ROUNDERS players and officials in the locality have been saddened to learn of the death over the Christmas holiday of one of the sport's stalwarts, Mrs Beryl Smith.

Mrs Smith was a long standing committee member for the Bury & District Rounders League, holding the posts of referees' secretary and insurance secretary, among others.

She began competing a couple of years after the league was formed in 1948 and was a member of the Bolton Road club in her early days.

She was a founding force behind the St Stephens teams and was one of the first two ladies to referee in the league in the early 1960s.

Mrs Smith, who was 70 years old, died on Friday, December 29 after a long fight against cancer.