Well I’m not going back very far for this one, only Saturday and the Cumbria County Championship game with Durham at Aspatria.
With regular commitments covering Workington Reds my trips to watch other sports have been much curtailed, and I have especially enjoyed visits to Bower Park in the past.
Which is why it was good to see so many old friends and acquaintances in the flesh as it were instead on the end of the phone.
County stalwart John Patterson kindly ferried me through and we were met on the car park by Mike ‘Chubby’ Graham and Jeff Toogood, two old friends.
Mike, I see regularly at Reds home games, and both he and Jeff are heavily involved in the modern phenomena Park Runs. Aspatria’s has gone particularly well and I gather it won’t be long before they reach the magic 100 figure.
Mel Hanley had long been an excellent contact at the Aspatria club and it wasn’t long before he was inviting me over to the buffet and I didn’t disappoint him.
Eating at the same time was John Owen from Shap, a former RFU President although our conversation was dominated by the problems caused by an aging prostate rather than what we had in store for Durham later!
It was very good to be introduced to Upper Eden’s very proud chairman Neil Marston for the first time. We’ve been in touch a lot over the past season but never had the chance for a face-to-face.
The same applies to Mike Sanderson from Penrith who is another excellent writer on the game whose reports now go out on Cumbria Crack.
Also in attendance, I’m pleased to say, was former international bowler John Bell who played for Wigton rugby union club in his younger days.
We had worked together at a sportsman’s dinner in the Twa Dogs, Keswick many moons ago when it looked as though nobody was going to turn up. All of a sudden the place was full and we had to shake off the effects of pre-show drinks to get started. Great days.
I recorded a pre-match interview for Radio Cumbria with backs coach James Gough. I was meeting him for the first time but his father used to send Kendal RU pictures to me when I first started a sports website 20 odd years ago.
I watched the first half with Reds secretary Alec Graham, who also likes his rugby, but before the break I wandered behind the try-line to check with David Nattrass on the first try scorer. ‘Natty’ is a very good photographer, who does great work for the Penrith club and has sent me his pictures to use in various publications for many years.
It was a memorable first half for Cumbria as they were on course for the win and four tries they needed with a 21-12 lead. Downside was Durham had scored two tries and two more would eliminate Cumbria even if they did go on to win the game.
At half-time I recorded a piece for Radio Cumbria and decided to watch the second half from behind the sticks at the clubhouse end.
That gave me a chance for a crack with Tommy Borthwick, former Cumbria and Aspatria coach, now doing a good job in the north-east with Alnwick.
Barney Clegg, who provides Aspatria match reports was also at the same vantage point and he introduced me to his son Jack, who has also helped out with reports when his father has been unavailable.
The match looked to be slipping from Cumbria’s grasp as they went 26-24 behind, and effectively it was all over as Durham had their four tries. But it was encouraging to see Cumbria finish the game on top and win it with a penalty and converted try, all by Upper Eden’s Oliver Bennett.
No progress in the competition but great satisfaction in the win and the performance, particularly by the teenagers in the Cumbria squad which was reflected in the after-match interview by head coach Dan Bowman.
It was nice then, job done for the day, to unwind and chat with an old friend, former county captain Mark Richardson who enjoyed his finest moment in a Cumbria shirt at Twickenham.
Then at the end of the bar I spotted a familiar face, ex Cumbria and England Colts scrum-half George Doggart, who had jetted in from Sweden to attend a very special function at Bower Park.
I’d known George back then as a talented sportsman, fit as a butcher’s dog, and he actually played a few games for our Cumberland Star football team. But rugby union was his real calling and he’s gone on to have a great career, not only over here but in his adopted Sweden where he was national coach for a short while.
It is 40 years ago since Cumbria Colts won the County Championship final at Carlisle against Cornwall. No county caps had been ever handed out so George had decided that to mark the occasion there should be caps and 18 members of the squad were there to talk over those days and receive their caps.
One was Neil Rooney, a member of a great rugby playing family. His dad Arthur and son Daniel, like Neil, all turned pro with Workington Town. We had quite a bit to catch up on.
Mike Scott, current Aspatria coach was there, too, but I didn’t recognise him at first in his cap and shades. It took me quite a while to explain why I was at Bower Park and not Brunton Park?
Then it suddenly dawned on me that my notebook and programme were missing. I thought they could only have been left over by the grandstand where I interviewed Dan Bowman.
Outside, walking round behind the sticks, I was waylaid by a former Reds player Alan Stewart and had to stop for a catch-up. In the meantime a young lady, Mary, who was on the next seat heard of my plight regarding the notebook/programme and offered to save my aging legs and go round to look.
Although she did a detour into the tunnel she eventually found the missing items and returned in triumph. I was so pleased I left a glass of Prosecco behind the bar for her when I eventually left.
When I arrived back into the clubhous e the after-match speeches had started which was followed by a very special presentation to Cumbria’s legendary skipman Billy Maxwell, who is retiring after many years of service to the county. A man as indispensable as you’re likely to get.
Chairman of Club Cumbria Kevin O’Neill was among those who praised Billy’s efforts along with John Owen, Neil Marston and Dan Bowman.
Kevin (Loppy) is a former team-mate at cricket when we both played for British Steel. I was captain of the second team at the time and I always wanted him to play more often because he really had a talent as a quick bowler. I was also wicket keeper and I knew how hard his deliveries thumped into my gloves.
Whenever I see him – as I did on Saturday – I ask if he can give me two overs from the top end! It always ends in a smile and a chuckle, and you know all these years on, I honestly believe Loppy didn’t realise how good he could have been.
After numerous handshakes and goodbyes it was time to return home with Patty after a really memorable return visit to Aspatria’s Bower Park.
