Every club needs its larger than life characters and in the sports-mad village of Llangwm one such is Jeffrey Saies, who has been involved there in cricket, rugby and darts for over four decades.
 

Second-best scorebook in the family!

 
Jeff is Llangwm born and bred and is perhaps best known for his yeoman work in scoring for Llangwm's cricketers for over 24 years, recently sharing the duties with his sister Janice Brick, who the players would say produces a far more colourful and usually more accurate score book than her brother!
 
Be that as it may, Jeff was welcomed back to do the job in the second half of the 2016 campaign after a break where he was waiting for an operation on his dodgy knee (an old sporting war wound), to follow on from his two knee replacement ops already!
 
"I will soon be back full time because some of the players need some of my special brand of nagging about performances," said Jeff with a chuckle!
 

Started rugby as an eager nipper with great characters

 
On the rugby front Jeff started out as a nipper just into his early teens when he used to toddle across to Pill Parks and trained with a very good Llangwm side which included characters like Terry Hitchings, Juno John, Tony Kiff, Barry Jones and Peter Rees.
 
"They used to tease me rotten," admitted Jeff, "but they were great in letting me get involved in my own way.
 
"I also played on the wing or at full back for STP School, where Mr Gordon Rayner was the coach and he was a real gentleman who at one time played in the same team as my father Bernie, who was a feared full back."
 

Family Matters

 
The family rugby connection at Pill Parks was continued since his four nephews, Darren and Simon Brick, plus Richard and Lee Davies played for The Wasps, whilst his step-son Gareth Green played for Llangwm before moving to Haverfordwest, and step-daughter Louise captained Glamorgan University Ladies as a hooker.
 
Jeff would be the first to admit that his wife Sara is his rock and he clearly adores his step-grandchildren Ellie and Matilda, who are both keen swimmers, with his godson Chris Inward a key cricketer with Llangwm.
 

Memorable rugby moments

 
Jeff started playing rugby regularly for Llangwm 2nds in his late teens alongside Stan Evans, Dai James and Mike Roberts, whom he described as his ‘minder’ on the occasions he was drafted in to the second row if The Wasps were short of forwards.
 
"I played quite a few games for the firsts and once scored tries in successive matches against Cardigan and Narberth after centre Anthony Morgan had done all the hard work - and I was seconds' captain for two years.
 
"During that time we celebrated the opening of the new clubhouse with a match against the Pembrokeshire Junior Union, which we won 21-12 - and I thought I had scored a try as I dived over the line but my opposing winger turned me over and stopped me grounding the ball."
 
Jeff finished playing when he was 30 and joined The Wasps’ committee, becoming fixture secretary for two seasons and taking on the role of first aid man after that.
 

Doing well at darts

 
Darts is another game that Jeff has played for Llangwm RFC over many years alongside top player Colin Phillips, John Docherty, Roger Lewis as captain, Martyn Inward, Dai James and Stan Evans.
 
"I started with the B team and then moved into the A team, where I once had six 180 scores in a season and had special tungsten medals as a memento - and my best ever 'out' came when I needed 152 and hit treble 20, treble 20 and double 16 before celebrating in style!"
 

A rare sporting disappointment

 
One of his few sporting disappointments revolved around darts because he was due to play world champion John Lowe in an exhibition match but a few days before was talked into playing badminton against his old pal Martyn Inward.
 
"I had never played before, didn't think about warming up first and within ten minutes I had a huge 'crack' sound as I reached for a low shot and knew I had snapped my Achilles tendon.
 
"As I rolled on the floor in agony I could see 'Ins' also on his back, but with laughter at my problem before he realised how serious it was!"
 

Raising funds for a very worthwhile charity

 
Jeff has also used darts to raise funds for the Click Sargeant Charity Fund with a special 12-hour event supported by Weatherspoons in Haverfordwest, which featured a hugely boring 'special grudge match' between yours truly and Peter 'Turkey' Jones, the Merlins Bridge football stalwart, which the latter won after an interminable time where we both struggled on double one!
 
But the end product as a result of Jeff's hard work was a cheque for £2,300 for Clic Sargeant, something he has every right to be proud of!
 

Disappointing start to cricket – followed by meeting wonderful character

 
Back on the cricket front, Jeff started out on a low note as on his debut at 14 when the team was short and he was drafted in - and he was bowled first ball by the late Tommy Jones but eventually had a top score of 88 not out later in his playing career.
 
"It was a privilege to be involved alongside quality players like Barry Jones, Peter Rees, Colin Phillips, Tony Tuckwell, Dai Bowen and then with Martyn Inward, Willie Morris and Darren Brick alongside other very good players too numerous to mention, plus the late Brian 'Jamer' James as a great club man.
 

Taking over the reins as club scorer

 
"I took over the scoring from another fine club man in the late Randall Lewis and in my time I have been lucky to meet smashing players from other clubs like Nick Scourfield, Steve Phillips, Aled and Ceri Davies, Robbie Thomas, Richard Harris and Steve Jones - plus the late, great Peter Hall.
 
"Sometimes it meant a lot of concentrated work, especially on one long weekend where we had a Harrison-Allen Bowl rearranged game on a Friday evening, league matches on Saturday and Monday, plus a Village Cup game in between.
 
"I scored them all and it proved a memorable four days for Willie Morris because he stroked three centuries - and I had to drink with Barry Jones so I had a bit of a hangover!"
 

And finally . . .

 
Jeff also scored for the Pembroke County team for a couple of seasons but there were far more matches in those days and it wasn't always easy to get time off work.
 
At the moment he is busy supporting Manchester United, as he's done for years, and in our chat spent a lot of time telling us how proud he has been to be part of sport in Llangwm - but we can safely say that the village has been fortunate to have Jeffrey Saies involved because he is a credit to his family, club and county for his enthusiastic approach to sport!