• The funeral will be held at Landican South Chapel this Friday (31 May) at 09:30 am.
• Following the funeral there will be a gathering at Oldershaw clubhouse from 10:30am onwards, to celebrate his life.

Thanks to Barry Scott, who has provided the following words about Ken:

"We mark with sadness the passing of Ken Gillett.

A prolific sportsman, Ken joined us from New Brighton Rugby Club in the early 70’s after struggling to get regular 1st XV rugby due to Wyn Williams the Cheshire scrum half playing at Reeds Lane. We did tell him that Oldershaw played a superior brand of rugby to make him feel better! Ken fitted the stereotypical template of what a scrum half of those days was. Small and brave with a very fast pass and great speed off the mark, Ken was one of the best scrum halves in Wirral rugby at this time. His ability to see gaps was exceptional and the various stand off’s who played with him will attest to this. Not afraid to tell the forwards in front of him what they were doing wrong Ken managed to deal with all things that came his way in a very calm manner. Unfortunately, when given the task of making the line out calls Ken was less than successful. Front, middle and back in the line out was towns, cities and counties. Ken was convinced Exeter was a county and Cornwall a town! As you can imagine chaos ensued which of course he had to tidy up!

Ken had the Paul Newns approach to training which was to do as little as possible resulting in him being dropped from the 1stXV by Phil Francis. Ken threatened to leave Oldershaw and return to New Brighton. Fortunately for us it was an idle threat and Ken continued his rugby into the vets era.

Away from the game of rugby he had attended the old Wallasey Grammar School in Withens Lane where his love for all sport developed. Ken was a talented left handed golfer, badminton and squash player but above all an excellent tennis player. A major figure in local tennis competions as a youngster Ken reached the dizzy heights of playing at Junior Wimbledon and was invited into the mens coaching squad overseen by Dan Maskell. Ken as a left hander had developed a two handed backhand, hardly seen in the tennis world at this time. It was effective and eventually integrated into the world of tennis. However, Maskell in his infinite wisdom told Ken to get rid of it as it was a stupid shot and had no place in tennis. Ken refused, sticking to his principles and was removed from the squad. This after he had played and beaten the great Welsh full back JPR Williams who was also an excellent tennis player and who chose rugby over tennis for personal reasons. What might have been!

We were fortunate at Oldershaw to have the three Gillett brothers, Ken, Mal and Paul play for us and if memories are correct it was contrived to get them all to play in the same team together! Maybe not unique in the world of rugby but certainly a worthwhile note in the history of the club.

Ken was Club President from 2001 to 2003 serving the club well where his big and cheerful personality projected a great club image.

He will be greatly missed by those who knew him well."