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John Stead
JUST short of a year before he died at the age of 62, John Stead completed the Michelob London Triathlon, in the process raising money for the Bradford PHAB Club for physically handicapped and able-bodied young people with which he had been connected for many years, and the Yorkshire Over-50s cricket team, of which he had been the manager for the previous six.
John had been a magistrate on the Bradford Bench since 1991, most of his work there being as a family court chairman.
From 1979 to1993 he was a full-time senior youth leader.
John was brought up in the Bradford Moor-Eccleshill area of Bradford, the son of Arthur and Margaret Stead. Arthur was an accountant's assistant and Margaret was a bus conductor.
John didn't do particularly well academically at school – he went to Carlton Grammar School – but was very keen on football and he swam for Bradford. In later life he took up cricket.
After doing an Open University degree teaching qualification, he started teaching at Tong School. He was always involved in extra curricular activities including several coast to coast walks and an expedition to north Africa.
One of the pupils was Linda Howarth, and after she left the sixth form in 1975 to read geography at Manchester University, they started a relationship and got married in 1977.
He began and ran the Tong Volleyball Club, was secretary of Yorkshire and Humberside Volleyball Association, competition secretary of the English Schools Volleyball Association, and chairman of the Northern Group, Euro West volleyball championships held at Huddersfield.
John played football for teams in the Red Triangle League, for Otley Town and Holmewood Athletic.
When he was 39, he took up cricket, playing in a number of leagues and finally the West Riding League. In addition to managing the Yorkshire County Over-50s cricket team, for nine years he was secretary of the Westwood Park Cricket Club fundraising committee. Towards the end of his life he was in the process of organising an over-60s cricket team to play against Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Northumberland this summer.
John, always trying to help and support his community, became involved in many associations and groups, and invariably he would try to improve matters for either the group, or the public as in the case of his role as a council candidate. He had joined the campaign executive of the Bradford Conservative Association, was chairman of the Bradford South Conservative Association, and stood for the council as Conservative candidate for the Tong and Wyke wards in successive years. He never got elected, but neither did he ever stop working for the community, making many small contributions that improved the quality of life for those living in it.
John was a proud Bradfordian and in every aspect of his life the underlying motivation was to improve the city in real terms, and in its perception by the public.
He died young, but his final year was perhaps his most successful. It was crowned by completing his first triathlon after training for six months. It was at his 60th birthday party the previous year that he casually commented that he could do a triathlon if he wanted. The family challenged him to put his money where his mouth was and he was up for it. With no history of biking or running, he trained for and completed the super sprint event (450m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run) in 1hr, 23min 21sec.
Having been instrumental in getting Bradford's Connaught Rooms made a Grade II listed building, he was greatly cheered in his final illness by the news that it had been restored and can now be used as a wedding venue for the people of the city he loved.
Perhaps, best of all, the Yorkshire Over-50s cricket team won the national trophy competition. With little experience of cricket at county level, he took this voluntary post in 2001 and put in huge efforts to recruit players, and improve the organisational structure of not only the team but of the league.
John was often a fiery character, with a wide range of emotions on display, many times in quick succession. He suffered from depression at various stages in his life, yet was often the life and soul of the party at dinners he organised, and his company was appreciated by many at cricket clubs, Masonic functions and with the family. He was hard working, hardly taking a holiday since he retired from the youth service, and often working late into the evenings with meetings, or at home. He leaves his widow Linda and their son Robert and daughter Jennifer.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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