Tag Archives: Wessex

Pre-dating Hardy

17 Sunday Feb 2013

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Friday 15th February 2013

Stonehenge, near Amesbury, Wilts

Entry £7.80

Maiden Castle, near Dorchester, Dorset

Free Entry

Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, Dorset

Free Entry

then, at 19.45

Wessex League Premier Division

HAMWORTHY UNITED 2 (Shovelton 26 43)

CHRISTCHURCH 3 (Cook 60 Osborne 65p Cornick 82)

Att 94

Entry & Programme £6

The roots of this lie in Hamworthy’s tenancy of the Dorset County Ground, just outside of Poole. An under-18 County Cup tie was scheduled for the Saturday, so with their fixture being a local derby, it was shunted backwards, affording me a finale to a day’s sightseeing! My friend Mike offered me a bed for the night nearby, so with a full tank of diesel, £50 in my pocket, and a headful of ideas, I had all the ingredients for a road trip!

With the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset being covered, there was no doubt I was going to be exploring Thomas Hardy country, but having visiting many of his haunts previously, I fancied something different, and dare I say, unworldly?

I don’t want to think too much how many times I’ve passed the monoliths of Stonehenge on the A303. I do wonder how many times cars have crashed, their drivers distracted by the prehistoric feat of engineering to the side of the road. Once you adhere yourself to the audio guide, you’re given still more reasons to stand and stare. The henge we see today was built 2500-1600 BC, but wooden henges existed prior to that, and the site started as an earth and ditch structure as early as 5000 BC.

The stones aren’t local, they’re bluestones up to 45 tonnes in weight transported from the Preseli Hills in South-West Wales. Let’s consider that for a moment, that’s 180 miles, with nothing more than wooden rollers, and brute human strength to transport the stones, then place them in exactly the right place to catch the sun at the solstice.

But why? The archeologists don’t think it was Druids, surprisingly. I’ve long since worked out that the best buildings tend to be religious, the glorification of a god seems to bring both the best and worst of people, but Stonehenge seems to have fulfilled a military need too. Again that’s not unusual, churches have towers so as to provide a place for a look-out and to defend the area if under attack, but the more you study, the more of a mystery the place seems to be! I do recommend the guide-book here, an absolute bargain at £5. The only quibble I can muster about the place is I could find absolutely nothing unworldly about Stonehenge. Maybe if I arrived at the solstice when the druids are chanting I would, but spirituality aside, it’s a fascinating place. Hardy clearly felt something spiritual here, as he used Stonehenge in Tess of the d’Urbervilles for the Tess’ final day of freedom, lying on the Alter Stone, with all the controversial (of the day) connotations that would produce.

From there it was an hour’s drive to Dorchester, or Casterbridge if you’re a Hardy aficionado (The Mayor of Casterbridge). I eschewed the delights of Hardy’s House, Max Gate, mainly because only a room or two is ever open, and opted for Maiden Castle, to the south of the town. It’s an Iron Age hill fort, dated around 600BC, and be warned it’s quite a hike to climb to the top, but worth the effort! It was expanded, tripling in size around 450BC making it by some definitions the largest in Europe. The views over Dorchester and the suburb of Poundbury, designed by Prince Charles are spectacular.

My last site was the smallest, but had the most varied history. The Maumbury Rings, started life as a henge, a smaller version of what I’d seen earlier. Their location, near the centre of Dorchester has meant they’ve changed use frequently over the centuries. In Roman times they were converted to an amphitheatre for the people of Durnovaria (Dorchester), before being converted once again to a fort during the English Civil War (1642-1649).

In 1685 after the Monmouth Rebellion the Rings were converted back to an amphitheatre. This time the “Entertainment” was public executions, as The Bloody Assizes saw Judge Jeffreys sentence 80 of the rebels to be executed here. Soon afterwards, in 1705 saw the odd case of Mary Channing, which Hardy based his poem The Mock Wife on.

Mary came from a well-to-do family in Dorchester, and received an education commensurate with her status. The problem was she took a liking to the male population of the town, several of them! Her despairing parents decided the best solution was to marry her off quickly so as to avoid a scandal, so Thomas Channing from nearby Maiden Newton was found, and despite neither party being at all keen they were married.

It’s fair to say the marriage wasn’t a success. With in 4 months of the nuptials, Mary bought a vial of Mercury and poisoned Thomas, him living just long enough to disinherit her. She was quickly caught, tried, and sentenced to death, the execution delayed due to her successfully pleading her belly, and the wait for her child to be born. Eventually her son arrived and soon after she was strangled then burned at the Rings.

