Around The Boundary Feature:

 

 
Peter Rees played his first game for Llangwm as a 14 year old and now, 64 years later, he can still be found at Pill Parks on match days, sitting on his favourite bench next to the old wooden scorebox with his dog Jerry, watching today’s players intently and chatting with old friends or opponents walking around the boundary.
 
On other dry days he can also be found there since Jerry gives him the excuse for a leisurely walk from his home in the village, although he laughingly says the dog does a lot more running about than he does!
 
He is also a follower of Llangwm’s rugby team and was renowned in his younger days as a hard-tackling wing or centre – and he played for Pembrokeshire in both his chosen sports.
 

Started out at a very young age

 
Peter began his cricket at around the same time as his friends Dai Davies and the late Barry Jones, with all three held in high esteem and with Dai still doing a lot of work for the club, as did his other old pals in Brian ‘Jamer’ James and Kenny Platten, who have both sadly passed away and are missed as great characters in Llangwm sport.
 
In the Llangwm team when he started out the team contained Bill Hitchings as a captain, Tony Kiff, Maurice Palmer and Bert Jones, whom Peter considers was the best all-round sportsman he ever played with.
 
Later on he enjoyed playing alongside the likes of Martin Charles, Tony Tuckwell, Colin Phillips, Dai Bowen, Dai and Barry as they appeared in several Harrison-Allen Bowl Finals and won four of them, with the best win coming against Haverfordwest when they only needed to score 20 in the fourth innings of the match to raise The Bowl aloft.
 

Scored his first ‘ton’ with a borrowed bat

 
As an opening batsman he scored a number of centuries, with his first coming as he played against Pembroke in their annual match against their President’s XI at Crickmarren. “You had to be invited to play and it was always a special day,” Peter told us, “and I remember it well because I had to borrow a bat from Maurice Cole, the team captain – because I didn’t have one.
 
“At Llangwm we all used the club kit, including bats, gloves and pads so I totally forgot that and I just turned up with my whites and protective ‘box’ – and had my leg pulled when I reached my century.”
 

Couldn’t get rid of his ‘stutter’ as a bowler

 
Peter was also a useful slow bowler who regularly grabbed his share of the wickets and a feature of his bowling stints was his stuttering run up which had opponents like me knowing he was on the way because you could almost hear him before you could see him!
 
“I don’t really know how it started,” admitted Peter, “but Bert Jones used to take me down to the nets to try and sort it out and at then of training it would be fine – but as soon as I a match came along it came back with a vengeance from the very first ball; but I still managed to do OK as a bowler!”
 

Tough tackler in a talented team

 
On the rugby front, Peter played in a very good that included Tony Kiff, Bert Jones, Juno John, Kenny Banner, Barry Jones, Glynmor Howells, Glyndwr and Dilwyn Lewis, and which was held in huge respect as one of the best teams in the county which won plenty of silverware.
 
If asked, Peter would nominate Derek Charles as the hardest and respected opponents he came across, with his old pal John Greggain as another he enjoyed playing against in local derbies against Neyland.
 

And finally . . .

 
But it is cricket he enjoys most now as he watches the current crop of Llangwm players and delighted to see them where they belong; back in the first division. He is full of praise for the hard work done by old stalwarts like Dai Davies and Martyn Inward – and would nominate Steve Inward as the best player he has seen at the club over recent years in a team that also includes the Kiff brothers, the Brock boys, Will Beresford, Steve Mills.
 
“I just like to go along to Pill Parks and watch the firsts or seconds, it doesn’t matter which, and I am proud of the fact that I played all my sport for the village I grew up in – and can safely say I am a Llangwm Boy through and through!”