www.stradbroke.org.uk
£1 where sold
August 2009 No.350
We are the Champions! Following a successful Village Games at Westhall, the SAS went on with renewed enthusiasm to compete in the Inter Village Games at Metfield. We had a week of pre-events which started with Clay Pigeon Shooting led by Steven Pleasance, Peter Shelford and Pete Seiles who got us off to a good start with 8pts for coming 3rd. Our star Car Treasure Hunt team from the Peter Smith family then took a nonchalant 1st for the third successive year. The “Brains Trust” with Sam Hackett, Maureen John, Trevor Loane and Annie Kerr gave us another 8pts in the quiz, missing 2nd place by 1pt. We then had another 3rd at Pool with Adeline Darling and Michael Larter putting on a stunning display in a semi final decider. Rounders followed up with a 5th place (3 places higher than last year) in which Charlotte the bowler starred. Then we had Crib and Darts on the Friday in which Trevor Loane and John Featley had to be content with 2nd place at Crib, despite winning the most games (“we wus robbed”, said John). Tony Rumsey and Ira Featley then put up a sterling performance against all male opposition to finish in 3rdplace on the ‘ockey. The Carpet Bowls team, led by David Streeter, earned 7pts from 4th place, which left the last pre-event, the Five-a-Side Junior Football. The team was led by the Preston-Bloom brothers (Matthew and Howard), together with Bradley Tennant, Soren Royds and little Mo (the smallest competitor, what he lacked in height he made up for in dynamism and aggression; a right terrier!). They were the most skilful of all the teams and just lost in the finals 2 - 1 against a much bigger Laxfield squad; nevertheless, a worthy 9pts. Going into the final day, the SAS were 11 points clear of the field with Laxfield and Badingham our main rivals. We started well, coming 1st in both the male and female cross country events, then a 1st and 2nd in the two children’s bean bag races. We were holding our lead against the very competitive Badingham and Laxfield teams and, at one stage, were 40pts clear of the field. But slowly Badingham started to claw back the points and with only two events left, 22 points in front and another 1st in our penultimate race, disaster struck! Badingham challenged our win in the wheelbarrow race on the Inside this issue: grounds that one of our team was not over 30! Unfortunately, they were right; we had made a terrible error; one of our team was a mere 21! We were disqualified, Local Churches 3 and the 10pts went to Badingham who had finished in 2nd place. It all depended on the final obstacle race. We had a 6 points margin; all we had to do was finish 5th or Parish Pump 6 better. It was a complicated race with six people in each team and every chance of making a mistake. By the 3rd leg we were in 6th place, then we were 5th on the Organisations 9 penultimate leg and then with a brilliant last leg, finished in 3rd place – we’d done it! A fantastic afternoon was had by all. So, a big Thank You to everyone who took part on the day – we had 6 x 1st, 2 x 2nd and 7 x 3rd and never finished worse than 6th. Letters to the Editor 10 The team did good! It is not possible to mention all the individual performances on the day, but every one of them truly counted and the faces in the pictures tell it all. A Forthcoming Events 17 special thanks to the supporters who came along, Skinners for sponsoring us and providing the gazebo, and all the many helpers preceding the competition for News & Views 20 delivering flyers, printing, posters etc. Last but not least, we should not forget the Rev. David Streeter, who kept the flag flying for Stradbroke during the dark years Sports Roundup 27 since we last won the competition in 1998. It spurred us on to greater things! Thank you everyone, and we look forward to a successful defence of the title next year. Gardeners Notes 31 The SAS.