Writing this I’m struck at the similarities between the Channing case, and that of Mary Blandy in Henley-on-Thames.

https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/memories-of-henley/

Perhaps every town has a Mary Channing or a Mary Blandy whose ghost haunts its past?

I drove east to the outskirts of Poole for the evening’s game, and the whole ambiance changed, from the historical to the modern. From the harbour, with the Sunseeker powerboats propped up for sale in dry dock, to the modern harbour bridge with its blue Krypton lights showing you the way.

The County Ground is a fine home for Hamworthy, and could easily stage games at a higher level. There’s generous cover behind one goal, but the undoubted star of the stadium is the main stand. It’s beautifully maintained, and painted in club colours. It was a pleasure to watch a game with that as a backdrop.

And what a game it was! Christchurch came into the game with a defensive injury crisis and it showed as Hamworthy raced into a 2 goal lead at the break with Joseph Shovelton applying the coup de grace on both occasions. But if you can’t defend then you may as well attack, and Christchurch did exactly that in the second half.

AFC Bournemouth have just signed teenage winger Harry Cornick, but loaned him back to Christchurch for the rest of the season, and he tormented the defence. His cross found Russell Cook for the first and he was fouled for Ben Osborne’s penalty. His reward was a goal, showing composure to slide the ball home from an angle.

It was an entertaining coda to a busy day, even if I’d found nothing that was remotely unworldly today. With a busy itinery for Saturday though, there was still opportunity.

Not them…THEM!!!

25 Sunday Mar 2012

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Thursday 22nd March 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

BOURNEMOUTH FC 1 (Ewen 90p)

TOTTON & ELING 0

Att 72

Entry & Programme £6

I wonder why Bournemouth don’t rename themselves Bournemouth Poppies. They must have heartily sick of being mistaken for AFC Bournemouth, who after all used to be Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. Still the Poppies plough their furrow on the Poole side of the Dorset Town, which according to a a 2007 survey by First Direct was found to be the happiest place in the UK, with 82% of people questioned saying they were happy with their lives. The comedian and actor Tony Hancock lived in the Winton area of Bournemouth for much of his early life.

Victoria Park, retains the feel of a public park, despite hosting Step 5 football. There’s no turnstile or pay box, the entrance fee is collected in the bar, where the excellent programme is sold. The stand is worthy of note, being a part of a single building encompassing the changing rooms, and bar area. Its highly unusual and works well, with the bench seating affording a good view of the action.

Except on this occasion we didn’t get much! The reason for the Thursday fixture was good old fashioned end-of-season congestion, caused by the Poppies’ FA Vase exploits. In a poor game both sides were thankful to their goalkeepers in the first half as Poppies stopper Kenny Vaughan made three saves, while his opposite number Steve Mowthorpe clawed debutant Sean Leadbetter’s header out of the bottom corner. Phil Ward kept out another Leadbetter effort with a goal-line clearance before half time.

In the second half, Mowthorpe’s brillance was all that kept the Poppies at bay. He produced two first class saves, the second, from Dave Ewen, was worthy for a far higher level.  Luke Ingram was denied a Poppies penalty seven minutes from time but when the hosts were handed a late spot kick for the weakest of challenges, Ewen made no mistake to seal the points. That was harsh on the visitors, and especially on young Mowthorpe who deserved a clean sheet. Seconds later, it was full time, and one of the linesmen had to intervene as one of the Totton & Eling coaching staff took exception to a comment from the stand and decided to negotiate the point by physical means. He was led away before anything untoward happened.

 

Buster Gut

08 Thursday Mar 2012

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Wednesday 7th March 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Division One

VERWOOD TOWN 2 (Satterley 52 Lloyd 84og)

BROCKENHURST 1 (Lloyd 72)

Att 118

Entry £5

Programme £1

Verwood is the first town you reach after crossing west from Hampshire into Dorset. The name derives from Fair wood, and the arboral feel still exists today, both in the town, and Potterne Park where its football team plays. The town seems to be very good at producing actors, as Lionel Jeffries, Jessie Matthews and more latterly Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert in “Only Fools and Horses”) all hailed from here. Former King Crimson vocalist Gordon Haskell is also from here. The Monmouth Ash pub is reputed to mark the spot at which the Duke of Monmouth hid from his pursuers in a tree after his ill-fated rebellion in 1683. It didn’t work well, as he was beheaded in 1685!

