November 2011

By Phil Westren

With news received that a former captain of Penzance & Newlyn RFC, Nicky Williams, aged 86, had passed away peacefully at his Port Navas home, it has been confirmed that a Thanksgiving Service will take place at Constantine Church, near Falmouth, at 12 noon on Thursday 10th November, 2011.

Educated at St. Erbyn's School, Penzance, and then Rugby School, as was his younger brother John (they both captained Rugby School), Nicky then became a Royal Marine Commando, seeing service in Hong Kong.

Returning to civilian life and becoming an Article Clerk to a solicitor when living at Gulval, Nicky captained the Pirates in both 1947-48 and 1948-49, during a period when he also played eight times for Cornwall.

A powerful, well-built wing/centre, he had a great hand-off and was considered a real leader whose 'players talks' did much to improve the play of the side.

Nicky also played for Harlequins, captaining the side, and he worked as a solicitor in his father's London office, as he did later in India, before eventually rising to become Managing Director of Burmah Oil and also Chairman of Castrol at the same time.

Having lived for a period in the village of Ewen, in Gloucestershire, Nicky eventually returned to Cornish roots to a chosen home at Port Navas. A devoted husband of Betty, and the late Sheila, he was father to Toby, Annabel, Giles, Daniel and Antonia.

Points of interest - Nicky and his late brother John form the only set of brothers to have captained the Pirates. Both also played not just for Harlequins but also for Richmond, and John, who led the Pirates in 1951-52, was capped in the centre twice by England in 1951, and was President of the Cornwall RFU from 1991-94.