Tag Archives: writing

The Bride

11 Sunday Oct 2026

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Saturday 29th August 2026 ko 17:00

West Lancashire League Division 2

GALGATE 2 (Moore 45+2 McKeeking 78)

Lewis sent off 62 (DOGSO)

APPLEY BRIDGE 3 (Ray 11 Atkins 64 90+2)

Att 268

Entry & Programme £5

From Storeys to the village of Galgate the heavens opened. I smiled at two ironies, the firest was that the rain would help the rhubarb that grows prolifically here, and was once reckoned to havge been used to dye the silk that once was spun here. The second was that since we were sat in a traffic jam, I knew the hop was causing it, and so the weather wasn’t putting people off.

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At The Heart

06 Tuesday Oct 2026

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Saturday 29th August 2026 ko 11:00

West Lancashire League Division Two

CATON UNITED 1 (Curwen 69)

LANGHO 5 (Clarke 7 McLoughlin 56 Darcy 57 Cumpstey 73 Phelps 90+3)

Att 241

Entry £5

Programme £2

Saturday on the West Lancs Hop was unquestionably Lancaster day, even if the pedants like me would point out that the village of Caton does lie a few miles outside! It is a pretty place, and we did get to see more of it than normal as car parking at the Caton Sports Field is limited, so an overspill car park was organised a 5 minute walk away. It did serve to burn off some off my hotel breakfast!

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Fazeley

03 Thursday Sep 2026

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Saturday 25th July 2026 ko 14:30

United Counties League Premier South

COTON GREEN 3 (Evans 24 Letford 35 80)

O’Connor sent off 66 (2nd booking)

DAVENTRY TOWN 1 (Jackson 57)

Att 333

Entry £8

Programme £2

There were a few issues with this season’s UCL Hop. The main one was administrative, we had the coach and accomodation ready to go, but FA allocations, and appeals to those allocations made getting the fixtures for the event late- very late to be truthful. On a personal level I knew it would add up to an all-revisit weekend, I completed the league last season. You can still find plenty to enjoy over and above the social side of things, some of the grounds we visited I hadn’t visited in years and have changed quite a bit, and Coton Green was a case in point.

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Isn’t it Iconic, Doncha Think?

02 Thursday Jul 2026

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Sunday 5th April 2026 ko 14:30

Northern League Division One

CROOK TOWN 1 (Rose 41)

SHILDON 2 (Posthill 35p Darville 50og)

Att 717

Entry £7

Programme £2

In groundhopping terms there are grounds, and then there are grounds that you drop everything for. As I’m sure dear reader you are aware there are no end of arguments to be had over all kinds of facilities, but if you walk into the Millfield and don’t immediately fall in love with the place, then I wonder why you started groundhopping?

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Persistence

30 Monday Mar 2026

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Wednesday 31st December 2025 ko 12:30

Cymru North

PENRHYNCOCH 1 (Owen 86)

RUTHIN TOWN 1 (Holland 24)

Att 140 at Cae Baker, Penrhyn-coch

Entry £7

Programme online/downloadable

For those of you that ask, yes I do question my sanity, and driving as I was, on New Year’s Eve through Snowdonia with the temperature dropping alarmingly as I climbed the mountains. It got to point where I drove through Troedyrallt and so white was the scene outside that I couldn’t imagine that the game was still on. But I was committed, 3 hours in to my drive from Oxford, with no alternate game to divert to.

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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

29 Sunday Mar 2026

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Saturday 27th December 2025 ko 14:00

Somerset County League

WATCHET TOWN 0

STAPLEGROVE 2 (Hibbert 86 Bidgeway 90+6)

Att 65

Free Entry

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed

The light-house top I see?

Is this the hill? is this the kirk?

Is this mine own countree?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797)

As is normal for Robyn and I, we split our time over Christmas between family in Oxford then family in Bristol, so that those days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve tend to be spent in Knowle West. Or putting it another way, I do tend to see quite a lot of the Somerset County League at this time of year, and Watchet Town had been on my to-do list for quite a while.

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The RAF

02 Friday Jan 2026

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Saturday 20th September 2025 ko 14:00

Witney & District League Premier Division

RAF BRIZE NORTON 1 (Castle 41)

Henderson sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Fletcher sent off 90 (violent conduct)

CHARLBURY TOWN 2 (McCallum 32 Eley 87)

Hornblow sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 15 at Belfast Square, RAF Brize Norton

Free Entry

I must admit, I do like a military game, and particular one actually behind the security barrier at a base. That fact indirectly led to two games behind security on GroundhopUK events, at RAF Benson and DA Watchfield. I’ve also seen games at MOD Lyneham and at RAF Brize Norton under my own steam so you may wonder why I wanted to head back to the base at Brize?

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If You Must Make a Noise, Do It Quietly

18 Tuesday Nov 2025

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Saturday 23rd August 2025 ko 17:00

West Lancashire League Division One

ULVERSTON RANGERS 2 (Harrison 23 Lawlor 63)

SLYNE WITH HEST 1 (Hollings 7)

Att 307

Entry £3

Programme £2

If there was one place on the West Lancs Hop I could anticipate is was Ulverston. Other than being where Glaxo SmithKline is based in the UK, Ulverston Rangers play at the Glaxo Sports & Social Club, its also the birthplace of Stan Laurel.

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Furness

09 Sunday Nov 2025

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Saturday 23rd August 2025 k0 11:00

West Lancashire League Division

ASKAM UNITED 0

CROOKLANDS CASUALS 1 (Armstrong 19)

Att 374

Entry £3

Programme £2

With my duties for the West Lancs Hop mainly adding up to driving I felt the sense of anticipation keenly. Craig, Robyn and I formed the GroundhopUK advance party ferrying boxes of programme packs for those ticket holder who’d opted to miss the Wren Rovers game but also to offer help where needed. Truthfully, I don’t remember anywhere that needed our help. Glorious redundancy is a good thing sometimes!

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Sportland

02 Tuesday Sep 2025

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Wednesday 11th June 2025 ko 18:00

Estonian “Tipner” Cup Round of 64

JK TALLINNA KALEV u21 6 (Lasn 28 Väjlas 60 Kirss 69 Oja 78 Tammepöld 80 81)

RL VANA HEA PUUR 0

Att 27 at Sportland Arena, Lilleküla Football Complex, Tallinn

Free Entry

We’d made good use of the Ühiskaart public transport cards. A combination of tram and bus had taken us roughly 6km north of Tallinn centre to the TV Tower in the village of Pirita. It was a fascinating place, built in 1980 to relay footage of the sailing competition of the Moscow Olympics based nearby!

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