Barford Cricket Club

Once again our brave team of elite tourists have sacrificed themselves, their precious family time and their livers on our behalf, in order to smooth out any potential tour wrinkles for later in the year. Tour Sec Mike Ireland writes:

“Don’t smell it, just put it on your mouth”

Ignoring scepticism regarding the necessity for a second recce, Barford’s fearless band of brothers braved plummeting temperatures and soldiered resolutely towards the east midlands.

After a visit to the Colston Bassett Dairy to stock up on the region’s finest Stilton (with Richard Jones taking orders for most of Dugard Place) the tour bus pulled into the car park of The Martin’s Arms. We were greeted by friendly staff, a roaring fire and an elderly couple who moved into the other room the moment we sat next to them. The food here is pricey but exceptional quality (and the Timothy Taylor is well kept) and would be an excellent choice for the Friday lunch provided six grand is nothing to you.

After checking in at the Millgate we took the short walk to The Organ Grinder, which had been missed off our previous visits. The pub is owned by The Blue Monkey Brewery and sells an array of simian themed real ales, all of which went down very easily. The pub is basic but welcoming, the only downside being one of the cheeky monkeys at the bar getting quite confrontational over Richard’s attempts to keep the log fire alight. There were also posters trying to recruit members for a book club review, possibly the complete works of Shakespeare, but that’s just one theorem.

The other new pub on the checklist wasn’t so good. The Vaults Ale and Cider House had been recommended to me by some Newark visitors but as we descended the sticky, smelly stairway into the cellar bar I realised I was unlikely to agree with them. The landlady was affable but the ale range limited and the décor in need of some TLC.

The Prince Rupert was once again everyone’s favourite (I personally like Just Beer but I’m in a minority of one) and it looks as though this will remain the tour base for 2018. Increased alcohol consumption (and not a Campari in sight) inevitably led to hunger and we headed to our safe bet The Greek Steakhouse. Unfortunately this turned out to be as disappointing as The Vaults so the die-hards will be looking for another Sunday night dining option.

So another good pub added to the list and remember there are some excellent taverns that nobody visited last year, all within one square mile. Also for those who find themselves enamoured with Blue Monkey beers, they are on sale in bottles from a shop in the town centre-I’m supping a bottle of Guerrilla Chocolate and Amaretto Stout as I type.

PS. The title refers to the comment made by The Martin’s waitress as she served Richard his Stinking Bishop…

Chief statistician and occasional vice-captain Chris O’Reilly has finally got his finger out and released not only the 2016 statistics but also the long-delayed 2013 numbers (unfortunately missing a few results). These have now gone through the mincing machine and the Cumulative statistics are now up to date.

Notable cumulative milestones for this year are:

The annual extravaganza of the Annual Dinner saw a good range of old and new members in attendance once again at Merchants in Warwick. It was also great to see Richard and Lee from Snitterfield there, although they had to endure a fair amount of good-natured ribbing!

The delicious meal was interspersed with the usual selection of weird and wonderful prizes, the Chairman’s Speech, a video-link to the Vice-chairman and a reconstruction of the Champagne moments of the year (thanks to Ben and Layla for the production skills), which hopefully these can be made available at a later date!

Many thanks to everyone involved in organising such a fantastic event, and especially to Simon International for his unique hosting. The prize-winners on the night were as follows:

It’s that time of year again where we all get together and pretend we had a much better season that we actually did and hand out baubles to a few deserving (and undeserving) causes in the name of team spirit. Current Social Secretary and bon viveur, Simon International, has once again done a sterling negotiating job with Merchants in Warwick, and the dinner is scheduled for Saturday 29th October at 7pm for the ridiculous(ly small) sum of £25.

