Gwilym Evans

We are sad to announce the death of Gwylim Evans, whop passed away on his 90th Birthday.

Gwilym Evans joined through his friendship with John Thompson Smith. He went with him to the Club when training was taking place and was invited to take part. Gwil had been at Liverpool University and had married Megan, “a lovely fiery Welsh girl.” Being a medic his expertise was called upon on three notable occasions. First, during a training match he raced down the pitch from his goalkeeping position to re-set Ingram Legge’s broken ankle. Ingram was dispatched to hospital where he was operated on by Dick Heron’s father, an orthopaedic surgeon who happened to be on duty. Then Gwilym was present on the HAC pitch when Donald Forster decided to stand on the ball and promptly broke his ankle. Gwilym had to take him off to Bart’s hospital. Finally, he and Gwyn Roberts collided in a goalmouth scramble resulting in Gwilym taking Gwyn to hospital where he ensured Gwyn was x-rayed. The real benefit was that the x-ray showed up a bad lung condition. Because of its early discovery it proved treatable. Ted Wilson remembers Gwilym used to regularly  claim ”in the bar afterwards that any goal he had conceded that afternoon was due to him needing to protect his hands so they were not damaged for Monday morning operations at the hospital.” Gwilym’s most unnerving moment came after he and Geoff Thomas in 1963 had been at a party at Birkenhead Hospital on a Friday night. With Gwilym ‘legless’, Geoff started the drive down to Malvern that night. Not far from Chester, Geoff overtook a lorry and hit a car. With no seatbelts in those days, Geoff banged his head and came round to find Gwilym lying on the ground underneath the car with petrol leaking onto him. Gwilym then recalls seeing a character coming towards him with a lighted cigarette. All Geoff remembers is Gwilym saying “Don’t light a match.”  Eventually both were taken to Chester Royal Infirmary where Gwil felt he was lucky to get away with just broken ribs. Gwilym left for Canada in 1964 and was presented with a tankard from the HAC and also one from the Ramblers. Living on Vancouver Island, he uses one of them each night for a pint of beer before dinner and always silently toasts the Ramblers. “My abiding memory of those wonderful playing days was the great camaraderie.”