09/10/2026
ANNOUNCEMENT
Bob Leitch, who was President of Irvine Sports Club in the early 1980’s, has died after a period of illness. Bob’s time in office coincided with a period of tremendous change and development at the club. The club only moved to the Marress playingfield and its newly built clubhouse in 1974 and the building, which was only half the size which it is today, was struggling to meet the needs of all of its users. It had to accommodate a rugby section with three XV’s, a hockey section with two X1’s, a well established cricket section, an archery section, an emerging bowling section and a running section which was expanding rapidly on the back of the 1980’s marathon boom and the newly constructed Marress track. The club had also inherited a vibrant social membership during an interim tenancy of The Auld Argyle in Montgomery Street, with membership activity justifying the new club bar opening seven evenings a week and at lunchtimes Friday to Sunday. In this context Bob’s term in office had huge potential for conflict as the club’s numerous users fought for space and position. However Bob’s organisational skills, his innate sense of fairness and his sheer enthusiasm allowed him to lead the club through an evolution of change and to leave it in a position of stability.
Bob loved social interaction and, along with his wife Maureen, was an ever-present at functions held in the clubhouse – of which there were many at that time! He was also a regular (and possibly founder) member of the Friday evening 5 o’clock club which met in the bar after work on a Friday to relax with a drink and a game of pool and to forget the pressures of the working week. His drink(s) of choice was a ‘half and a half pint’ which was probably a nod to his early life in the Greenock area.
Bob was knowledgeable and an active supporter of many sports but he was particularly enthusiastic about rugby and football. Attendance at internationals at both Murrayfield and Hampden Park was embedded in his calendar and he was well known for his commitment to Glasgow Rangers.
He was a banker by profession and he moved to Irvine in the 1970’s to take up the post of Assistant Bank Manager of the Royal Bank of Scotland in the High Street. In addition to his contribution to Irvine Sports Club he gave good service to various other organisations in Irvine, particularly the local Junior Chamber of Commerce where he was a driving force in bringing the Junior Chamber National Conference to the town. After a few years in Irvine Bob was promoted to manager of the Royal Bank in Troon and then he moved to England to become manager of the Royal Bank in Watford. He made one final move with the Royal Bank when he returned to Scotland to a post in the bank’s head office in Edinburgh.
On retirement from the bank Bob and Maureen moved back to Ayrshire to set up home in Alloway. Bob’s funeral Service will be held in Alloway Parish Church on Monday 26th October at 12pm followed by a cremation at Masonhill at 1.15pm. During an all too brief few years in Irvine Bob made a huge contribution to the success of Irvine Sports Club and, along the way, he made friendships which lasted a lifetime.
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