Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

144 A very special place should be made for a player in his Benefit Year.” Richard Bentley takes up the story: “An approach was duly made to Wilf Wooller, the Club Secretary, who replied that unfortunately it was not possible as only a certain number of collections are allowed by set rule and Alan Jones’ allocation had already been used. Danny Lewis then enquired whether collections other than official might be made. ‘Certainly’ replied Mr. Wooller ‘I’ll make an announcement and arrange for the buckets.’ The friends who sat together with Danny – Gwyn Rees, David Evans, Gerald Munday and Owen Pughe made the collection. The crowd was sparse, being a Monday, but the sum of £109 was collected. They were delighted – the Society was formed.” 5 In the intervening years, the Balconiers, through the tireless work of committee member John Williams, have held Annual Awards evenings as well as running coach trips to Cardiff and a host of county grounds the length and breadth of England so that Glamorgan supporters could follow their county team. Sponsorship of other events and players have followed, besides raising in excess of £350,000 since their founding in 1972 to ensure that a festival of county cricket takes place each year in Swansea. To some, the annual festival at St. Helen’s is ananachronism, especially given the other changes to the sporting landscape in the former Copperopolis, now dominated by a modern stadium, a Premier League football team and a regional rugby side. In 2003, in what many diehard supporters of the All Welsh rugby international Phil Bennett makes a special presentation on behalf of the St. Helen’s Balconiers in front of the Swansea pavilion to Glamorgan’s Arthur Francis after a one-day game in 1975.