Colin Kleiser

This month’s Throwback Thursday post on social media features a photograph from just 30 years ago - the Christ College Cricket XI of 1995. It includes two schoolboy cricket internationals and Andrew P Davies - Cricket Captain, Christ College centurion, and future Glamorgan CC fast bowler. 

Standing in his familar umpire's coat is their coach and mentor, Colin Kleiser. It's a name familiar to many generations of Old Breconians -  whether cricketers or otherwise, and we hope it will soon become a name that is just as familair to current pupils and their parents.  

At the opening of the Colin Kleiser Nets by Anne Kleiser on Saturday 26 April - OB Day 2025, the Head referred to Colin as a member of staff who gave his life and soul to the school. Naming the nets in recognition of Colin's extraordinary contribution to Christ College cricket couldn’t be more appropriate, but there are many areas of the school where his name could be similarly applied.

He taught French with expert knowledge and an infectious enthusiasm for France. He coached U15 Hockey and U15 Rugby with memorably inspirational gusto. He was Housemaster in Alway from 1973 to 1985, and Master i/c Cricket from 1968 to 1998. He instigated COBS (Colours, Old Boys and Staff) Cricket and organised the COBS matches each year - including COBS tours to his beloved France. He took the first school cricket tour to Australia in 1996 and then to Barbados in 1998. He was instrumental in securing the West Indian touring side to play at Christ College in 1991 as part of the school’s 450th Anniversary celebrations. His cricket reports - always a carefully crafted blend of motivation and frustration (most often with the Brecon weather) - are a joy to read. 

A man with a considerable range of talents, he also designed and built stage sets with dedicated proficiency, and played the piano in a jazz trio with ease and skill. There may even be some OBs out there who still recall CWK leading a school audience in a rendering of the "Hippopotamus Song" during the weeks of national power cuts in February 1972. On evenings when the cuts were from 6-9 pm, Director of Music John Aveyard (Staff 1967-73) arranged a number of 'Concerts' at very short notice. The concerts were put on partly by his fellow Jazz Men from Brecon, and partly by members of the School. 

from The Breconian 1972

CONCERT 1 Sunday, February 20th

Three groups participated in this concert: Mr Aveyard's quartet, with Mr Kleiser on piano, Ken Powell on tenor, Dave Rodgers on drums and Mr Aveyard on bass. They played a great variety of numbers, including: "Bill Bailey”, "The Lady is a Tramp", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", and "The Girl from Ipanema". The number which I will never forget was a vocal arrangement, by Ken Powell, of "Rock Around the Clock". C I Dytor joined the quartet in "Basin Street Blues".

A group with D J Kendall on piano, S J Williams on bass, Francis-Williams on drums, and G J Evans and P S Nicholas as vocalists performed: "Our House", "Fool on the Hill", and "Chicago". S F Smith joined them with his piano accordion in "A Man and a Woman". The third group with R T F Morgans on piano, J Aveyard, Esq., on bass, Francis-Williams on drums and R W D Smith on alto sax, played "Take Five", "Lullaby of Birdland", and Morgans' own composition, appropriately called "Blackout".

CONCERT 2 Tuesday, February 22nd

We again had the honour of the presence of the John Aveyard Quartet who were unexpectedly joined by the now well known Don Pryce. The proceedings commenced with the J A Quartet performing "It's Wonderful", "Misty", and "Old Man River". This was followed by "Scaramouche" on two pianos which were unfortunately slightly out of tune, which did no justice to their performance. With the arrival of Don Pryce, the trio played Gershwin's "Summertime", "I Feel Pretty", and "A Walk in the Black Forest".

To gain some audience participation, Mr Aveyard, along with some Sixth formers, led the School in a selection of old time songs including: "Fred Karno's Army", "Oh it's a Lovely War", and "Keep the Home Fires Burning". This was intermingled with some poetry read by Mr Aveyard. 

This was followed by a short but extremely humorous rendering of poetry by Mr Kleiser. The Don Pryce Trio were joined by the versatile Ken Powell on harmonica in "Moon River". The evening was brought to a close by the audience, led by Mr Kleiser, singing "The Hippopotamus Song".

Thanks to Anne we have a set of XI photos for the period when Colin was Master i/c Cricket. To celebrate the opening of the Colin Kleiser Nets, we have posted the CWK Collection of Cricket XI photos (1968-1998) interleaved with U15 Hockey XIs from the 1990s, which include many young players who made the transition from U15 hockey to senior cricket under Colin’s guidance. 

The Hockey photos are as yet unnamed but we hope it won’t be long before we can add those too. If you can provide names for a photo or two, let Huw or Felicity know. 

And if you were there for those concerts of 1972, let us know about those too. We'd love to know more.