Hull Wasps V Middlesbrough Lions – National League Basketball Shield – Bonus Arena, Hull - Sunday 23 October 2011

I don’t do American sports.  I don’t like their stop start nature; the way their games are broken up by time outs and other stoppages for advertisement breaks.  I don’t like the idea that the match takes at least twice as long to play as the actual match duration; no thanks to the bucket of coke and the chilli dogs in the interminable breaks.  I don’t like the way all their sports seem to require match day squads 2 or 3 times the size of the actual outfield team; why simplify a game to such an extent that you have a player whose sole job is to punt a ball downfield.  I don’t like the way the call their finals the World Championship even though only they play them and why do they play quarters when the rest of the world play halves?

Well that is not strictly true.  In the 1980’s I did flirt with NFL (American Football) for a few years when it was on Channel 4.  Channel 4 was new with fresh ideas on sports coverage before Sky came on the scene and their coverage was fronted by the excellent Gary Imlach.  Yes there were a few blurry eyed Mondays following through the night Super Bowl coverage.  It also seemed to be a golden period for the sport with Joe Montana, Joe Theismann and Marcus Allen sticking in my memory.  Gradually my interest waned for the reasons in the first paragraph.  I have never had any real interest in baseball (rounders for grown men), basketball (a less violent form of netball played by very tall men) or icehockey (padded up field hockey for those too lazy to run).

As part of my continuing mission to find new experiences I decided it was time to try going to a basketball but not the NBA but Hull Wasps in the National League Shield.   Tonight they are playing Middlesbrough Lions.  Lions?  I’ve seen wasps in Hull but Lions in Middlesbrough, they are having a laugh there!

The Wasps play at the Bonus Arena which is part of the KC Stadium development.  For those that don’t know the history, Hull Corporation was granted a licence to operate a telephone service 1902 and this operated in isolation from the Post Office and then later British Telecom.  In 1999 the telephone business was floated and Hull City Council invested a portion of the proceeds in developing the KC Stadium as a home for Hull City and Hull FC.

Admission is cheap - £4 for adults and £3 for children and £1 for the ‘programme’ - pay on the door.  For some reason I am given a children’s ticket, I know I am immature but…  Time to find a seat on the mobile stand among with all the children and a few yummy mummies.

The squads for the evening were…

Hull Wasps	Middlesbrough Lions
Miles Anderson	Brenden Brown
Robert Birchmore	James Thompson
Adrian Blatherwick	Ben Thompson
Liam Lacy	Patrick O’Connor
Chris Cummings	Dan Armory
Matthew Fawcett	Jon Shaw
Andy Marr	Richy Summerbell
Jason Munro	Tom Robinson
Miles Baldwin	Craig Mathema
Sean Johnstone	Thomson Chumara
James Rayner	Papis Samb
Mike Likupe	Mike Konanec
James Brough
Matthew Brutnell
John Bignell
Simon Coker

When they came to warm up I got a surprise.  The NBA seems to be packed with unfeasibly tall, lithe black men.  These men were not that much taller than me; almost as fat as me and about as athletic as me.  We were in for a rare treat tonight!

The quarter by quarter scores were:

Quarter	Hull	Middlesbrough
1	15	17
2	27	36
3	52	51
4	75	66

To be honest I enjoyed the experience much more than I expected.  What they missed out for with talent they made up for with effort.  It was literally end to end stuff, but I guess most basketball games are like that!  They missed much more than the professionals and it was hardly a high scoring match but it was close and competitive and for me that is part of why we watch sport.   Yes we can marvel at Barcelona passing the ball around with ease and scoring almost at will but we wouldn’t want every game to be like an exhibition would we?  Hull even played to the final buzzer rather than run the clock down which was either very sporting of a bit daft.

Just don’t ask me what was happening because I didn’t have a Scooby.  The officials whatever they are called (Umpires? Referees?) made flamboyant hand signals some of which are noted in the programme but none of it made much sense to me.  I did figure out that you cannot barge an opponent to floor but was about it.  I can remember watch a former girlfriend play netball and that in comparison is much more violent.

