Foxy Boxing

If you missed this - then you missed out!

More pictures in the new area website - coming real soon!

Middleton - Mid Fest

What a crying shame - after 12 months of planning and hard work from the lads at Midd the rain Gods decided that today was the day to let rip!

Less Mid Fest and more Mud Fest!

I turned up at around 11am to offer a hand and was greeted by a couple of cold wet faces on the main gate. After a quick chat it turned out than just over a hour earlier the entraced had been more suitable for a canoe race rather than the entrance to a family day out. The lads had made the best of things and once past he gate and onto the field itself there was still plenty to see and do. A large area in the center of the field had been fenced off for the quad bike stunt display team - I think the amount of mud and water made it more spectaular!!!

below are some pictures

Bolton - Summer Ball

Myself and Lorraine headed upto Bolton on Friday 19th June to support Bolton's Area Summer Ball host the Graig and the lads at Bolton RT.

I must admit to being a bit disappointed at the low level of turn out from Tables around the area - despite lots of emails and phone calls it was only myself and a couple of the lads from Macc that made the journey with our partners to support the event,

The location was exellent - my only minor gripes were the high bar prices but i suppose no more than other out of the way hotels. The food was excellent and after the meal Craig wheeled out a cracking 70's sould band complete with brass section.

Unfortunatley we had to duck out early as we were jetting off before dawn on our holidays to lands far away.

Royton & Chadderton - final meeting!

Last Friday night saw myself and Lars heading counter clockwise around the M60 and upto R&T to attend it's final meeting as a table. The eveing saw many old faces returned to join in reminding us all of the many achievments this table has to it's name and to tell one or two very funny stories of members and days gone by.

I was glad to some fellow tablers from the adjoing tables were present and i think we numbered around 25 for the meal - which was in 'The Baum', Rochdale. Keith and the guys put on a splendid evening and made sure that the night, although a litlle sad, was a celebration of the all the good things that being a table is about.

Bury - Euromeeting

After seeing a couple of emails from Paul Moorecroft up at Bury regarding their up coming Euro Rally I could not resist finding out more and invited myself up for their meeting.

Hosted at the Garside in Bury I was also treated to a very informative talk by a couple of local magistrates. I had no idea they were all volunteers and that anyone (almost) could apply to be one. Following on from this was a decent roast beef dinner - there was also a game pie but not many takers for it.

As we had the cheese course the meeting got into full swing and I learnt that Bury regularly host fellow tablers from Germany and vice-a-versa. Their next big rally would be in the new year and they were looking for houses to host some of the guests. I, of course, offered mine but as I'm all the way in South Manchester it was not going to be practical! But if they had a couple of au-pair types going spare i did offer to drive them up to Bury for any events!!!

Hadfield Carnival

David Oldham (chairman of Glossop RT) invited me over to Hadfield today to help man the Round Table rugby challenge stall at the annual carnival held there.

It was rather a damp day with only a few breaks in the rain but luckily one of the guys had brought a couple of gazebos with him so we had a bit of shelter.

The game was straight forward enough - throw a rugby ball through one of three (roughly) rugby ball shaped hole in the 8' high board that had been made. Just a £1 for 3 goes - we thought we had it all worked out till the first punter came along (aged about 9) and threw the ball straight through the hole - so 5 minutes in and w were £4 down already. A hasty rethink culminated in smaller prize for winning and making sure people were further back from the board before throwing - this was much better with only 1 kid managing to get the nack and fleecing us for £12.

Alongside us were a couple of old fashioned campsites where a bunch of civil war re-enactors were camped out ready to do battle at 3pm. Cannons, guns and horns were the order of the day as the assault began.

Despite the rain it was still a good turn out from the locals - but if I get invited again i hope some one fixes the weather first!

Saddleworth Beer Walk

Big day today - early start (well for a Saturday).

I'm guessing most people are familiar with the beer walk - if not then it's basically 1500 or so people (mostly in fancy dress) walking a route around Saddleworth villages and stopping at various points to top up on beer. This year was it's 36th and it has got more popular each year with people attending from far and wide to join in the fun.

The event which is organised and run by Saddleworth round table and is their main charity fund raiser for the year.

This year was my first and boy was it fun, after a bit of lifting and shifting in the morning setting up the registration area and start field we hunkered down in the tents to avoid the rain and await the hordes of drinkers we knew were close by. The beerwalk website had taken over 1300 bookings online in the weeks leading up to the day and I'm guessing we must have processed at least another 500 on the day (I'll let Richard fill me in after they finish counting). Even with the rain falling people seemed oblivious and in full on party spirits. The costumes were all fantastic - of particular note were the 100 mime artistes (complete with mime ropes and stairs!!!), the Virgin Atlantic girls and Banana Man and his bananas. I also lost track of how many x-men, hulks, smurfs and pirates i saw. I think the bravery award must go to the girls who came in Rocky Horror outfits i.e. stockings & basques - it was a cold day and raining, they must have been freezing!

Just an awesome day all round!