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The Welsh Rugby Union is not in the habit of making unsolicited awards to those who labour in the cause of grassroots rugby union in the Principality; those stalwarts regard their commitment to the game and to their Clubs as a quiet and unheralded labour of love. That the Union, represented at the highest level by WRU President Dennis Gethin supported by a phalanx of Union Directors, resolved to record the massive contribution of Club President, Hon Secretary, Life Member and friend to the rugby world, Brian’ Titch’ Jones, speaks immense volumes of Titch’s life in rugby.
In April 2016, the President and Mrs Janet Gethin were our most honoured guests. However, Janet and Dennis were the first to place Mary Jones and Titch, for whom the award of an engraved crystal bowl to record his life in rugby was a complete surprise, at
centre stage as hundreds gathered to celebrate Titch’s 51 years of dedication to Gwernyfed Rugby Football Club.
Every one of those joining Mary and Titch in April and many thousands more were devastated to hear the news only seven months later that Titch had passed away unexpectedly and peacefully at home in Three Cocks, at the end of a day that typically, Titch had spent helping to raise funds in running the Club Lottery weekly draw – oh how fitting and oh how humbling.
Over the last long months we have celebrated Titch’s life and memory with Mary, Kyle, Ceri and family and have raised many a glass each weekend in tribute to a man whose like we will not see again. Our loss is incalculable but the warmth that Titch leaves behind sustains us through the dreary days of summer when the grass grows long at Trefecca Road and then through rugby seasons that are our raison d’etre
but which are just that touch sullied by the absence of our sage leader and advocate. We could fill this newsletter many times over with stories about and tributes to Titch. Many millions of words to that effect have been written and spoken over the last year but we know that Titch would be urging us to look forward now.
Titch was instrumental in guiding us towards the purchase of the freehold to our pitches on the basis that our future will then be firmly in our own hands. The decision was huge, the initiative to finance the purchase daunting. By now all readers will be aware that, in many ways inspired by the memory of Titch and by way of tribute to Mary and Titch, a magnificent effort has seen the Club accumulate the funds needed without the need to resort to the promised loan from the WRU – an achievement cheered to the rafters down in Cardiff by all of those who helped and advised us.
The pitches are ours. We owe that to so many but we owe that also to the inspiration offered by Titch and it was a great delight when Mary and the family agreed to do us the huge honour of allowing us to re-name the ground The Brian Jones Memorial Field.
The imminent formal opening of the Memorial Field will be a major waymarker in the history of Gwernyfed Rugby Football Club. What it will not be, and this is something that you can almost hear Titch saying, is any sort of finishing line. Titch has left us with great memories but also offers us a massive legacy. There is a palpable sense throughout the Club that we must aim even higher while sewing the thread of community sport and recreation though everything that we do – it’s what Titch would have wanted and what he would have made certain was the case.
Thank you Mary, Kyle and Ceri for lending us a large part of Titch for so many years. Your family will be built into the very fabric of our great Club and we salute you for your generosity.
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Gwernyfed RFC looks back with thanks for the life of a man we can be proud to call a friend...
A MAN WHO HELPED MAKE A RUGBY CLUB
THE LEGACY LEFT BY BRIAN ‘TITCH’ JONES
OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE BRIAN JONES MEMORIAL FIELD
GWERNYFED v CEFN COED SATURDAY 30TH DECEMBER
VICE PRESIDENTS & SPONSORS DAY, PRE MATCH BUFFET AT 1PM
AUTUMN 2017