Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

44 Swansea becomes a county ground Billy succeeded his father as groundsman at St. Helen’s, and then during the inter-war era, Billy turned his attention to coaching, painstakingly passing on many tips to a host of promising young players in the Swansea area, including Gilbert Parkhouse, who duly went on to play Test cricket for England. In later life, Billy also acted as a match-day steward at the St. Helen’s ground when Glamorgan were playing their fixtures at the Swansea ground, always smartly turned out in suit and tie, and with a flower in his button hole. For many years, he proudly sat at the foot of the steps leading up to pavilion, opening and closing the gate as batsmen made their way out to bat on the turf which for so many years he and other members of his family had tended. Billy died in 1959 and during his life he witnessed a host of changes to the facilities at the ground. During his playing days, he had used the small single-storey pavilion dating from the early 1870s which stood on the northern side of the ground near the entrance from King Edward Road and The Cricketer’s Inn. As Jack Morgan recalled, it was chock-a-block of memorabilia celebrating the totemic games during the winter and summer, as well as the feats of Billy and his family: “It was a treasure-house of greatness in the sporting life of South Wales. Pity it could not be preserved and given an honoured place in the Welsh National Museum as an inspiration to the youngsters of today, and as a permanent memento of the glorious past...” Swansea CC 1905 with Billy Bancroft seated first left on the second row, typically with a cigarette this time in his mouth (see p.29 when it was in his hand).