Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

printed onto a white canvas. It now hangs beside the fireplace in Allan’s Oundle home. Allan had been contemplating a possible transfer, still as a fire fighter, to Australia. He soon found that, not surprisingly, such a move would not have been popular with those running the sport at Devonport, and he was dissuaded. Then, to his surprise, he learnt from a superior officer that it would be possible for his new wife to join him at Plymouth. “Don’t you know that the Navy can claim a wife?” he said. “I’ll ring the authorities and get your wife transferred down here.” So Allan and Molly found themselves in digs, well cared for by an elderly landlady, of whom they grew very fond. But Molly’s days in the forces were soon to come to an end when she announced that she was pregnant. She returned to Usk for the birth of young Allen, the first of the couple’s four children, in April 1944. When Allan returned to Plymouth for the season of 1946/47, he went ahead of Molly. The couple now had a second son, David, and Allan was looking for a home where he could house his family. He was fortunate to meet a dockyard worker, Ed Stere, a middle-aged bachelor who owned a bungalow overlooking the sea at nearby Whitsands. “As soon as he heard that I’d signed up for Plymouth Argyle, he said to me, ‘Would you and Molly like to join me in my bungalow?’” Molly travelled to Plymouth to see the property. To reach the bungalow meant taking a ferry across the Tamar. The journey continued by bus and ended with a mile and a half on foot. It was worth the effort. The moment Molly saw the bungalow on the cliff top with its breath-taking views across the bay, she fell in love with the spot. Allan found the arrangement with Ed Stere embarrassingly generous. “I didn’t pay any rent. We used to have terrible rows. I used to say to him, ‘This is ridiculous.’ But he used to come and watch the football matches. He was mad on Plymouth Argyle and he thought he was doing it for Plymouth Argyle, not for me!” For Molly it was bliss to live beside the sea. In summers to come she would return to Whitsands with the family and stay with ‘Uncle Ed’. The young children became known as ‘the Water Babes’ as they ran free on the beach and splashed around in the rock pools. There were days of endless sunshine, but Allen also cherishes memories of childhood evenings when the weather changed and they had to 24 An Easy War For Stoker Watkins