Bennett was a coaching legend

7:45pm Tuesday 2nd December 2008

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Legendary Bradford cricket coach and international fencer Lawrence Bennett has died aged 96.

He ran an indoor cricket academy at Hanson School, where he taught PE, for over 30 years.

Pudsey Congs’ Ralph Middlebrook, no mean coach himself, said: “Lawrie was in the vanguard of coaching.

“He had ideas that nobody else had thought of and had the skill of teaching youngsters without appearing to.

“It was a tacit arrangement but if you were invited to Lawrie’s sessions you knew you could play, and he had some very fine players under his wing, such as Ashley Metcalfe.

"But the only thing that mattered to Lawry was the people under his care, and there was never an ounce of edge to him.

“I can remember watching Murphy Walwyn bowl. He used to run from one gym, which was alongside, through the PE store and into the gym where the nets were and he used to bowl like the wind.”

Middlebrook added: “Lawry took over on the Pathways to Excellence scheme at Headingley when Mike Fearnley died in 1979.

“Lawry played cricket for Sir Julian Khan’s XI – he was an eccentric millionaire who lived in Nottingham – and international stars from all over came to enjoy his hospitality and play in the matches.”

Bennett, whose wife died recently, was also a renowned fencer, winning the English amateur foils title in 1946 and, while a professional fencing coach, giving demonstrations in television in the mid-1950s.

He joined Bradford Fencing Club in 1936 and, as well as the foil, also achieved distinction with the sabre and epee.

When he received the British Academy of Fencing diploma in 1954 – the highest distinction that can be gained in the sport as a coach – he was the only person in the north of England to hold the honour of Maitre d’Armes.

Bennett was a fencing master at Leeds University Carnegie Physical Training College in Leeds and the Northern Theatre School.

Kelvin Hibbert, who taught PE with Lawrence at Hanson, said: “I am almost certain that he choreographed the fight sequences on Scaramouche, the 1952 film which starred Stewart Granger.

“His secondary subject was maths, which he taught when he gave up PE.

"His cricket sessions were on Friday nights, where he taught David Bairstow and John Woodford among others.

“Although he was from Eldwick, Lawrence later lived in Ashcroft Nursing Home in Undercliffe.”

Lawrence’s funeral is on Friday at Eldwick Methodist Church (2.00).