Potterne Park is a country park on the southern edge of the town, and since other than the walking areas, there’s also space for cricket and a BMX/Skateboard track, the place can be difficult to find. It didn’t help that I was running late due to hold-ups leaving Banbury, and it is on the outer limits of what I can get to from a 5pm start. I reached the ground about 10 minutes before kickoff after pushing myself and the car a little too much!  I was fortunate that Mike Woodward was there to buy me a programme and confirm that the club had posted the lineups on a whiteboard. Many thanks Mike!

With the club top of the league frantic efforts are being made to get the ground up to Premier Division standards. The footings for a Paybox are in place and a new fence will go up behind the far goal, the only inaccessible side of the pitch. The 4 “Arena” stands are in place, two with seats, two without. For the football ground purist that’s what’s wrong with the place. The club has only been in the Wessex League since 2004, when the league absorbed the Hampshire League, and so the ground has had to keep pace with grading requirements since then, and from being little more than a pitch and a set of changing rooms. There’s simply been no time to create “Character.”

What is beyond reproach is the team. A point clear of Team Solent and with two games in hand before this, they looked a fine outfit against another good team as Brockenhurst are fourth. The best description of the match I can give is that for a large percentage of it I thought I was watching an Premier Division game, as the teams maintained a breakneck pace, while maintaining a decent passing game.

It took time for the first goal, Jack Satterley being put clean through to fire home. There was an element of controversy about the equaliser. A corner was played in from the left, and headed back from the far post for centre-half Ross Lloyd to nod home at the near. The Verwood players thought the ball had been headed back from beyond the goal-line, but from where I was stood behind the goal, it looked fairly clearly in. In the final analysis it didn’t matter as Lloyd was to score against rising beautifully again, but this time to inexplicably to head past his own keeper following a cross from the right. He will no doubt blame his defensive colleagues for not shouting that he was under no pressure, and it was notable that no-one commiserated with him afterwards.

Rough on him and rough on Brockenhurst whose performance looked worthy of at least a point. I drove home considerably slower than I did a couple of hours earlier!

The Amiable Side of the Avon

19 Thursday Jan 2012

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Wednesday 18th January 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Division One

AMESBURY TOWN 2 (Brockway 74 Jones 83)

BROCKENHURST 2 (Morse 23 Barker 56)

Att 63

Entry & Programme £5

Tea 70p

The Wiltshire town is of course most famous for Stonehenge, the prehistoric landmark that lies within the parish around 2 miles from the town centre. I of course managed to drive in and out of Amesbury without seeing it!

There’s so much to like about the Bonneymead Ground. It’s set on common land close to the River Avon, which makes it rather prone to waterlogging. If quirks make a football then Bonnymead is up there with the best of them. There’s the clubhouse and verandah with the comfy chairs. Add to that, the signpost showing the right of way across the ground, and the temporary fence due to the dual use with cricket, and you get my drift.

The welcome was fulsome too, with the offer of the lineups much appreciated, as well as the offer of 3 old programmes. A polypin of Stonehenge bitter at the bar was popular too! Yes, folks I actually felt well-disposed to a team from Wiltshire!

That sentiment looked to be completely wasted for the first three-quarters of the game, as even the Amesbury committee admitted that Brockenhurst were well worthy of their 2 goal lead. Richard Morse found himself on the end of a curling free kick to open the scoring and a counterattack after the break put Mark Barker through to double the lead. It looked game over at that point, and to be honest, I don’t know quite how Amesbury hauled themselves back into contention. Was it Brockenhurst trying to sit on a lead or was it the inspired introduction of Toni Camilleri? We’ll never know, but within a minute of his introduction, he found Nathan Jones, whose cross from the left, positively invited Tyler Broadway to score. The 17-year-old made no mistake. On 82 minutes Amesbury completed an unlikely comeback when Gareth Horner’s free kick, found substitute Darren Crook. He dummied his header leaving the ball to run through to Jones who rammed the ball home to equalise. Amesbury nearly completed a remarkable victory when the suddenly omnipresent Jones fired in a free kick that Darren Crook got his head to, but Brockenhurst keeper Callum Maher was able to make a good save to maintain parity.

A point that Amesbury barely deserved on the balance of play, but it was hard to begrudge them a point when the whole evening was so enjoyable.

