“Will you go first?”   “No, after you!”

Now let me see ....

Shall I blow

the whistle now!

The Pinks

“Oh, umpire!

You can’t be serious!

The day dawned and with relief I saw the sun shining brightly through the bedroom window. It was going to be a good day!

 

Down at the ground at 9-30 a.m. Glenda, my wife, and I met up with stalwart helpers Ben and Eleanor Rathbone, Dave Cole, Arthur Peach and Pete Duckhouse. In a trice we had the posts constructed and the nets up. Even the bolts, unused since last year, but carefully tended to by Kelton’s Dad, Mike, opened up without a grumble - it was going to be a good day!  

 

Soon Kelton Scott was marking out the lines completing a good few hours preparation time during the previous week and then all that remained was to await the arrival of the players.

 

Soon all was activity, Jean Haywood was preparing to enter the teams and look after the scoring, Sylvia Oates was organising the raffle, and Pete Allen and Tony Haywood were arranging their umpiring cards (“Now shall I put the red or the yellow one on top?” with a view to making good use of them during the afternoon.

 

Then there were the players, no good without them, and they began to arrive in droves. At the last count there were some 40 members (half the club!) involved in competition and, with the help a few tireless ones (“The Trouts”) playing extra games to make up an extra team, 8 teams took to the field. The sun was still shining and it was warm - it was going to be a good day!

 

The rest is history, as they say, each team with their own story to tell of how they were robbed or had shown such excellent skills, but each one appearing to have enjoyed the experience. One or two bruises to prove their presence, quite a few aching limbs and everyone with a big appetite for the magnificent curry laid on by Joan Scott (what would we have done without her!)

 

Oh! And of course, the winners were “The Pinks” with their obviously very special shirts and  the runners up were “The Trouts”

 

Many thanks to all those who took part and made the day such a success, some I have mentioned but many more worked behind the scenes, including our very industrious bar staff John and Carol.