Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

that he has most valued in life; meeting people from all walks of life, having a chance to help them and talking endlessly about the game of cricket. And the cricketing nuts whose savings go on these tours learn from the expertise of one who has thought deeply about the game: ‘I can’t understand why Monty’s bowling from this end with the breeze. And why hasn’t he got a slip?’ There have been moments of triumph for England, but many days of disappointment when Jack’s lifetime fondness for the rousing music of brass bands and his knowledge of hymns – ‘I know my hymns better than I know my bible’ – come to the rescue. ‘I’ll say, “Now look, England have had a bad day yesterday, so this morning I think we’d better sing a hymn.” And I’ll sing a sportsman’s hymn like “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah”. It’s surprising the number of people that join in.’ ‘Bread of Heaven’, ‘Land of my Fathers,’ ‘In the bleak midwinter’ – to remember snow-encased Britain in the early days of 2010 – and such ballads as ‘I’ll take you home again, Kathleen’ ring out in the coach. And Jack’s favourite party pieces, the Stanley Holloway monologues – ‘yon lion’s ate Albert’ and ‘Sam, Sam, pick up thy musket’ – add to the conviviality as sorrows are drowned in the local beverage and the holiday spirit is restored. Jack looks back on a life with few regrets apart from the weeks away from his family that is the lot of most leading sportsmen. He remains loyal to his roots. Now living in Bury, he and Florence still make the 35-minute drive on a Sunday to worship at the Methodist church almost opposite the old fish-and-chip shop in Little Hulton, where their teenage romance began and where they were married. The family remains closely knit. Stephanie, who lives nearby, is mother to three grandchildren for Jack and Florence. The eldest, Natalie, lives in Redditch with Steve, her husband from a holiday romance, and young Grace, a first great-grandchild for Jack and Florence. Natalie has worked for the past eleven years as sales and marketing coordinator for Bobst, the packaging machinery manufacturer. Her younger sister, Kate, worked in the publicity department of the Bolton Evening News and Bury Times before moving on to take an account management job with North West Design Studios in Atherton. ‘She’s doing very well,’ Jack says with pride. And he is especially touched that his youngest grandchild, 17-year-old Wesley, should have been named after an uncle he was so sadly deprived of knowing. ‘He’ll cook the bacon sandwiches’ 133