Remembering Laurie Claydon | 1932-2023

Laurie was once described as ‘An Administrator Par Excellence’ but ‘in fact’ he was much more than that! It all started 70 years ago after he had finished his National Service in the RAF.

In 1952 he was heavily involved in the formation of Northbrook Old Boys Football Club, who played in the Worthing Football League with considerable success for well over 60 years. Laurie actually scored their first ever goal against Goring Reserves.

The formation of Northbrook Old Boys Cricket Club followed and they played in the Worthing Evening Cricket League (WECA) for almost 40 years. In the early days Laurie played cricket for the Old Boys, whilst playing for Worthing Chippingdale on Saturdays until 1962, when a back injury brought about a premature retirement from both sports.

He did, though, regularly act as a Football Linesman and a Cricket Umpire.

So now his off field career expanded. He filled the posts of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer for the Northbrook Clubs, then became Fixture Secretary of the Worthing Football League in 1963, a post he held for nearly 50 years until the League combined with the Brighton & Hove Football League.

He was also a Sussex County Football Association Councillor for over 40 years. The new League was called the Brighton, Hove and Worthing Football League and Laurie was elected its President.

In cricket he was Fixture Secretary of the WECA for over 60 years until it disbanded in 2016 through a lack of Clubs.

In 1991 there were 35 teams playing one or two T20 matches throughout the summer evenings, a total of 210 games in a 13 week period.  Laurie made a difficult task look incredibly easy.

Laurie was not just committed to his sporting tasks as he worked for Barclays Bank for 39 years.

In 1987 the Sussex Invitation Cricket League was formed and a Competitions Secretary was needed to deal with the Fixtures and the keeping of the Records.

Laurie was approached and he readily agreed to fill the post, which he then did with great success for 32 seasons, until the League merged with the three other Sussex cricket leagues, forming the current 360+ team Sussex Cricket League.

In 2002 Laurie received a Long Service Award from the Football Association and in 2019 he was elected a Vice President of Sussex County Cricket Club.

Laurie married Audrey in 1958 and they had four children. His son, Neale, who regularly ran the line for Northbrook and was ‘Linesman of the Year’ on more than one occasion and his three daughters, Gillian, Sandra and Alison, who were so supportive of him.

I spent many enjoyable hours over many years talking to Laurie, the last couple of months were very special, and whilst he did so much to enrich the sporting life of so many people, he was basically a family man. He enjoyed his administrative work but it never stopped him being totally devoted to his family.

By Terry Burstow - March 2023