Any Port In A Freeze

19 Thursday Jan 2012

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Tuesday 17th January 2012 ko 7.45

Wessex League Division One

AFC PORTCHESTER 5 (Woods 30 38 61 Pottage 70p Boam 89)

UNITED SERVICES PORTSMOUTH 0 Cook sent off 90 (foul & abusive language)

Att 92

Entry £4

Programme £1

To clock up a serious number of grounds its important for a hopper to have a circle of support. This evening’s game was a case in point. The original idea was to leave work in Banbury at 5 and head north to Stafford Town FC. Stafford resident Chris Bedford sent me a text telling me firstly that it was -5C and later that the game was off. A phone call from Fareham based Splodge told me to head to Portchester, ” Don’t worry, they’re the other side of the creek, it’ll be on!” He was right, on a night when many games were postponed and others abandoned, including poor Splodge’s at Oxford City.

Portchester is a suburb of Fareham, about 6 miles from Portsmouth. Visible from the Wicor Recreation Ground are the Spinnaker Tower and Portchester Castle, a fine example of a Roman Fort, now enclosed by a Norman Keep. The name Portchester is of partly Roman origin, from Latin portus (a harbour) and Old English ceaster (Roman town or castle).

There’s enough about the ground to keep the hopper happy, with a the quirky signpost, and the clubhouse sporting a pool table in club colours. They’re a friendly bunch too, showing me where the teamsheets are pinned up. It gave the impression of a club going places. That impression was confirmed as soon as the game kicked off.

It wasn’t that US Portsmouth were bad, its just that Portchester were irresistable. Tormentor-in-chief was Simon Woods whose superbly taken hat trick won the game at a canter against a team who’s major flaw was a poor offside trap. Kev Pottage scored a penalty after being tripped by Bob Booker right on the edge of the box. The coup-de-grace was Blu Boam’s winner, deftly measured shot from 18 yards, with just enough elevation to clear the keeper.

As if to add insult to injury there was a red card to follow although it was completely self inflicted. Substitute Jamie Cook went in studs up, and was called over to be booked, but instead decided to call referee Steve Wade a “F*****g idiot” A quick change of cards and off he went, repeating the insult two more times!!!

It was a disappointing end to a highly entertaining game, on a night when just a few hours earlier I fully expected to be glumly sat at home watching a televised game. As it was I got a game, and some excellent news on the Welsh hop-up.

Test Match

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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Friday 13th January 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Division One

TEAM SOLENT 3 (Kinge 20 Churms 30 Edwards 74) Edwards missed penalty 74

PETERSFIELD TOWN 1 (Coker 70)

Att 148

Entry & Programme £4

Tea 50p

Pot Noodle £1.50

Test Park, is the Sports Ground of Southampton Solent University, and is to be found on Lower Brownhill Lane, just off Junction 1 of the M271. It’s a modern set-up with some real quirks. The car park is small and the lane narrow, so its well worth arriving early to get a parking spot. There doesn’t appear to be good public transport links either. The team are attached to the University, and seem to attract players doing courses after being released by other football clubs.

The facilities have the feel of a leisure centre, rather than a Step 6 football team. You buy your match ticket at reception, and there’s a large lounge area. Its got ESPN tv, but the bar facilities haven’t been installed yet, so there’s a hot water urn, and sweets for sale. It does the job for now. The ground reflects the fact that its Team Solent’s first season in the Wessex League. The rails and floodlights are in place, as is the turnstile block, but the “Meccano” stand won’t arrive for another few weeks. The ground will have been massively improved, fulfil all ground grading issues, but be almost totally lacking in character. That, I suppose will come with age.

Another improvement with time will be how the club copes with 1. a crowd, and 2. the needs of groundhoppers. The procedure of selling tickets at reception at least meant the queue at the turnstile moved slightly quicker, but the real issue was that each ticket issued was having “Adult” and a message allowing free entry to their next home game written on the back of it. It may work when the attendance is 40 or so, on this occasion it produced a massive queue that meant many missed kick-off. I ended up getting the teamsheets photocopied, and the manager admitted that a lot of hoppers had asked for the lineups, and he’d told them to look in the programme. I’ve long since known that clubs don’t understand hoppers, and vice-versa! Mind you the club took heed of the number of phone-calls they’d received, and printed 150 programmes; I would imagine that’s around 6 times more than the normal print run!

