...and the result is now in...

September 21st 2008, the Walker Cricket Club, Southgate... Kibworth Cricket Club were crowned as Cockspur Cup champions for the second time in five years, having also been runners-up in 2007. There are plenty of places online where you'll be able to find out more about the game, and frankly they're all better placed to tell you about it than I am.

I readily admit that I've never been a massive cricket fan, and whilst the lads at KCC have gone some way to changing that, I'm still a rank amateur when it comes do deciphering the nuances of the sport. A fact made readily obvious by the number of times that I've stood on the ropes chewing my nails, only for Jude to tell me that the result of that day's excursion was never in doubt - and I still possess the ability to infuriate her further with my frankly appalling observations on strategies and incidents, but the important thing is that I love every minute of it.

When I was a kid my Dad loved cricket, particularly at Test Match level. Whilst I would spend summer days playing with my matchbox cars, or my Airfix toy soldiers - all the time scraping holes in the knees of my trousers - my Dad would spend his alternating between work and watching five days of seemingly endless tedium... to me, at least. He was fortunate that his job often allowed him to be at home on summer afternoons, but even though I could be there even more I just couldn't fathom the interest of the spectacle. To be honest, I'm still not sure that I can. I'm growing to love the shorter disciplines though, and meeting Jude was the catalyst behind this change.

Jude has been first team scorer for Kibworth for twenty years and, rather fittingly, Sunday's game marked the end of a 'career' that has seen her outlast just about every player at the club, and even have her own two-page article in the local paper. She's decided that it's time to 'hang up' her pens, and maybe spend some time sorting through the memories and 'memorabilia' that she's accrued in those two decades.

I'm glad that she waited though, because if she hadn't then I might not have made a whole host of new friends.

It quickly became apparent that Kibworth is very much a cricket club first, and a cricket team second. Through following them for the past couple of seasons it's been fairly easy to spot the differences between these two concepts. Several times it has been fairly evident to me that a number of opposition teams have been little more than a collection of eleven or twelve players who get together, play their games, and maybe have a following of a few family members. I'm not knocking that, but when you see the sort of social spirit that can surround a 'proper' club - the way it does at Kibworth - it's hard not to feel a little sorry for the teams that don't have that.

Kibworth run a number of competitive teams, along with a 'casual' Sunday outfit (who still play at a level that I could never hope to compete on), and some serious coaching of juniors. Whenever you arrive at the ground for a match there are always plenty of people there, and when we went to Lord's for the (rain abandoned) final - a couple of weeks back - five coaches of supporters took the day off work/school to travel down and get noisy in the stands.

Not only does this 'social' club add a great spirit to the team(s), but it also meant that I was quickly embraced as a member of the KCC 'family'. Okay so Jude had doubtless given me a reputation to live up to, and the affection in which she is held by everyone at the club meant that I had something of a head start, but it's still a strange feeling to realise that I've known these people for less than two years. Within six or seven months of my first trip to the club I was on holiday in Barbados as part of a forty-odd strong group, and following Sunday's win I'll hopefully be repeating that in five weeks' time.

I've had my embarrassing moments - like standing with Jude and talking to Simon and Emma Renshaw, telling them how much I enjoy watching "that big-hitting number eight" at bat, and still not realising that he and Simon were the same man - but at no point have I felt that I was being merely 'tolerated' because of Jude.

The club is full of great people, from the chairman and 'management' types, down through the senior players and their families, to some very talented youngsters. Long may that be the case, and long may their team's prosper.

If you find yourself in the Leicestershire area, between the months of May and September, on a quiet Saturday afternoon, then drop by the ground and see what's going on. I can promise you, you'll be made welcome and you'll make new friends.

'cking 'rious

Tonight I really feel as if I want to let fly, and I know that I need to let fly - but generally speaking it's probably better if I don't right now.

For those that know me well, there's something that's been "on the go" for nearly a year now - and whilst things should have been put to bed a long time ago, today saw yet another barrier thrown up by the other party involved.

All will no doubt become clear, hopefully in a final outpouring of anger-tainted joy, but until I know for sure I shall bite my tongue. I'm having to bite hard though, expect a lot of blood.

