In the 1950s my father, Jack Campbell, was a member of Holywood Cricket Club in Co Down, Northern Ireland. The very small club needed to raise some funds, so in 1954 he chanced his arm, writing to the “three Ws” to ask if they would come to play in a match. To his surprise and delight, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott said yes, and in place of Frank Worrell came the bowler Sonny Ramadhin. Their visit helped fund the club’s new pavilion.
My father struck up a friendship with the international stars, and met up with them on subsequent occasions, such as their 1957 tour when they came again to Northern Ireland, and in later years in England, when their evenings ended in Irish and West Indian sing-songs. Their bigheartedness in helping out a tiny cricket club and the great Everton Weekes’ visit to our home with his fellow cricketers is a treasured family memory.