One area thought the club has got right though is the playing side. On a bitterly cold evening they had far too much for their visitors. They raced into a two goal lead, before being pegged back before half time. They continued to dominate in the second period, and the winner came when Declan Edwards’ penalty was well saved by John Burnett but the rebound fell kindly to Edwards and he was able to tap home.

Correctly Team Solent are planing for Wessex Premier football. Whilst the hopper-fest tested them closely, they’ll have learned from the experience and I expect they’ll be far better able to cope next time they get a big crowd.

Dog of Five Head

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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Tuesday 10th January 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

HORNDEAN 0

WINCHESTER CITY 1 (Mills 89p) White missed penalty 56

Att 70

Entry £5

Programme FREE

Tea £1

Bacon Cheeseburger £2

Horndean is a small village around 8 miles north of Portsmouth. Its claim to fame is it’s where Gales Ales used to be produced, before the brewery was bought by Fullers and closed.

5 Heads Park is to be found the north of the village, a nearby pub, The Colonial, is the site of the village’s long since closed workhouse. On entering the ground I immediately felt a sense of Oxford United’s former home, The Manor Ground, the pitch slopes in exactly the same way, from bottom left to top right! I was given a programme, or rather a shell, for free as the match inserts hadn’t turned up. A few days later, I’m now in possession of the missing insert, Continue reading →

Leylandii

13 Tuesday Dec 2011

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Monday 12th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

BEMERTON HEATH HARLEQUINS 1 (Sanger 65)

GE HAMBLE 0

Att 29 (h/c)

 

Entry £6

Programme £1

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

Cheeseburger £2.50

 

Bemerton Heath is a housing estate in the north-western suburbs of Salisbury. I’d like to tell you something interesting about the place, but I can’t because I can’t find anything remotely interesting about it! That’s no criticism, as the club are a wonderful group of people, at an interesting ground.

I drove down to the Westwood Recreation Ground straight from work, and by the time I’d passed the Laverstock turn the weather was positively apocalyptic with a howling gale and the rain lashing down. I parked up and dashed into the large clubhouse. The GE Hamble committee seemed to be waiting, not for me, but for a decision. It became clear that although the pitch was perfectly playable the Bemerton management and both managers didn’t want to play. The final decision was left as late as possible to the extent that the turnstiles did not open until one minute to kick off! Continue reading →

First Impressions

08 Thursday Dec 2011

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Tuesday 6th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Cup 3rd Round

ALTON TOWN 2 (Brown 34 Dyer 77)

MONEYFIELDS 4 (Slater 11 Hore 25 39 Asajelic 74)

Att 70 (h/c)

Entry £6

Programme NO (2 old copies FREE)

Tea 50p

Hot Dog £1.50

The Hampshire town of Alton, other than being a northern outpost of the Wessex League is probably most famous for being where the term “Sweet Fanny Adams” was coined. In  1867, an eight-year old girl, Fanny Adams, was murdered. Her assailant, Frederick Baker, was executed in Winchester and one of the original public notices advertising his forthcoming execution hangs in the Crown Public House in the town. The murder, so the story goes, coincided with the introduction of tinned meat in the Royal Navy, and the sailors who did not like the new food said the tins contained the remains of “Sweet Fanny Adams” or “Sweet F A”, hence the expression which for over a century has meant “Sweet nothing.” My first impressions of the local team were not far removed from that! Continue reading →

Perspectives

01 Thursday Dec 2011

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Tuesday 29th November 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

LAVERSTOCK & FORD 1 (Wykes 58)

WINCHESTER CITY 4 (Smeeton 54 Allen 74 81 Dunford 82)

Att c50

Entry £5

Programme £1

The small town of Laverstock lies on the River Bourne, a mile opposite the city of Salisbury. Although it predates it more famous neighbour, its clear that the city has completely dwarfed this rural settlement.

The Dell lies in Church Road, and reveals both the club’s ambitions and limitations. Its at one corner of a large area of common land, and as late as 2004 the club were playing in the Hampshire League, on a roped off pitch. The pitch has now been rotated through 90 degrees leaving a large net previously behind a goal rather redundant. A homeowner behind has hung bird-feeders on it! The club are rather proud of what they’ve done to the ground, with the lights, 100-plus seats, and hard standing on all 4 sides. The two quirky bits are the fact that the seats are via two prefabricated stands set across one corner, and the burger bar, built as a block with the dugouts at the half way line. Neither are ideal but still do their respective jobs. The club are pleased to have made it this far, and maintained their status. Continue reading →