Refreshment time!  It is time for me to head back into the old town for a beverage or two.  First stop is at the Admiral of the Humber a Wetherspoons pub.  Wetherspoons pubs can get a bit of a knocking from people and are the butt of chav jokes.  Yes they can be a bit of a zoo at busy times, but on a quiet Sunday night they are a good place to get a decent pint at a reasonable price.  I get chatting to some blokes, one of whom is referred to as ‘The Russian’.  He points out that he is from Georgia not Russia – so we end up chatting about Georgi Kinkladze playing for Manchester City and Temuri Ketsbaia playing for Newcastle United and kicking the shit out of an advertising hoarding once after he scored.  From there it was to Walters for some more albeit more expensive real ale.  Good job there is no work tomorrow!

The beer!

Admiral of the Humber         Butcombe Rare Breed, Wells Naked Gold

Walters                              Camerons Strong Arm, Saltaire Cascadian Black,  Rudgate Well   Blathere

Links

Hull Wasps                                   http://hullwasps.webnode.com/

Bonus Arena                                 http://www.kcstadium.co.uk/arena/facilities

The Admiral of the Humber             http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-admiral-of-the-humber

Catterick Bridge Races – Sunday 1st January 2012

Ah a new year full of promises of new experiences.   For most people New Year’s Day starts rather late and is accompanied with a banging hangover where every sound grates like in the old Alka Seltzer advertisement.  No ‘plink, plink, fizz’ for me though as I spring out of bed bright-eyed and bushy tailed.  Well no not quite.  For me New Year’s Eve was quiet, I stayed in to ensure that I was in a fit state to drive in the following morning.  So at 9.30 I was in the car heading off to North East Lincolnshire to pick up my friend Amy and treat her to her first experience of racing under National Hunt rules.  New Year’s Day is the first day of racing for the new season membership at Catterick.  The last few years racing have not been possible due to either snow or frost but thankfully 2012 was a good day for racing if a little cold.

I have been a member at Catterick (or Catterick Bridge if we are being accurate) racecourse for 7 years now.  Buying an annual badge allows me to go to any meeting at Catterick, around 27 reciprocal meetings they have negotiated at other courses and around 10 days at Yorkshire County Cricket.  Catterick is also one of the few courses that offer the chance of buying a second transferrable badge to take a guest and at £220 for the pair in 2012 this is good value for money (remember I am a tight-arsed Yorkshireman).  It may sound a bit silly but it does feel good to put the little enamel badge on and know you can go more or less as you please on the courses you visit and in the members’ bar you usually get served in a proper glass or cup!  I have kept the badges from earlier years with a view to having them nicely framed one day.  One thing that does make me piss myself with laughter though is when you see plonkers with a huge collection of card day member badges tied to their binoculars.  So they have been to a lot of race meetings, what do they do when they go to a football match, take a rucksack of previous match programmes?

We arrived a little later than usual so there was no chance of a swift pre-racing beer in the Bridge Hotel – oh well there is always next time.  This time I would have to make do with a couple of halves of John Smith’s Smooth (yes I know I am a champion of real ale but sometimes you have limited options available).

The racing itself was hampered by small fields which mean that not every race was a good betting option.  The first race had short priced favourite and second favourite so I decided to leave it alone and watched.  As it was the second favourite South Leinster slogged home for jockey Wilson Renwick under testing conditions which were officially soft  but also seemed to be ‘sticky’; a genuine test of stamina.

In the second race I fancied Brunswick Gold ridden by Wilson Renwick for Steve Gollings the Lincolnshire trainer.  Form indications were that it needed a longer trip and with the soft going it was probably going to get a race to its liking, as it proved to be.

1:25 | 1 Brunswick Gold (K Renwick, 11-4 ); 4 Storming Gale (J M Maguire, 6-4 fav); 5 ran.

