Leigh Leopards are greatly saddened to learn of the passing of one of the club’s Life Members, Derek Sumner, at the age of 85 and pass on sincere condolences to his family and friends at this time.
Derek will have been well known to many of our supporters as a greatly familiar face around the club, especially in the Hilton Park days. He was one of those selfless volunteers who devoted thousands of hours to the club over a period of 70 years.
He was honoured and extremely proud to receive Life Membership at the club’s recent end of season awards. Sadly, he was too ill to attend, and his son Paul represented him on this occasion.
Derek was born in Leigh in 1939 and had the honour of being taught at school by the late Tommy Sale MBE. It was Tommy who persuaded him to first become a volunteer at the club when he was in his early teens.
So began a long association, broken only by Derek spending two years in the Army on his National Service. He was heavily involved in the Supporters’ Club, in many fundraising initiatives, in doing a myriad of voluntary jobs around the ground and manning the players’ gate on match days.
Derek played a key role in establishing the club’s lottery, SuperLeigh, which has raised many thousands of pounds for the club over the years. He became President and was a huge support and friend to the lottery staff particularly Christine Brown and Johnny Simpkin.
Christine served the club for over 30 years and by a glorious twist of fate, her last task before retirement as SuperLeigh manager in May 2023, was to present a cheque for £1,000 to Derek who had scooped the jackpot in week 9.
Each year he’d organise a trip to Wembley for the Challenge Cup Final and the happy group of Leigh supporters would always occupy the same seats and book again for the following year before the coach returned to Leigh.
Derek was never short of a cheery smile, a wisecrack or a more serious conversation about his beloved rugby club. He welcomed friend and stranger alike and was a permanent feature to first team, A team and Colts games at Hilton Park and travelled to every away game he could to support the team.
People like Derek are the lifeblood of a club and someone with his devotion, commitment and all-round skills are few and far between.
The Leigh club was fortunate to have a core of such people in the likes of Bob Shuttleworth, Billy Lea, Derek Disley and Tommy Coleman who have all now joined their fellow Leythers in the sky. Stalwarts like Kath Stott, Joe Atherton, Don Boyle and Tommy Boylan remain. Derek’s younger brother Cliff has been the club’s matchday statistician for many years.
Derek was predeceased by his wife Ann and our thoughts and sympathies are extended to their children Paul and Jillian and the wider family and his many friends.
Derek’s funeral will be held at St Peter’s Church on Firs Lane on Tuesday 10 December at 11am, followed by committal at How Bridge Cemetery.
Derek Sumner, 1939-2024. An obituary by Mike Latham with thanks to Johnny Simpkin and Kath Stott