Really guys, just lighten up, for once in your lives...!

Today is a sad day, for anyone who grew up in the seventies and eighties at least. Today, after thirty years, Grange Hill has come to an end.

Now I've not watched he show for the last twenty-odd years, but like so many others of my generation I have great memories of watching the early incarnation. The likes of Tucker Jenkins, 'Gripper' Stebson, and many many more were a staple of my childhood days... and who can forget that great opening sequence?



...of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, and there's a chance that the show was nothing like as good as I remember it being (certainly watching old episodes of 'The A Team' can be slightly painful now). I also have little doubt that I would have found nothing of value in the last fifteen years or so of its history, but that's missing the point - it's a show about schoolkids, for schoolkids, and for me it was one of the best things on the goggle-box back then.

Today the BBC, over at their 'Have Your Say' site, asked the question 'What are your memories of Grange Hill?'. Here's how they put it...

The last episode of Grange Hill will be shown on BBC One on Monday. What are your memories of the series?

The school drama was first broadcast in 1978 and over the years has tackled controversial issues such as drugs and teenage pregnancy.

However, TV bosses decided to cancel the series as they said that it not longer reflected the lives of modern children.

Over the years, Grange Hill has been a nurturing ground for young talent including Todd Carty who is expected to repeat his role of Tucker Jenkins in the final episode.

What is the legacy of Grange Hill? Was it an accurate reflection of school life? Do you have a favourite story or character? Did you work on the series or meet any of the actors?

...now the HYS site is famous for being populated by some of the most moronic examples of 'citizenry' that you could hope to meet, just take a look at the fantastic spEak You're bRanes if you want to get a feel for how bad it gets. A word of caution though, the guys there pull NO punches, and the language can be colourful in the extreme - this is not a site for the faint of heart.

So, where was I? Ah yes, 'Have Your Say'. I won't pretend that I don't have an occasional overlap with the opinions of some on that site - but where I do it's very slight indeed. Calling us one and the same would be like suggesting that my friend (who shall remain anonymous), who has a thing for tall blondes, shares the opinions and goals of those Nazi extremists who set out to populate Europe with an Aryan master-race.

Surely, however, the subject of Grange Hill couldn't bring out the worst in the HYS tribe? They would all be filled with warm memories, as I was, of burger chips and beans and watching one of Darth Vader's ruthless admirals dispense justice to the scamps of the school?

Not a bit of it, within a matter of a couple of hours here's what was appearing by way of response to the BBC's question:

"Quite funny if it was to reflect school life today in that part of London Gripper would become a gay Asian that stabbed people for drug money"

"Of course Grange Hill no longer reflects the lives of english children today, probably because just about every school in the country is awash with immigrants who can barely speak a word of english"

"Grange Hill: that was the trigger for the breakdown of British society as we used to know it."

The mind boggles, it really does. Do some people have a life that is that empty? I can hardly talk, I spent most of this weekend (at least Sunday) frittering my time away playing Football Manager - although, to be fair, I was sticking close to Jude to make sure she wasn't struggling too much with her dose of the lurgy - but even I don't reach the point of sheer boredom and bloody mindedness where my only response to a question about a childhood staple is to hijack the issue with yet another rant about immigrants, multiculturalism, and the impending decline if western civilisation!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Tommy Womack

Last year I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a man by the name of Tommy Womack. I was on a trip to Nashville TN, with my friend Paul from Mohawk Visuals, to see Jason & the Scorchers play a benefit show for their original drummer - Perry Baggs. (For those who visit MySpace, I blogged about the trip last June)

Paul had met Tommy previously, and had arranged for him to act as a 'guide' for part of our trip - in return for which we shot some photos for possible promo use in the future. One that he really wanted was a shot of him 'busking' in front of a piece of local graffiti - unfortunately the graffiti gets painted over on a regular basis, but thanks to the power of the net I managed to find a picture of it, and thanks to the power of Photoshop I created the shot that Tommy had wanted.




Tommy is a great guy, and so much more than the 'singer songwriter' that you'll see him billed as in some quarters.

