Obituary: Leyland Smith, headteacher and cricketer

He arrived there in the early 1960s as a medium paced bowler, and rose through the ranks to become a regular first team player all the way through to the late 1980s. Even thereafter, he continued in the second XI and Sunday XI.

As club secretary and later the long-serving president, he took on the additional roles of secretary to the league, and, when his playing days ended, a league umpire. He was also a long-standing member of Sowerby Tennis and Bowling Club and the Queens Sports club, playing tennis in the Yorkshire League and organising their annual tournament.

In his professional life, he was deputy head at West Vale School and then head of Siddal Junior School, after which he served as Head of Governors at All Saints School.

A lay preacher and an active member of All Saints Church, he was also a member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society and the Halifax Wine Circle.

He is survived by his wife, Joan, two daughters and a grandson.