Author Archives: laurencereade

New Beginnings

19 Sunday Nov 2017

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Tuesday 24th October 2017 ko 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Division

WALTON & HERSHAM 1 (Okai 68)

BEDFONT SPORTS 0

Att 126 at Elmbridge XCEL Sports Hub

Entry £8

Programme £1.50

A few weeks ago Robyn and I were fortunate enough to attend a funeral. That’s not a sentence I often write but it was a privilege to be at Walton & Hersham’s final game at Stompond Lane. For the sadness, at the fact that the old ground was falling to pieces, and the club were and are moving into a uncertain future. But as we walked away it did feel that we’d only told half of the story. So here’s the other half. Continue reading →

White Line Fever

17 Friday Nov 2017

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Monday 23rd October 2017 ko 19.45

Southern League- Eastern Division

BEACONSFIELD TOWN 0

AYLESBURY 3 (Scott 52 66 Deacon 80)

Att 91

Entry £8

Programme £2

I suspect many see Beaconsfield’s Holloways Park as the ground next door to the M40 Service Station, you can see the lit gibbet from behind the goal. A less well-known fact is that the original plans for the M40 saw the service placed between the Wycombe and Loudwater junctions, you can see the truncated slip roads on either side of the carriageway. But one way or another the motorway has been good for the club. Continue reading →

Into The Light

16 Thursday Nov 2017

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Wednesday 18th October 2017 ko 19.45

Wiltshire Senior Cup- First Round

SHREWTON UNITED 0

CHIPPENHAM TOWN 7 (Ricketts 15 77 81 Richards 24 Smile 51 87 Bowman 54)

Att c115

Entry £5

When groundhoppers get deeper into the hobby they tend to realise that the number of floodlit grounds is far more finite than those without, so tend to go for unlit grounds on Saturdays and save the floodlit grounds for midweeks when the lights are in use. That throws up the unusual sub-set of grounds who have floodlights, but seldom use them. An extreme example of this is North Berkshire League club Uffington United who currently are the only club in their league to have lights, and have only used them twice, both times for games I’ve helped organise! Shrewton’s case is less extreme, as their lights are there as a legacy. Continue reading →

Flight Path

13 Monday Nov 2017

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Saturday 14th October 2017 ko 18.00

Bedfordshire County League Premier Division

CRANFIELD UNITED 1 (Allen 62og)

RENHOLD UNITED 0

Att 116

Entry FREE

Programme £2

I’d greatly enjoyed the Bedfordshire Hop’s first two games, and I suspect everyone else had too. So I was disappointed but not surprised as I left AFC Kempston to see a steady stream of hoppers walking back towards Bedford and the railway station rather than turning right like me and making for Cranfield.  Continue reading →

New Turf

12 Sunday Nov 2017

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Saturday 14th October 2017 ko 14.00

Bedfordshire County League Premier Division

AFC KEMPSTON TOWN & BEDFORD COLLEGE 2 (Smith 23 Ronayne 36)

CALDECOTE 2 (Boyd 9 Aris 34)

Att 109

Entry FREE

Programme £2

From one ground I couldn’t find on a map it was time to head to another. It meant travelling from the south side of Bedford to the north, and hop organiser Craig Dabbs supplied directions. They were needed, as not only was this to be the first game at Kingsfield, a lot of the roads to Great Spur, Biddenham were new too. Whilst it was lovely to be present as the opening of the new ground, I also know how much stress this place put Craig under. Continue reading →

The Invisible

12 Sunday Nov 2017

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Saturday 14th October 2017 ko 11.00

Bedfordshire County League Division One

WIXAMS 4 (White 5 Tibbett 1 Natola 36 Battams 59)

SANDY 1 (Beall 64)

Att 125

Entry FREE

Programme £2

Bedfordshire Hop organiser Craig Dabbs and I have reached the point where we can look each other in the eye and know exactly what the other is thinking. Because his Bedfordshire is my North Berkshire and in so many ways the two hops have similar, clubs, clienteles and aspirations. The issues he has making this hop work are so similar to my own, and as I was working to make my game at the Diamond Light Source work, he was doing the same at AFC Kempston. One thing Craig did managed to do that was new to me though was putting on two games at places that I couldn’t find on a map. Continue reading →

The Belle of Snodland Town

11 Saturday Nov 2017

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Wednesday 11th October 2017 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East Division One

SNODLAND TOWN 0

LYDD TOWN 1 (Lockyer 65)

Att 86

Entry £6

Programme £1

The Kentish town of Snodland grew based around, like so much in the area around paper making, in principle due to the lime deposits in the area. Today the town is still well-to-do in an unobtrusive way, but it’s the story of the village nearby that needs to be told.  Continue reading →

Atmospheric

08 Wednesday Nov 2017

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Tuesday 10th October 2017 ko 19.45

Southern Combination Premier Division

LOXWOOD 2 (Pritchard 52 Holvey 85)

CHICHESTER CITY 4 (Jones 13secs Heggarty 44 Clack 76 Herbert 90)

Att 46

Entry £6

Programme £1

On one hand non-league photography is a good deal easier in daylight, to the extent I’ve built up a collection of lenses that Robyn and I use more or less specifically for night games. But if you can produce the pictures in good enough quality, photographing non-league at night does produce a feel all of it’s own. Loxwood’s Plaistow Road Recreation Ground does though take that idea to a new dimension altogether. Continue reading →

Qualities

08 Wednesday Nov 2017

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Sunday 8th October 2017 ko 14.15

Western League Division One

BISHOPS LYDEARD 2 (James Quick 39 Hebditch 45) James Quick missed pen 51

CHEDDAR AFC 4 (Coomes 9 Jones 67 Bennett 75)

Att 264

Entry & Programme £6

The Western hop’s final destination for 2017 was easily the most anticipated of the weekend. There was nothing too involved about the reason why, it was because Bishops Lydeard are new to the league joining last season, and that Cothelstone Road has seen massive improvements to allow the club that  promotion. That meant that a large strand of the groundhopping hobby would suddenly have the club on their radar for a visit and that was reflected with the second-highest attendance of the event, and easily the highest number of hoppers. The question was how would Lydeard cope with the large crowd?

Continue reading →

Order, In All Things

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Sunday 8th October 2017 ko 11.00

Western League Premier Division

SHEPTON MALLET 4 (Billing 20 47 89 Pollard 47)

BRISLINGTON 1 (Hunt 85)

Att 285

Entry £6

Programme £1

About 2 weeks before the Western Hop I’d been at a game and a hopper came up to me and told me how excited he was about the hop, but then commented.

“But why couldn’t you have put the Bishops Lydeard game on before the Shepton Mallet game?”

My response was to ask why would that be of any help? His response was telling,

“Because then I’d go home after the Lydeard game” he said. Never has the compromise that is the organised groundhop been put in clearer focus. Continue reading →