Graham Dilley funeral arrangements and family wishes

Graham Roy Dilley – ‘Dill’

Graham Dilley, one of England's 1981 Ashes-winning heroes, died on Wednesday 5th October at the age of just 52 after a short battle with cancer.

The former Kent and Worcestershire bowler played 41 Tests and 36 one-day internationals for England during a 10-year international career which encompassed two Ashes wins in 1981 and 1986-87.

One of the quickest bowlers of his generation, Dilley took 138 Test wickets at 29.78 for his country but his best remembered contribution to the England cause came with the bat – supporting Ian Botham in a 117-run partnership which helped England to a famous Ashes win over Australia at Headingley in 1981.

After retiring, he moved into coaching and enjoyed spells as an assistant coach with the England men’s team and bowling coach to the England women’s team before taking up a position as head cricket coach at Loughborough University, where he enjoyed unprecedented success both in terms of championship winning teams and the number of players who progressed into County Cricket and representative national squads.

Thank you to those who have requested information about Graham Dilley’s funeral arrangements. Please see the initial information listed below.

Funeral arrangements

Following a quiet, private family ceremony, there will be a larger ‘Thanksgiving Service’ for ‘Dill’ at Worcester Cathedral on Wednesday 9^th November at 2.30pmto which all family, friends, players and former cricket associates are very welcome.

Flowers and donations

Graham’s family are keen to recognise the LOROS charity (the Leicestershire and Rutland Hospice) who care for Cancer patients and made Dill’s last days comfortable. Donations then please in lieu of flowers to: www.justgiving.com/grahamdilley(additional information below).

Letters of condolence

The family is widespread and have asked if letters of condolence and goodwill could be collected centrally. These may be sent to:

c/o Dr Guy Jackson, National Cricket Performance Centre, England & Wales Cricket Board, Loughborough University campus, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU.

Could condolence letters please be marked ‘Graham Dilley’ in the top left corner of the envelope.Kent Cricket will bepassing on tributes received from supporters so far.

Additional queries not covered above may be sent to:

guy.jackson@ecb.co.ukor paul@pgpixel.com

Additional information

LOROS Hospice

On Wednesday 5th October 2011 Graham Dilley was sadly lost to cancer. During his final days with us he was cared for at the LOROS hospice in Leicester. The facilities and staff were, as Dill would say, ‘top drawer’.

The Charity relies solely upon the generosity and support of individual people and organisations in order to fund the service and we wanted to help ensure that others continued to benefit. It was a comfort for us to know that Graham was being so well cared for in such a lovely environment. The Hospice provides expertise in controlling pain and other distressing symptoms as well as offering emotional, spiritual and social care, which allows patients to live as normal a life as possible.

It would be wonderful if you could please donate what you can to what is undoubtedly such a worthy cause.

Thank you from Graham’s family

Click here to read tributes from Kent Cricket supporters