Further details can be found here here but get your confirmations back to Simon asap…

The old farts have once again returned successfully from their reconnaisance mission deep into enemy territory, and the Tour Secretary has submitted the following unexpurgated report:

‘Then a pint with the boys in a bar full of noise’

The picturesque village of Redmile provided an unusual detour on the return recce to Oakham as I finally visited a filming location of my favourite TV series ‘Auf Wiedersehen Pet’.

For the less seasoned reader, this comedy drama focussed on a disparate group of builders trying to compete with the faceless 1980’s corporates like Wimpey, McAlpines and Colin’s Construction, with varying degrees of failure. During the early part of 1986 they were billeted in The Barley Mow pub in a Derbyshire village while they renovated the fictional Thornley Manor-hence we found ourselves on the doorstep of The Windmill, in the Leicestershire countryside.

After mourning the loss of my youth (and mullet) we headed over to The Chequers at Woolsthorpe for lunch. The pub has fond memories for Richard Jones as he played on the adjoining cricket pitch as a fifteen year old and broke a roof tile with a towering six (coincidentally, The Titanic set sail from Southampton to Cherbourg on the very same day). The Chequers does excellent food, the only downside being that they advertise a ‘Campari Sunset’ on their cocktail board-the chairman ordered one but felt that it spoiled the natural flavour of the aperitif (a bit like adding water to a 100 year old malt-well, maybe not).

Replete with fine food we moved on to North Luffenham, the main reason we managed to justify this trip. Age seems to be taking its toll as Messrs Jones and Fisher had no memory of the ground, despite playing there sixteen years ago. The large, sloping tree lined oval is similar to last year’s Sunday venue, but hopefully our performance won’t be!
On arrival in Oakham we felt it was unfair to head straight to The Grainstore without giving some other pubs a chance so we called in at The Lord Nelson. After being largely unimpressed by the round (except mine which was lovely, so not all bad eh) we set up camp at The Grainstore where the Ten Fifty (and several large Grouses-you know who you are) was top notch, as usual.

Dinner consisted of tapas at Bakers Yard, where we are scheduled to have our Saturday meal (if Drage and Dunn ever bother to send me their choices) at which point I lost my voice due to a chest infection and cough, much to the amusement of the team, but not the chairman who only got one hour’s sleep due to sharing a room with an asthmatic pit pony.

Everything looks good so far

That’s living alright

Ed: further photographic coverage of their adventures can be found here courtesy of Mushie

Now the freeze has set in it seems perfect timing to remind you all of a couple of things, both of which should get you of hibernation.

Firstly, nets start again this coming Sunday with the first of 6 sessions at Warwick School (to be followed by the usual debrief), leading in to a further 6 sessions at Kenilworth on Monday nights. Each session costs a paltry £3, which should get you more than a glimpse at both Sandy’s Helicopter shot and the Treasurer’s hand grenades. Any prospective members would do well to come along, if only to reassure themselves that we really aren’t world beaters…

Also, the Tour Secretary has confirmed the 2016 Tour will be returning to Oakham for more fun and frolics

As a break from tradition, I thought I’d better post a few updates before getting stuck into the Turkey and Xmas pudding!

Congratulations to esteemed Chairman who celebrated his 60th birthday last week (in the usual style I gather!). Although he seems to be slowing a little (at least when gambolling for a quackish single) there seems little sign of this indefatigable warrior hanging up his pads for the foreseeable future, for which we should be eternally grateful.

There is an ongoing debate about nets for 2016, and quite a few possibilities are under consideration, thanks to Simon International’s hard work. The final options will be circulated for voting on soon, so make sure you check your email and let us know your choice. Attendance was a bit disappointing last year and it would be great to get some more members along to these sessions. Rest assured once things have been confirmed they will posted here and added to the club calendar.

Could you please support the Tour Secretary’s efforts to build Lords from playing cards? It looks pretty impressive, and you can see how busy they’ve been(!) Although I’m not sure how they’ve managed to include the (in)famous slope..

Finally, festive greetings to everyone and I’ll look forward to see you at the first net session of 2016!