Kim Jones was one of the nicest people I
never met. Several times, we came agonisingly close to meeting. We were sometimes at the
same cricket match on different days or even on the same day but at different
ends of the ground.
I knew him mainly through Bearsfans, the on-line discussion forum
for supporters of Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He set up the forum and also was the leading
light behind Spin cricket magazine,
which he owned. His articles for Spin and his Bearsfans postings all brimmed with his unique blend of wit and
wisdom.
Few of us who knew him in recent times were
aware of his unique and varied history – his childhood in Africa where he had a
baby crocodile as a pet, his successful academic career at Shrewsbury School
and at Oxford, his qualifications in both law and accountancy (not always a
guarantee of either wit or wisdom) and his work in the world of advertising
including running successful agencies both here and in the States.
What we did come to know was that he was a
caring man of immense kindness. When I had
some problems with personal issues on-line, he helped to resolve the situation
behind the scenes. When my daughter was
the victim of some unfair and untrue comments, he did the same. He also gave her valuable opportunities to
cut her journalistic teeth with Spin.
For me and for others, it was a dreadful
start to the New Year when we heard that Kim was terminally ill. Fortunately, many of us were able to send him
messages of goodwill so that he was aware, in the short time before his
passing, of the deep affection in which he was held by so many people. A handwritten letter from Warwickshire and
England’s Jonathan Trott probably took pride of place because, whenever anyone
wrote something critical of Trotty, you could be sure that Kim would leap to
his defence, often with irrefutable statistics to back up his argument. Warwickshire captain Jim Troughton phoned him
to offer his support and sympathy.
Similar tributes flowed out at his funeral on
10 February at Wrexham Crematorium and at the appropriately titled Big Bash
Cricket Tea at Sweeney Hall in Oswestry.
The same words were used over and over again, in both the written and
the spoken tributes. He was kind, generous,
knowledgeable, intelligent, modest, unassuming.
He made people laugh and they felt privileged to have known someone who
was both a gentleman and a gentle man.
His wife and his sister both spoke movingly
of their deep love for Kim. George Dobell,
a good friend over many years, also gave a heartfelt tribute. At Kim’s request, George wore a jacket that had
once belonged to the lead singer of Showaddywaddy. Greater love hath no man for his friend than
to be willing to stand up in front of so many people in such a monstrosity of a
garment!
Unusually for a funeral, all three of these
tributes evoked rounds of applause that seemed entirely fitting. There was so much of Kim everywhere in that
room, all his very special qualities that were being celebrated, that it seemed
irrelevant to me that in front of us was a coffin that was eventually consigned
to the flames. That wooden box may have
contained his mortal remains but Kim was all around us and, most especially, in
our hearts.
Here is the lovely poem by Michael Laskey
that is so appropriate that it might have been specially written for Kim:
I shall play cricket in heaven
in return for the afternoons
gladly given to the other
pleasure of others' leisure.
in return for the afternoons
gladly given to the other
pleasure of others' leisure.
I shall walk, without haste, to the wicket
and nod to the angels kitted
in their whites waiting to discern
the kind of batspirit I am.
and nod to the angels kitted
in their whites waiting to discern
the kind of batspirit I am.
And one stroke in heaven, one dream
of a cover drive will redeem
every meeting of bat
and ball I've done without.
of a cover drive will redeem
every meeting of bat
and ball I've done without.
And I'll bowl too, come on to bowl
leg-breaks with such control
of flight and slight changes of pace
that one over will efface
leg-breaks with such control
of flight and slight changes of pace
that one over will efface
the faint regret I now feel.
But best of all I shall field:
alert in the heavenly deep,
beyond the boundary of sleep.
But best of all I shall field:
alert in the heavenly deep,
beyond the boundary of sleep.
Kim Jones – may you rest in peace.