He started out in a college rock band by the name of Government Cheese - about whom he wrote a great book, The Cheese Chronicles. I thoroughly recommend this as a read for anyone with designs on a career in music, and especially for anyone currently performing in a 'small' band - if only because you'll undoubtedly recognise so much of it. Having been presented with a copy when we left Nashville, I proceeded to read it and discover that among other claims to fame, Tommy and his band were occasional stage-mates of a young group from Athens GA by the name of REM, and were also supported by a bizarre trio of Python-esque characters who would later make themselves known to the world as Primus.

I won't attempt to re-tell Tommy's life story, but this gives you a flavour of where he came from. These days he's a musician, a great songwriter, an author, a blogger, and a voice of slightly madcap reason among the throngs. What's more he's a Scorchers fan, which is always good enough for me.

As well as his solo material, which I've seen him perform both electrically and acoustically, he also produced a stunning blues-rock live recording along with his friend Will Kimbrough, under the name Daddy (sadly this doesn't appear to be on the UK Amazon site, but take a look anyway - it's worth it!). Will and Tommy are currently working on another Daddy record, which promises to be something special, but in the meantime Tommy is due in the UK next week for a short series of dates playing with a local band by the name of Dawson & The Dissenters.

So if you have any interest at all in real music; rock, acoustic, blues, check out his site, or some of his stuff on YouTube, or whatever other sources you might find to get a feel for what he's all about.

Then do yourself a favour and get to one of these dates. They'll be low key, and Tommy might appear so nervous at times that you think he might just freeze up, but you'll be in for a real treat - that I promise.

Three Days, No Result...

I'm finally back in Leicestershire, and able to connect to the net again, so it's time to bring you up to speed on the last couple of days.

I thought, in this wonderful modern era, that I would be able to take my laptop and update things on the fly. I've seen the movies, go anywhere in any large city, switch on, and you're away...... or not, at least not unless you want to fork out £3 per 15 minutes to the owners of the £300/night hotel for the privilege anyway!! So much for the wi-fi super highway, I guess I'll have to go wireless broadband, or consider that rather nifty iphone 3G. That's actually a decent shout, I'm on Orange at the moment, and it seems that I have several regular haunts (including home) where the signal is poor at best.

Jude, on the other hand, is with O2 and has no such issues, and which mobile carrier is the exclusive iphone provider at present? Three guesses, and the first two don't count. I've always said that all I want is a phone that lets me make calls and text messages, but it is a rather nice piece of kit, it would cost me about the same as my current bill, and it will let me get to all those cool sites deemed 'inappropriate' on the work networks (like anything with "game" or "movie" in their description. Sounds like fate to me...


Anyway, enough of the ranting and rambling, what about the trip?

For those out of the loop, on Monday I boarded a coach with the players and officials from Kibworth Cricket Club. Jude is their long-time First XI scorer, although this is her last season in that role. On Tuesday Kibworth were to play in the finals of the 'Cockspur Cup' - a national knock-out tournament which features two teams who have battled through one of sixteen regional knockout competitions, then the last sixteen of the national pool, to reach Lord's. This year was KCC's third final in five years - having won it in 2004 (before my time), and finishing as runners-up in 2007.

As a club Kibworth, who I will no doubt speak more of on another occasion, are a fantastic bunch and in the two years that I have known Jude they have taken me on board as one of their own - not bad for a long-time 'metal head' with little or no interest in the sport. Actually that's not entirely fair, I have no interest in Test Cricket, but the one day game has always been entertaining - once you know the players involved though, and can count them among your friends, it takes on a whole different level of interest.

The opportunity to see them at Lord's for a second occasion ought to have been the icing on the cake of my second season as a fan - but whilst the occasion was great, including the 'Eve of Final' dinner and the actual match - the rains that brought the game to a premature end, meaning that a replay is in order, did put something of a dampener on matters (pun intended).

Of course I'm looking forward to the rematch on September 21st (provisional date), but the fact that we had the opposition pretty much on the back foot means that many will, I'm sure, see it as an opportunity lost. That said, Kibworth are a determined bunch, and a look forward to reporting on a happier result in a couple of weeks.

