ANDREW AND SIMON

Andrew Reader
Friends of club vice-president and former chairman Janet Reader will have been shocked to learn of the death at the age of 41 of her youngest son Andrew, brother of John and Martin. Our condolences go to Janet, John and Martin and to Andrew’s wife Beth and children Bela and Edgar and to all members of the family on their great loss.

Simon Crowe
It is also my sad duty to record the death of club vice-president Simon Crowe. Simon, who worked in the marine industry before his retirement, had a life-long love of hockey having in his younger days played for, among other clubs, Lowestoft Town and Halifax. Following his return to Suffolk he and his wife Adele lived in Flixton where they were both churchwardens. Simon, who was softly spoken and extremely courteous and excellent company, became a keen Magpies supporter and with Adele a regular and much-appreciated attender of the club’s social events. Adele sadly died in August last year and we were very sorry to learn of Simon’s illness early this summer. We extend our condolences to Simon’s son and daughter, Aidan and Fiona, and their children on their huge loss. A Service of Thanksgiving for Simon will be held at St Mary Church, Flixton on Monday 22 December at 12 noon.

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Last Saturday saw even more matches called off than seven days earlier. Only one match, plus the Girls’ Development practice session and party, survived the frost at Weybread with the Ladies’ 3rds playing the Ladies’ 4ths in their Norfolk Premier Division clash while away from home only the Men’s 5ths saw any action when they played Norwich Exiles.

On certain days in the winter there is bound to be a degree of calculation with regard to the calling off or not of matches with the projected weather conditions in a few hours’ time and the distance to be travelled by visiting teams to be taken into account. In the event the decisions taken last Saturday at Weybread were spot-on while Cambridge City 2nds were caught out somewhat as our Men’s 1sts got to Cambridge before their game was called off.

The Ladies’ 3rds played out an enjoyable game with the Ladies’ 4ths with seasonal glitter adorning the hairstyles of all the players and as indicated by the final score of a goal apiece there was nothing to separate the teams in sharp contrast to the opening day of the season when the 3rds won 6-0. The 3rds took the lead in the first half through Catherine Kilbourn and the 4ths equalised after the break through Kathryn Bullen. It is best wishes to Sarah Legg of the 3rds who is off to Australia soon after Christmas but she assures me she will be back in time for next season! The Men’s 5ths held the experienced Norwich Exiles to a goalless first half but thereafter it was a different story with Exiles finding the net four times without reply.

Meanwhile the Ladies’ 1sts were competing in the first weekend of the national premier indoor league at Bromsgrove School and after going down 6-2 (Emma Lee-Smith 2) to Slough they got a vital 4-3 win over East Grinstead with Emma scoring a hat-trick with the other goal coming from Sarah Brook. On Sunday they did well to hold indoor experts Bowdon Hightown to 3-1 (Sarah) before losing 6-2 (Emma and Lizzie Clymer) to Canterbury. These performances give hope that the team can retain their premier league status when they resume back at Bromsgrove over the weekend of 3rd/4th January when they play Clifton, Sutton Coldfield, Reading and University of Birmingham.

Congratulations to the Men’s 1sts on retaining their East Indoor title at Oaklands College, St Albans last Sunday when in the round-robin event they beat St Albans 5-3, Old Loughtonians 6-5, West Herts 10-4 and City of Peterborough 10-5. I was not given details of the goal scorers in the phone calls I received (‘We’ve just played two games back to back Mike’ was one of the excuses) but I understand Simon Hipwell was finding the net and even skipper Leigh Sitch got a goal (he has been promising one all season) but he was outscored by Andrew Bedwell who somehow managed to go one better! Joking apart this victory was a fine achievement and stands the squad in good stead for their division one national league campaign in January at the UWE in Bristol. NB. Please see the website for the excellent tournament report.

I hope I’m not the only hockey fan who thinks the format of the Men’s Champions Trophy which concluded in India over the weekend to be quite wrong. England topped their group with excellent wins over World champions Australia and Pakistan and drew with Belgium and their ‘reward’ was a ‘quarter-final’ game against Olympic champions Germany who finished bottom of their group. This meant that after the pool games were completed all eight teams could still win the event despite how badly they might have played up to that point! Surely the top two teams in each group should have been rewarded with semi-final places? I’m not saying this because England went on to lose to Germany (who beat Pakistan in the final!) and Argentina before clinching seventh place by beating Belgium when they met for a second time. Mindful that the format was the same for all teams (and that England women had taken advantage of the same format to finish fifth in their event in Argentina a few days earlier after a bad start) I’m saying it for the integrity of the event and of our sport. I bet Andy Murray would have liked a second chance at Wimbledon a few months ago!

For ten years Diss Express photographer Mark Bullimore has been coming to Weybread and for ten years I’ve been cracking the same two ‘jokes’. ‘Is that a single use camera Mark?’ and ‘In case you don’t know Mark we play in black and white!’ To his credit Mark has taken this nonsense in the best of spirits but it will no longer be necessary following his fully deserved appointment from early January as the Eastern Daily Press and North Norfolk News photographer in North Norfolk. Over the years Mark has done much to promote the name and the achievements of the club and I am sure all members will join me in wishing him and his wife Gail and family all the very best for the future.

We should have been starting our Christmas/New Year break this coming Saturday but we have the game between the Ladies’ 2nds and league leaders Cambridge City at Weybread (12.00) to anticipate. The game was originally scheduled for last Saturday but was postponed due to City’s indoor commitments. Magpies go into the game on the back of two wins and three draws in their last six matches so it is best wishes to them for another good result. NB. Please keep an eye on the website in case of any more rearranged games yet to be finalised.

If you are free tomorrow evening (Wednesday) you might be interested in attending the Harleston Christmas Community Event at St John’s Church in the town at 6.30pm where organisations will be presenting an evening of Christmas entertainment of short plays, readings and carols. You will be very welcome.

Musings will be back in the second week of January. In the meantimeplease see the website for any important news including the indoor events taking place over the weekend of 3rd/4th January with good luck to all our teams taking part.

I hope all readers and their families will be able to have a peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year.

With kind regards
Mike Denham
[email protected]
16/12/14

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