Long trek for owner Dave

We all tend to think that owning a race-horse must be great fun but it also has its moments, as Spittal’s David Hughes discovered recently when he set out for Wincanton to cheer on his talented racehorse Hold ‘Em on his debut over fences.
Now such trips are usually good fun because Davis makes sure that guests have a cracking day out, especially when they face a 600 mile round trip, but this one was made even longer since Mr H took a wrong turning on the motorway and finished up in Nottingham!
A quick call home to his pal Rob Summons at the Bridge Meadow Stadium was followed by very little sympathy and guffaws of laughter from the Haverfordwest County chairman, who told his friend David to turn right and it was downhill all the way from there.
And do you know, Rob was basically right because David managed to arrive at Wincanton racetrack in time to see his horse win at a good price of 7 to 1 – although there is a rumour that the Bluebirds’ boys are saving up to buy him a SatNav or TomTom for Christmas so he can follow the gee-gees on time in 2009!

Great idea from Bluebirds’ supporters

Staying with Haverfordwest County for a moment longer, the club’s supporters’ association have done a great job recently by introducing a number of former great players to the crowds before matches. These have included several members of the 1961 side like George Brain, Cliff Pawlett, Mostyn Rowlands, Ronnie Davies and, more recently, Dai Landry, who wrote a lovely letter to organiser Eddie Bunston to say thank you.
He was rightly glowing in his praise of the hard work undertaken by Eddie, Kevin Bryce and Co and after having a half time mini-kick around with more recent ‘legends’ like Nigel Stephenson, Hughie Knight and Mickie George, where the crowd really showed its appreciation of their endeavours for the Bluebirds. Dai wrote,
“I write to thank you for your invitation and the warmth of your welcome. …
Best wishes to you all at the New Bridge Meadow. You should all be proud of such fine stadium.”
His letter obviously came from the heart and isn’t it nice to see a club remembering their former players in such a smashing way?

‘Five P’ Benji

Rob Benjamin does a great job as Hon Secretary at Whitland Rugby Club but it seems he might also be considered as a future Hon Treasurer, based on the following little story.
Popularly known as ‘Benji’, he was in the Station House Hotel having a quiet pint with a pal when the round came to £5 and 5p and so rather than coughing up two £5 notes he asked some other pals in the club if they could donate five pence to the ‘Help Benji’ fund so that he could keep another note in his wallet.
I understand that he received a little ‘gentle stick’ from his mates about coughing up his own cash but I thought it was a sensible thing to do and on my next visit to Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn, where I sit next to the irrepressible Mr Benjamin I shall certainly donated a five pence coin to the fund for future visits to the Station House!

Top after shave for over 45s

There was also a great deal of laughter amongst the Pembrokeshire Over 45s football team on a recent visit to play Splott, in Cardiff. The old-timers, organised as usual by Bob Nelson, thoroughly enjoyed their match and looked forward to their deserved shower afterwards.
It was when they started dressing that guffaws broke out when it was noticed that star full back Gary Stephens, easily the oldest ‘old-timer’ in the side, was using some aftershave that was akin to ‘Hai Karate’ and ‘Blue Stratos’ from the 1960’s – and players like Micky Algieri, Steve James and Bernie Armstrong almost collapsed when a wag asked Gary which Christmas he had received the aftershave as a present!
All’s well that ends well, however, because Gary can take a leg-pull and definitely smelt better than some of the squad who wouldn’t even know what aftershave is. Next time you bump into Gary just lean in a little to him when he’s talking – and if you are lucky you might just get a slight whiff of his vintage aftershave lotion!

Poser for anoraks

For those sad people out there who love anorak sporting questions, here’s a nice one for you supplied by Derek Collings, of Haverfordwest Cricket Club:
“There are only seven rugby players who have represented the British Lions in ten or more test matches. Name them.”