Distances: 12 lengths; 11 lengths; 
Winning trainer: S Gollings. 
Tote: £2.70; £2.70; £1.20; Exacta: £8.60; CSF: £7.24; 

A great start and a swift double for Wilson Renwick and I was lucky enough to get on at 6/1!  The next race didn’t prove to be as successful for either of us.  I backed Kilkenny All Star which was a 17/2 second , beaten by 3½ lengths, by the well fancied favourite Time Out (a great jazz album by Dave Bruebeck by the way);  Mr Renwick takes a tumble off the back of Mr Crystal (who was a horse just in case you are wondering).  Alas the betting day was not to get any better for me, a third was the nearest I could get; Wilson managed another winner in the fourth race on Amir Pasha.  Such are the vagaries of racing a hat-trick of winners and a crashing fall in the first four races.  Amy drew a blank, her best effort being a close second but backed to win.

After a hard day’s racing one needs a decent tea.  As the weather was cold and it was a Bank Holiday we decided not to head off to York or Harrogate, but to go to Xscape in Castleford.  Xscape is an indoor ski slope complex which also includes bars and chain restaurants like Ask, Pizza Express and Frankie and Benny’s for which Bank Holidays are big days.  In the end we ended up in Nandos which was a New Year’s new experience for me.  Amy had been once before in London, where she used to work, whereas I hadn’t heard of it until about six months ago.  I guess as The Christians would have said ‘this must be one of the troubles of a-living in forgotten town’ or perhaps it is just a case of me not having a clue what is happening in the fine city of Hull which has two Nandos!  My view of Nandos was accordingly coloured by what I had heard in the media and on Twitter and the like, which was fine dining for Chavs. 

My first impression was; typical chain restaurant based on easy clean, rapid turnaround, children friendly environment.  Service was friendly and prompt but it was a ‘note your table number and place your order at the bar’ arrangement.  The menu was errr chicken, but then what should I expect from a ‘chicken restaurant’.  We had mixed olives as a starter and selected a whole chicken platter with two different coatings, large fires and coleslaw.  My honest opinion was it wasn’t bad at all.  Let’s face it, it is not too difficult to cook a chicken on a rotisserie and serve it with frozen chips and coleslaw from an industrial sized bucket.  Michael Owen must be in his element having Tweeted about his love of roast chicken which prompted much merriment and piss taking!  It is not fine dining, but it ‘does what it says on the tin’ and I for one will not hesitate to make another visit in 2012. 

Links

Catterick Bridge Racecourse                        http://www.catterickbridge.co.uk/

Xscape                                                              http://www.xscape.co.uk/yorkshire

Nandos                                                              http://www.nandos.co.uk/

BBC (for the results – thanks!)                   http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/uk_results

Huddersfield Choral Society – Friday 4 November 2011

My world doesn’t totally revolve around work and sport, I have been known to partake of a bit of culture too.  Yes I know East Hull and culture sit somewhat awkwardly in the same sentence, unless you are describing things growing out of the walls of houses down Preston Road or the strange green scum to be found on the surface of Holderness Drain at various times of the year. I am talking about proper grown up, middle class, Guardian reading, University Professor culture; theatre, opera or classical music.

I should at this point, before I go any further, describe Holderness Drain.  In East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire we have man-made water courses which are known as drains.  These are not sewers but huge ditches which have been dug to get rid of excess rainwater from the low lying land, to literally (pedants note correct use of literally) drain the land, into the sea or a river, which in the case of Holderness Drain is the River Humber.  Very occasionally you may see some sap fishing in them though what they catch other than the ubiquitous Asda shopping trolly is anyone’s guess.  In summer the kids hang ropes off overhanging tree branches to make Tarzan swings (or at least they did when I was a kid).  These swings lead to the hapless or reckless taking impromptu dips in the inviting brown water (with aforementioned green scum) and the possibility of Weil’s Disease.

I digress.

