistics of Copson’s first-class career and his contemporaries. Eric Midwinter’s eloquent foreword sets our subject in his social context. John Shawcroft, an expert on Derbyshire cricket, contributed advice on Copson’s relationships with the county club and fellow players. Roger Mann and Patrick Jeater have contributed excellent photographs from their sources. David Frith helped with photograph identification. Four first-class cricketers – Tony Brown, Donald Carr, Mike Smith and Allan Watkins – have helped with their own recollections, given to Douglas Miller, of our subject as a player or umpire. David Jeater has edited the book and has brought to my attention much additional information about its subject from published and unpublished sources, points which have been gratefully incorporated into the narrative. My thanks too, to Zahra Ridge for her cover design and to Gerald Hudd and Chris Overson for their proofreading. 86