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A long time at the club
John Bell
Playing, friendship and lots of other things......
Fresh out of university with a joint honours degree in Geography and Geology, John Bell was all set for a job on the North Sea oil rigs. Then came his Sliding Doors moment.
‘I’d accepted the offer to work as a geologist - every rig had one in those days - and I was due to go to Libya,’ said John. ‘I’d got as far as Reading when President Reagan decided to bomb Tripoli, the Libyan capital.’
As he waited for the situation in the Middle East to calm down, John took a short-term teaching job at a girls’ school on Merseyside, followed by a one-year contract at Mold Alun School. This stop-gap job turned into a 36-year career at Mold Alun, teaching A-level geology and serving as Head of Pastoral.
If that job on the rigs had gone ahead, would it have spelled the end of John’s association with Gresford CC? We’ll never know. But what we do know is that over his 52-year association with the club, John has become synonymous with Gresford cricket, as a leading player, as captain of the 1sts (1984-88 and 1991-98), as club secretary for the past 20 years, and this year as temporary treasurer.
The scorebooks show that he scored a prodigious 14,415 runs - and even that is an understatement. ‘Some of the scorebooks have gone missing over the years, so I reckon my total runs scored was probably nearer to 16,000.’
And then there are the wickets he took as a spin bowler. The scorebooks say 1,046 but John estimates the true total is nearer 1,100.
His first taste of competitive cricket was at the age of 11, when he and his pals, James Williams and Stuart Price, were drafted in to play for the First XI, who were critically short of players, for an away fixture at Connah’s Quay. ‘I scored one run,’ he recalls.
Perhaps surprisingly, there was no tradition of playing cricket in John’s family. ‘My dad, Arthur, was a scratch golfer, but I hated it. I spent hours with James and his older brother John, playing cricket, and learning the game, on the fields in Gresford.
In the Seventies, the Under-15s played just a handful of games a year, so John’s Gresford career didn’t start in earnest until 1974, when he made his debut for the 2nds. His last two games, for the 1sts, were in 2022 against Bangor – where he got their two pros out - and finally St Asaph.
In between Gresford matches, John played midweek games for the Eaton Hall groundstaff, alongside Ian and John Gibson, Mike Richards and, on one occasion, the Duke of Westminster himself.
John achieved international honours after being invited to a trial game in Neath. He played a full season for Wales Over-60s and topped the batting averages.
Such a long career is bound to be full of memories and funny stories. One that sticks in John’s mind is from the days when matches were played on the High Street ground.
‘We were using the old changing rooms, and we wanted to have some showers installed. A chap called Ernie, who was a miner, said he could source them for us from a pub in town – it was the sort of place where if you wanted something, somebody could get it for you. My mum and dad wanted a new shower as well, so I asked Ernie to get and extra one for them.’ The showers arrived, neatly packed in boxes marked ‘Property of the Maelor Hospital’.’
As everyone at Gresford CC knows, John is still very much part of the fabric of the club, whether he’s doing his administrative duties or getting his hands dirty preparing the wicket. ‘I still spend hours down there every week, with friends I’ve had forever,’ he said. ‘Would I have had them without cricket? I doubt it.
‘We are the highest-placed club without a pro in North Wales. I take pride in that. Some exceptionally good players have played for Gresford over the years. But it’s not just the cricket, it’s the social side as well. We want the club to succeed, to see young players come through, and grow up.’
Looking back to the mid-Seventies, it’s safe to say the oil industry’s loss was Gresford Cricket Club’s gain, with a little help from the President of the United States.
‘I’d accepted the offer to work as a geologist - every rig had one in those days - and I was due to go to Libya,’ said John. ‘I’d got as far as Reading when President Reagan decided to bomb Tripoli, the Libyan capital.’
As he waited for the situation in the Middle East to calm down, John took a short-term teaching job at a girls’ school on Merseyside, followed by a one-year contract at Mold Alun School. This stop-gap job turned into a 36-year career at Mold Alun, teaching A-level geology and serving as Head of Pastoral.
If that job on the rigs had gone ahead, would it have spelled the end of John’s association with Gresford CC? We’ll never know. But what we do know is that over his 52-year association with the club, John has become synonymous with Gresford cricket, as a leading player, as captain of the 1sts (1984-88 and 1991-98), as club secretary for the past 20 years, and this year as temporary treasurer.
The scorebooks show that he scored a prodigious 14,415 runs - and even that is an understatement. ‘Some of the scorebooks have gone missing over the years, so I reckon my total runs scored was probably nearer to 16,000.’
And then there are the wickets he took as a spin bowler. The scorebooks say 1,046 but John estimates the true total is nearer 1,100.
His first taste of competitive cricket was at the age of 11, when he and his pals, James Williams and Stuart Price, were drafted in to play for the First XI, who were critically short of players, for an away fixture at Connah’s Quay. ‘I scored one run,’ he recalls.
Perhaps surprisingly, there was no tradition of playing cricket in John’s family. ‘My dad, Arthur, was a scratch golfer, but I hated it. I spent hours with James and his older brother John, playing cricket, and learning the game, on the fields in Gresford.
In the Seventies, the Under-15s played just a handful of games a year, so John’s Gresford career didn’t start in earnest until 1974, when he made his debut for the 2nds. His last two games, for the 1sts, were in 2022 against Bangor – where he got their two pros out - and finally St Asaph.
In between Gresford matches, John played midweek games for the Eaton Hall groundstaff, alongside Ian and John Gibson, Mike Richards and, on one occasion, the Duke of Westminster himself.
John achieved international honours after being invited to a trial game in Neath. He played a full season for Wales Over-60s and topped the batting averages.
Such a long career is bound to be full of memories and funny stories. One that sticks in John’s mind is from the days when matches were played on the High Street ground.
‘We were using the old changing rooms, and we wanted to have some showers installed. A chap called Ernie, who was a miner, said he could source them for us from a pub in town – it was the sort of place where if you wanted something, somebody could get it for you. My mum and dad wanted a new shower as well, so I asked Ernie to get and extra one for them.’ The showers arrived, neatly packed in boxes marked ‘Property of the Maelor Hospital’.’
As everyone at Gresford CC knows, John is still very much part of the fabric of the club, whether he’s doing his administrative duties or getting his hands dirty preparing the wicket. ‘I still spend hours down there every week, with friends I’ve had forever,’ he said. ‘Would I have had them without cricket? I doubt it.
‘We are the highest-placed club without a pro in North Wales. I take pride in that. Some exceptionally good players have played for Gresford over the years. But it’s not just the cricket, it’s the social side as well. We want the club to succeed, to see young players come through, and grow up.’
Looking back to the mid-Seventies, it’s safe to say the oil industry’s loss was Gresford Cricket Club’s gain, with a little help from the President of the United States.
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