When we compiled our list of cricket scorers to tell you about during the fore-shortened 2020 season one of the names that featured highly was Rose Jenkins, whose story of her involvement at Kilgetty Cricket Club is lovely – and an inspiration to others because she has battled with a serious illness for over two decades but still kept involved as scorer and Hon Secretary at Kingsmoor.

But Rose was hard to pin down because she always pointed out others who she thought deserved a mention before her.

But we are delighted to say that we have finally caught up with Mrs J and her story is there below for you to enjoy!
 

Working closely with dad Hughie . . .

 
Rose Jenkins has been involved with Kilgetty Sports Club ever since the clubhouse opened and her dad Hughie became the first steward – and she helped him raise funds to see the facility was finished, down to an usual sponsored event where Hughie drank a pint in all the local pubs and Rose went ahead making sure there was a pint waiting when he arrived.
 
This continued when the clubhouse was opened and she not only worked behind the bar when help was needed but also sorted out the correct bar prices that made it viable, using her experience of working part time in hostelries!
 

. . . And for the club and sports association too!

 
But it has been the subsequent administration of the club and the Kingsmoor Sports Association that has seen Rose do so much wonderful work – as well as becoming a scorer and giving of her time at matches for so long.
 
Her work as Hon Secretary of Kilgetty Cricket Club for many years, a role she still occupies, has earned her life membership, and she takes on the same role for the Kingsmoor Sports Association.

“I used to do three jobs because I was Hon Secretary for the Kilgetty Sports and Social Club but I stepped down from that – although I am still on the committee,” admitted Rose with a typical chuckle!


 

Set on the scorers’ road by friend Hazel

 
On the scoring front, Rose had been doing the job when needed even before she took the scorers examination.

“My late friend Hazel Poole phoned me and asked me to go on a course over several sessions in Pembroke where Mervyn Phillips led the way and his daughter Melanie was also there.

“On the last evening we took a written exam and I was pleased that I came away with a score of 98% but was mad with myself for making two silly basic errors!” (Another chuckle from Rose!)
 
From the very outset Hazel scored for the first team because her husband Wallace was playing there and was eventually joined by son Ian and Toby, with Rose pleased to score for the seconds because she had friends like Dai ‘Trunch’ Evans and the lovely Billy Evans there whose company she really enjoyed.

 

Remarkable resistance to serious illness

 
That Rose has remained loyal to her scoring duties has been all the more remarkable because she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis over 20 years ago but still looks for the positives in her life despite some of the black times when she was temporarily confined to a wheelchair and was temporarily blind early in her fight against this dreadful illness.

“I was so weak that I had a job lifting a cup of tea,” Rose told us, “But I told myself it is what it is and have always tried to look on the bright side, even though I sometimes have had a job seeing the signals from umpires in a match – but other scorers are always a great help and I have made many friends as a result.”


 

Married Graham – in a leap year

 
Rose’s involvement in the cricket club increased when she married first team powerhouse batsman Graham Jenkins in 1992, and she jokingly says that since it was a leap year she was able to propose to him and he had little option but to say yes!
 
“Our families had lived opposite each other for years in St Mary’s Place in Kilgetty and I can remember him smashing a couple of windows with a football or cricket ball and sheepishly asking my mother if he could have them back!
 

A wonderful wedding day – in Barbados!

 
“We had been going out together for a year and got married on the club’s first-ever tour to Barbados, which I helped organise with Norman Evans, who was my adopted father on the wedding day and giving me away, alongside Hazel Poole doing the same as my adopted mother because my parents weren’t able to be there.
 
“There were 28 of us on tour, including 12 women and with Michael Wainwright as best men we were the first-ever couple to get married on the test match ground on the island, walking out under an avenue of raised cricket bats and married by the Reverend Dr Jeffrey D. Gibson, who later became an archbishop and with whom we still keep in touch.
 
“Graham, Michael and Norman all wore suits and ties and I insisted all the other fellers wore ties as well, but I couldn’t stop them wearing shorts!


 

Lost all the matches but won lasting friendships

 
“We lost all our four matches against very strong sides but it goes without saying it was a memorable time, especially since we met Sir Garfield Sobers and another West Indian ‘Cricketing Legend’ in Mr Everton Weekes – and I have pictures with them as nice memories!”
 
Mr and Mrs Jenkins have been back to Barbados several times since and maintained their connections there, not only with Kilgetty Cricket Club but for family holidays, and are hoping that one day they will be able to return there to renew old acquaintances.
 
But in the meanwhile she will continue to maintain her involvement with her only club and at some time might return to another interest, which is painting water colours of local scenes because she found it relaxing at difficult times.



 

Keen to continue club involvement

 
“I count myself very lucky to have helped this brilliant club and I can’t really imagine my life without it now – and ‘Jenks’ is also busy at the ground because after deciding it was time to retire he has become one of the voluntary ground staff at Kingsmoor; starting out with the occasional sit on a tractor to cutting the outfield to currently taking responsibility for preparing the pitches for home matches.
 
“It takes time but that is something we both have and we can’t wait for cricket in Pembrokeshire to come back.”
 
That comment is typical of Rose Jenkins because she really loves her part in the summer sport and so if you chat to her for a short while, as we did, it is impossible not to see her genuine enthusiasm – and we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk can safely say that Kilgetty Cricket Club is very lucky to have this lovely lady who has given so much of her spare time there!