The first time I met Fred he was strolling into the clubhouse dressed immaculately in bowling gear. He was a giant of a man with a big friendly face. Everyone else seemed to know him and he wasted no time in ensuring that I too would soon get to know and admire him as a friend and a bowler. He approached me and said “ I may not be the best bowler but I will be the best dressed in the club, well, that’s what my wife told me!”

We hit it off throughout the season with Fred in a rink with Alan Weller and Trevor Bayliss, (sorry I can’t remember who played third, probably Aneurin Banfield or Jack Humphreys). They managed to win quite a few diddlers which gave Fred the opportunity to unleash on the rest of our team his wicked sense of humour. I can hear him now loudly calling out “ We haven’t won it again Trev?” “ If it wasn’t for the diddlers I wouldn’t be able to afford a holiday!” and “ I dread to think where this team would be without me and Alan!” There was even talk of changing the diddler name to the 'Bayliss'! Maybe it should have been changed to the 'Fred' as he was a far better bowler than he let on when I first met him.

I recall on tour the double act of Dai Thomas and Fred firing insults at each other as they sat and drank the bar dry. I still don’t know who bought the last round that started their banter, but sat there with tears of laughter rolling down my face as the game of verbal tennis unfolded. Sorry Dai, I think Fred won.

The Fred and Dai show continued at the bowling club with both still insulting each other whenever the opportunity arose, but anyone could see there was a closeness about them, a true lasting friendship. I remember one occasion when someone was talking to Fred about the first team and mentioned that Dai Thomas was playing well. “ I taught him everything he knows” Fred said as he walked away, then stopped turned around and said “Apart from the excuses, he’s a natural at them!”

Fred became captain of the “A” team in, I think 2004. He revelled in the role and was without a doubt the best after match speaker I had seen. His jokes were widely appreciated by all Penyrheol bowlers and visiting teams. I helped him out that season with the paperwork and forms that a captain is required to complete as he said “ My eyes are playing up a bit so you do the paperwork!” Other players said I was off my head doing the work for him. I was happy to do it because he was a special man who was a good captain of the “A” team. He added so much to the spirit of the “A” side that exists to this day. He also told me that the work I did for him was my training for when I was captain. “I am doing you a favour by training you. You are Fred’s apprentice!”

He was a man who stood by his family. When his brother Bill came to play for us Fred argued loudly with anyone and everyone that Bill should be playing in the back end of the first team, he insisted that his brother was a fantastic player and better than the players already playing in the first team. If Bill was as good as Fred said, he would have been the best player in the world! In Fred’s eyes his brother probably was. (Sorry Fred, I feel bad disagreeing with you, even now.)

Fred passed away last week. I will miss him, his humour, friendship and the support he gave Penyrheol Bowling Club and me during the short period of time I was fortunate enough to know him.

Paul Mitchell
PBC Chairman.
August 5th 2008