In his first match for Gresford Under-15s, Ian Weaver scored 52 not out. On his debut for the Seconds, he made 10 not out. And on his first appearance for the First XI, he scored 48…not out.
‘My nickname was The Not Out Man,’ said Ian. ‘I was batting at five or six, and they told me to just stay in.’
And stay in he did. In a total of 718 senior innings, spanning 35 seasons, Ian was not out a staggering 227 times – a ratio of almost one in three.
As the picture shows, Ian is as meticulous in his record-keeping as he was in his batting. He scored a total of 17,661 runs, at an average of 35.96. There were just 28 ducks, 71 half-centuries, 10 centuries, and a highest score of 139. Not out.
‘I started to keep a personal diary from the age of about six,’ he said. ‘Mice breeding was something I was into then. Don’t ask. The diary was mostly about what I was feeding them.’
Ian was just 15 months old when his father Reg died suddenly. ‘We lived then in Rhosddu Road, Wrexham. There had been a car crash outside our house, and he had gone out to help. When he came back inside, he had a fatal heart attack.
‘Mum worked so hard to keep us. She was never in a position to take a holiday or to run a car. The family were great and helped her out – various uncles would take me away for days at the coast or camping now and again.’
Ian and mum Alwena moved to Oxford when he was nine or so, after she was offered a job as an accountant with the university. ‘We were there for five years, but we would come back to Coedpoeth every summer (with the mice in cages), to visit her father.’
His first taste of cricket was at Grove Park Grammar School, in 1968. ‘Several of my schoolmates were Gresford lads, and we all played in the school team. When I started playing, my mum knitted me a sweater, which was about ten sizes too big. ‘You’ll grow into it’, she said. I never did.’
Ian’s first game for Gresford was at the old steelworks ground in Brymbo, known as The Cric. ‘It was next to the railway sidings and there were enormous piles of scrap metal everywhere. I hit 17 runs off the last over, bowled by Nigel Roberts (later Denbighshire and Wales) and we won off the last ball. We beat Wrexham in the next game to lift the Denbighshire U15s Cup.’
There were difficult times for the club in 1979, when the Firsts and Seconds ended up in Division 5 – the lowest in the North Wales League.
“We were keen to play all of our games, even when the weather was bad, to give ourselves the best chance of promotion,’ said Ian. ‘Our Firsts and Seconds played each other on a very wet day, so as not to waste the opportunity of gaining points. Each team would have got three points if the game hadn’t been played but there were 10 points available if the game went ahead.
‘The Firsts won - a 9-1 points split - and went on to be promoted. There were rumours floating around the league that the umpires had been standing under umbrellas. Not true - only one of them was!’
That promotion was the first of three in four seasons for the Firsts. ‘We were a group of young lads growing up together and playing together. Nobody missed any games for holidays, there was a real sense of dedication.’
Six seasons after the promotion from Division 5, Gresford were crowned Division One champions. They won it again in 1989. ‘The club dragged itself up to be really competitive,’ said Ian. ‘We were now well established, competing with all of the big clubs in North Wales.’
He’s not the sort of man who bangs his own drum, but Ian is proud to have represented Denbighshire three times in the early Eighties. He was also called up as 12th Man for Wales, for a game against Denbighshire, at Brymbo. ‘I ended up fielding for the whole game, but I guess I can still say I played for Wales.’
Ian’s working life was in a local government planning department. He joined Glyndwr District Council from the University of Manchester in 1977, attracted by the architectural element of the job. Under the local government reorganisation of 1996, he moved to the newly-formed Denbighshire Council, rising to principal planning officer. He retired in 2020.
These days, he divides his time between his walks, chairing Coedpoeth History Society, helping as vice-chair of Gresford CC, and working with long-retired playing colleagues on the Clappers Lane pitch.
‘Yes, things have moved on. Years ago, we dug out topsoil from under the hedges, and sieved the stones out, to repair the bowlers’ footmarks. The strip mower was hand pushed, and the giant roller needed six people to push it. I used to bring oil from home to stop it squealing. Today, we have bags of sterilised loam, two powered strip mowers, and a sit on roller. Just saying.’
Of all the loyal service Ian has given to the club, perhaps his most satisfying contribution was his role in helping to steer through plans to relocate from the old High Street ground to Clappers Lane - although it didn’t get off to the best start.
“The old Memorial Hall was falling down, and the small cricket field was proving an insurance nightmare with balls regularly damaging cars and private property. With the support of the local county councillor and the Gresford Trust, we organised a public meeting to ask the people of Gresford if they would support the principle of selling some land to help fund a new hall facility, alongside the relocation of the cricket field and tennis courts.
This was an early step in a complex procedure because the land is held in trust, and any decision on disposal would have rested with the Charity Commissioners. Ian himself drafted some sketch plans showing possible ideas for discussion.
‘There were strong opinions voiced both for and against the sale of land,’ he said. There was a vote a week later, which rejected the principle of land sale by 624 votes to 307. But that process had the effect of galvanising others to help develop an acceptable plan.
‘The key people in taking it forward at that point were Bob and Margaret Heaton, who lived on Pant Lane. They were both architects with an interest in improving the village for everyone’s benefit, and a great deal of knowledge about planning developments and how to access grant aid.’
‘In simple terms, they pieced together a package of proposals centring on the elements benefitting the whole village - provision of a new multi-function hall, a large children’s playing field on the old cricket pitch, and generous parking areas - alongside the relocation of the cricket field and tennis courts. All of it to be financed through grant aid, and no sale of land.’
‘Long story short, the vast majority of people then got on board and Bob and Margaret - with the backing of the Trust through the likes of Ian Gibson - got on with the painstaking job of securing planning permissions, approaching grant aid bodies and organising all the site works. A five-year slog, to be honest, but one which put in place the first-class facilities we have today.’
Reflecting on his long association with the club, Ian said: ‘I always enjoyed the team aspect of playing and the friendships made. But I’ve got as much enjoyment from the behind-the-scenes part as I did from playing. Moving the club from what it was to what’s there now.
‘We’ve achieved things modestly but at a pace. And it hasn’t just benefitted the cricket club but the tennis club, the football club and the village.’
Ian’s final game for Gresford was on September 14, 2013, when the Second XI hosted Llay. The visitors were bowled out for 93 and Gresford knocked off the runs for the loss of just two wickets, winning promotion to Division 2. The game ended with I. Weaver on 33. Not out, of course.