Earlier in the year I met a new friend called Julie, who sings in the Huddersfield Choral Society, and naturally, she was keen to drum up support for their activities.  For me singing is quite definitely out of the question, as anyone who has heard me will testify.  In fact I have no musical ability whatsoever although I have been told I hum a few times.  I had seen the choir in action once before, about six years ago when I was invited to a corporate hospitality bash by my good friends at KPMG.  So I agreed to make the odd appearance at their concerts and went to one in June.  Now it was about time to return.

The Huddersfield Choral Society is a venerable institution with 2011 marking their 175^th anniversary no less.  Whilst I accept that it may not be everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ it is impressive to hear over 200 voices singing with a live orchestra. 

Tonight’s concert is Beethoven’s  Missa Solemnis performed with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Vasily Petrenko.   Missa Solemnis is a mass is scored for 2 flutes; 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A, C, and B♭); 2 bassoons; contrabassoon; 4 horns (in D, E♭, B♭ basso, E, and G); 2 trumpets (D, B♭, and C); alto, tenor, and   bass trombone; timpani; organ continuo; strings (violins I and II, violas, cellos and basses); soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists; and mixed choir.  (No I am not an expert but added that for background and gravitas thanks to Wikipedia!)

Julie was taking a break from signing in this concert, so there would be a chance to sit and enjoy it with her and her partner (Ken) and friends.  The concert venue was Huddersfield Town Hall which is a magnificent old hall typical of Town Halls in the industrial North of England, the like of which will never be built again.   Julie was helping on the box office when I arrived so she gave me my ticket (Gallery D8) and said they would meet me up there later and to go to the bar.  As I was driving, I decided to leave my beer for later in the pub, so went straight to the Balcony and found my seat D8 which was a great seat (see photo).  The Orchestra came out and started tuning up; no sign of Julie.  I noticed one of the Trombonists is hirsute and rotund and think that he wouldn’t look amiss as an extra in The Woolpack in Emmerdale and one of the French Horn players looks a tad like Heston Bloomenthal.  The Choir appears and then the soloists; still no sign of Julie.  Finally the Conductor appears and they are about to begin but still no sign of Julie or Ken, not that would spoil my enjoyment but it did leave me a little confused.

The concert was very impressive and there is no way I could do it justice by trying to describe it except that it seems to surround you and draw you in.  If you haven’t experienced a live orchestra I would recommend it, you just don’t appreciate just how loud and powerful the performance is on radio or CD and 200 voices are a magnificent sound even if you cannot understand a word of it.

After the concert had ended I got a chance to stand up and have a good look around.  I could recognise nobody!  I thought the best plan of action was to head out of the building and meet them in the pub.  As I opened the door and headed for the stairs I bumped into them coming down an additional flight of stairs that I hadn’t noticed on the way in.  I was supposed to be in the ‘gallery’ in the gods whereas I had headed into the ‘Balcony’ where the top priced £35 seats were!

We nipped across the road to The County which a fine if slightly well-worn pub that serves a decent pint of real ale – Copper Dragon bitter tonight.  Copper Dragon is a small but quickly expanding brewery in Skipton and the beers I have sampled so far have been pretty decent session beers.  The pub quickly fills up with members of the choir in need of a well deserved drink and concert goers.  They are a great bunch and even though I only really know Julie I am quickly accept by them and feel as if I have known them ages.  It is a real shame that I am driving this time; perhaps I will push the boat out next time and stay overnight.  You can’t beat a good pint amongst good company.

If I had been up to date with my blog the following would not have been added!  In last weeks The Times I noted the following small but fascinating paragraph…

“Beethoven Note: Berlin: A letter written by Beethoven pleading for money to fund his 1823 work, Missa Solemnis, has been valued at €150,000 (£124,000) after it turned up among items given to the Brahms Institute in Lübeck, northern Germany.”

Blimey!

Huddersfield Choral Society        http://www.huddersfieldchoral.com/

Huddersfield Town Hall                                http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls/huddersfield.shtml

The County pub                          http://www.huddersfieldfoodguide.co.uk/Place-To-Eat/159/The-County--HD1-2TT

Copper Dragon Brewery               http://www.copperdragon.uk.com/