On a personal note the trip did result in another little landmark on my (thus far) brief photographic adventure. Steve, the club chairman, asked if I'd get some shots of the players as the guys at Lord's were offering to show them on the large video screens around the ground. Being the type of person that I am I couldn't leave it at just a snapshot though - and I'm glad I didn't, because frankly the photos of the opposition were nothing to write home about. Instead I spent a couple of hours on Saturday, having grabbed shots of the players, working on a Photoshop frame/border arrangement to try and recreate the feel of the old Panini football sticker collections of my youth (I completed the full albums for the '76, '77, and '78 sets)

Here's an example of what I ended up with, this is actually a joke one, for one of the guys who I hadn't managed to get a hot of, but it gives you the idea. I'm going to try and get the real ones uploaded to the club website, and there's even talk of trying to arrange a time to get the players from the clubs other squads - Jude and I are pondering the idea of creating a 'Top Trumps' set for the end of season, only time will tell.




...so, although we didn't get an outcome on the match, I can now add "my photos and graphics have been shown on the video screens at Lord's" to my small but growing collection of 'boasts' - not something that many can say, I'm sure.

After the game things were a little subdued. We'd booked into a local restaurant for our post-match celebrations - and I use that phrase advisedly, not because victory was assured, but because I was there after 'we' lost last year, and we still had one hell of a party. Here's to another, sometime around September 22nd, preferably on the back of a win - but we'll have to wait and see.

One, Two. One, Two... is this thing on?

I decided to start my blog a week or so ago, but then the question hit me.

How do you actually start one?

I mean I'm 38, at least for another couple of weeks or so, and there's an awful lot of history behind me to try and sum up... so I'm not going to bother. Some of it will come out in future postings, of that I'm sure, but for now we'll wait and see what appears when.

So why am I here?

I think I realised, some time ago now, that MySpace is dead - at least it is for me. As long as it's free I'll leave my profile up there, but I really feel no desire to visit the place any more. What started out seeming like a good idea, quickly descended into a mess of random comments, and invitations from self-promoting entities with whom I feel no connection. For God's sake, authors (or maybe their publishers) are setting profiles up for their books! "The Bible wants to be your friend on MySpace" - trust me, it's only a matter of time!

As for the bulletin board, well once I got past about ten friends that became as good as useless, and though Jude (my other and better half) enjoyed doing them, I quickly got bored of those questionnaires with things like "When was the last time you had an Ice-cream?"

My main reason for joining was to keep in touch with a couple of existing friends who had pages. They've got my email address though, and my phone number, and if I need to I'll still drop by now and then.

Then there was the blogging, which I did get around to now and then. That was my main interest, but with all of the distractions that quickly followed, it became easy to 'forget' that part of it.

There were some positives to come out of it, of course. Not least of which was meeting Jude, although it turned out that we had a common friend - who recognised me when Jude showed her my profile. So it was a start point, but little more.

No, it's safe to say that I have little cause to visit that particular site any more. Just consider my page 'inactive'.

As for this place, well I'm hoping to motivate myself into posting fairly regularly - and maybe even pick up some passing traffic (i.e. readers) now and then, who knows. Essentially, though, it'll be a glorified diary.

I was never much for diary writing as a kid, I think mine used to stretch to things like:

Wednesday 14th May
'Went to the pictures with Mick Bradbury and his Mum, saw Bedknobs & Broomsticks"

Hardly Pepys. Not that I'm expecting I will be now, but I do enjoy writing somewhat more (we may come to that in a future blog).

In addition I'll use it for venting my spleen (who doesn't?!), sharing details of some cool people/places with anyone who does show up, and - mainly, I suspect - muttering to myself.

Think of this as a virtual vagrant - a computerised unwashed tramp, talking to itself in the corner, and occasionally sharing its thoughts with the world. Only there won't be too much of the "Shee theesh handsh? Theysh deadly weaponsh mate!"

Finally, as I used to do in the one 'journal' that I briefly kept in my adult life, I might share little things that I've read (or heard) that have entertained me. Here's my first offering, from a book that I've just started reading...

"[my great-grandmother] gave up her religion to marry a Methodist miner. He fathered five children and then, with an inconsideration towards womenfolk for which northern husbands are noted, promptly and irrevocably died."

- 'Achtung Schweinehund!" by Harry Pearson