Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

18 Thursday Apr 2013

Tags

Anthony Simpson, Chris Marsh, Denell Steele, John Webb, Lewis Welby, Marston, Nick Albin, Northway, Oxon Senior League, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Yarnton

Wednesday 17th April 2013 ko 18.30

Oxon Senior League Division One

NORTHWAY 3 (Welby 37 Simpson 62 Albin 66)

YARNTON 4 (Steele 4 Marsh 17 Webb 25 83) Marsh missed penalty 34

Att 17

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

The Parish of New Marston, in Oxford used to be part of Headington, and the cottages and stone fronts of Old Headington soon give way to the red brick and concrete of the newer estate as you head down the hill on Dunstan Road. The vast majority of the estate was built in the 20th century, when the County Borough of Oxford developed estates of council houses around Marston Road and north of Headley Way. The County Borough had built 138 council houses at New Marston by 1938 and added another 70 after 1950. More recently the influx of Eastern Europeans saw the local church in Ferry Road become Russian Orthodox and be restyled Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. A small gold cupola has been added too!

In the middle of it all is the Northway estate, and the huge Plowman Tower which dominates what is in all but name, a village green surrounded on three sides by roads. The Northway club is a community centre and social club here with the shops and buses leaving city centre bound from opposite the club. It’s nothing if not convenient if you want to watch a game, especially if you happen to live in the first few floors of the tower! As convenient as it all is, Northway cannot progress further than Oxon Senior League football here, assuming they’d want to. There is no hard standing, its barely enclosed, and there’s no cover save for the odd tree. But then again, do they really need more?

And if the delights of the Oxon Senior League aren’t to your taste, the floodlights of Court Place Farm, home to Oxford City are clearly visible a couple of hundred yards away. In fact my only regret in attending this game was that one of the shops wasn’t a Fish and Chips Shop. Sometimes on a windy night, only a bag of chips will do!

Not that there was anything wrong with the entertainment on offer, with two contrasting sides on view. Yarnton are former Hellenic Leaguers and the well-to-do village has been inhabited since Bronze Age times. They looked highly organised with no lack of trainers and looked smart in their club tracksuits. In contrast Northway’s manager did everything, and had clearly arrived straight from work.

Maybe that was why Yarnton made such as good start, they scored 3 in 25 minutes, and missed a penalty 10 minutes after that. What was noticeable was that the Northway heads didn’t drop, and the manager was positive throughout. The comeback started with Lewis Welby’s fine strike before half time, and they managed to keep the momentum going after the break.

I wondered when Yarnton would fine their feet again, but Northway kept piling on the pressure. Anthony Simpson mugged the keeper for the second and when Nick Albin nodded home from a corner there looked to be only one winner, but when a game is this good, there’s sting in the tail.

The Yarnton bench castigated striker John Webb for not tracking back, and clearly stung by the criticism, he let fly from 20 yards, and the ball fairly whistled in! Cruel on Northway, who had nothing left with which to respond. Breathless stuff on a windy night, with 2 friendly sides whose company I enjoyed. I feel a trip to Yarnton coming on!

: You can see Oxford City’s lights in the background

: The Northway bench

Water…everywhere

24 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by laurencereade in V

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

flood, lake, Marston, new, Old, Oxford, pub, Rain, river cherwell, Victoria Arms

Saturday 24th November 2012 12.00pm

We’ve had a lot of rain in the south of England these last few days, so when I went for a drive to one of my stomping grounds in north Oxford, I decided to bring by camera for the ride.

I didn’t actually reach my destination, but sometimes the journey is more interesting isn’t it? The area around the River Cherwell is notorious for flooding, it’s why during normal weather its something of a green oasis just off the centre of the city. But when there’s significant rain, well the whole look of the place changes….

The Victoria Arms sits in the middle of it all, on top of a peninsula jutting out from Old Marston. That settlement has a split personality, the old village retaining the “Olde Worlde” feel in contrast to suburban New Marston. The pub describes itself as “The Pub by the river,” but today is was more like “The Pub by the lake.” Normally you can punt from the city to here, but not today!

The pub holds a few memories, my mate Dave used to be chef here, and I took Peter and Mao from Osaka here when they visited last February. It really is a lovely quiet spot, and a darned good pub. Yes, it is still open and the road down to it from Old Marston is on high ground!

A Boult from the Blue

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Jason Hallatt, Louis McGillycuddy, Mansfield Road, Marston, Oxon Senior League, Saints, Simon Dickie, Stuart Whigham, Tom Payne

Tuesday 15th May 2012 ko 6.30pm

Oxon Senior League Premier Division

MANSFIELD ROAD 1 (McGillycuddy 64)

MARSTON SAINTS 2 (Payne 5 Hallatt 12)

Att 46 (h/c)

Played at Boults Lane, Old Marston, Oxford (Marston Saints FC)

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

If you’ve visited Oxford City FC then you’ve been within a couple of hundred yards of this place. Just opposite the main entrance to Court Place Farm is a small grassed area that used to be the home of Headley Hawks cycle speedway team. It’s now used for children’s football but beyond the hedge at the back is the sports field that is home to this small club.

If you want to drive there, it’s a good mile away, through Old Marston, a suburb of Oxford that to all intents and purposes is still a village, seemingly untouched by urbanisation. The village played an important part in the English Civil War. While the Royalist forces were besieged in the city, used by King Charles I as his capital, the Parliamentary forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax had quarters in Marston, and used the church tower as a lookout post for viewing the enemy’s artillery positions in what is now the University Parks. Oliver Cromwell visited Fairfax at what is now known as “Cromwell House” at 17 Mill Lane, and the Treaty for the Surrender of Oxford was signed there in 1646.

Boults Lane is the kind of place you wouldn’t know existed unless you’d been there. The ground is tucked away at the back of the cul-de-sac, and shares the limited space with the HQ of the 43rd Oxford Scout Troop. My last visit was over 25 years ago for a First Aid badge! The huge John Radcliffe hospital provides a striking backdrop to the whole area.

Mansfield Road have their roots as the Oxford University College Servants club. Their ground has the most wonderful 4-storey clubhouse/hotel/gym/restaurant, with a glass roof. It’s adjacent to New Collage and Balliol’s grounds, so its worth checking if there’s an Oxford University Middle Common Room game on a Saturday morning, then strolling over for the afternoon game. It’s also a complete pain to park, use the Park & Ride to St Giles. Don’t try what I did, park at the Faculty of International Relations, and when someone whinged suggest that they negotiate with me! With the Mansfield Road ground now devoted to cricket, this tie was switched, and I noted that the OSL Mitoo page managed to misspell “Boults!”

The game had something riding on it too, with Saints needing a point to avoid relegation. They made a remarkably quick start too, with two decent finishes in 12 minutes. With Manny forced into using their one substitute early, then watching centre half Simon Dickie pull his hamstring, forcing him to swap places with keeper Stuart Whigham I wondered how many Marston would get! Its didn’t happen as Marston eased off, and allowed Manny back in, and when Louis McGillycuddy’s excellent snap-shot reduced the arrears, there were palpable and completely unnecessary nerves, but Manny’s renaissance was short-lived and so Marston can breathe more easily. Mind you, this is the OSL so anything can happen at the AGM!