Shirley Helm - Shirley Helm was another one of those people who did not
play a lot in the Five Towns' Quiz League, but had a long long association with the league, in Shirley's case over
thirteen quiz league seasons from 2000 to 2014 and in all that time she only made 32 appearances but the fact is that she
deserves mention in any retrospective about the Five Towns' Quiz League, because she was always there. Shirley's
team was the RAFA Vulcan Club right from day one to the end and the Vulcan Club have always been renowned for having a depth
of both home and travelling supporters that is the envy of every team that has ever been a member of the Five Towns' Quiz
League. Shirley was more known as one of those than as a player but of course she stepped in when required when players
were in short supply and at a rate of two, three, four appearances a season, that's where she racked up those 32 games
from.
I personally liked Shirley a lot,
she was a particularly pleasant and inoffensive woman and additionally she was always one of the first at the end of a Finals'
Night to speak up in praise of my own contribution in the League Secretary role to say that it was deserving of a round of
applause etc and she always had a good word to say both to me and about me.
So although not a record-breaking appearance-maker, Shirley Helm is without doubt one of those people who are the
lifeblood of an organisation like ours whose continuing existence is always precarious due to the transient nature of our
member players and teams, to which end Shirley Helm and her like will always be fondly remembered, because she was and they
are, supporters of what we do.
Shirley Helm - died 2015.
