ABERGAVENNY Hockey Club's former president of 40 years and Olympic Silver medallist Dr. Bill Griffiths who passed away in October, aged 88, will be fondly remembered by the town he loved, as a gifted and dedicated sportsman and a widely respected and loved general practitioner who touched many people's lives.
Mr Bill Griffiths was renowned for his sporting pedigree. He started playing hockey at 15 and soon found he had a natural affinity for the sport. During the course of an illustrious career he represented Great Britain on eight occasions and won a Silver medal at the 1948 Olympic games.
The son of a well known GP, Mr Griffiths was born in Abergavenny's Harold Road in 1922.
He would later follow in his father's footsteps and become a partner in the surgery his father established.
Mr Griffiths first took up the hockey stick as a pupil at Marlborough School and found his first taste of prestige in the sport as the school's Captain of Games.
Later, whilst studying medicine at Cambridge University, Mr Griffiths was awarded a 'Cambridge Blue' for hockey.
When war came, Mr Griffiths joined the RAF and served in South Africa where he continued to play hockey and became a PT instructor.
On returning to Cardiff University to complete his medical studies he played hockey for Newport Athletic and joined the Abergavenny club in 1950.
By then Mr Griffiths had already accumulated 10 Welsh international caps, the first of which was in 1947 against Ireland. In total he played 32 times for Wales and ended his international career in 1956 when he travelled to Amsterdam to play Holland.
Two of these 32 international games were played at Abergavenny Cricket Club - against England in 1949 and Ireland in 1954.
Mr Griffiths, who was also a first class golfer - playing of four in his heyday, was a forward thinking hockey player. At the 1948 Olympic Games all teams except India played with broad English head sticks. India used short rounded head sticks similar to those that we use today. Mr Griffiths tried to convince players that the Indian head was the only way forward but to no avail. The English head was still being used in the 1952 Olympics.
Mr Griffiths's speciality was the reverse stick cross from the left wing - reasonably easy to achieve with an Indian head stick but nigh on impossible with the cumbersome English head.
Current Abergavenny Hockey Club President Trevor Scott said of Mr Griffiths, "We have been very, very fortunate to have had such a distinguished sportsman and gentleman as our President."
Whilst former President of the Welsh Hockey Association Alan Carter is on record as stating, "In my opinion Bill ranks as one of the top half dozen players ever to have graced Wales and Great Britain hockey."
Despite his many achievements, Mr Griffiths remained an extremely modest man and would only talk about his sporting life or show his silver medal reluctantly.
He met his wife Margaret in Cardiff University and they married in 1952. He loved being a GP in Abergavenny and always showed a great understanding to his patients.
His daughter Josephine Griffiths explained to the Chronicle, "I never heard my father say an unkind word about anybody and I never heard anybody say an unkind word about him.
"He was loved by everyone he met and most of all he was such fun. He himself achieved so much in his life but he never judged others or expected us, his four daughters, to do anything except what made us happy."
Mr Bill Griffiths is survived by his wife Margaret, his four daughters; Catherine, Josephine, Elizabeth and Madeleine, his ten grandchildren and one great grandchild.