JOLLY HOCKEY

Brigg Men's Hockey Club stages its annual meeting on Wednesday at the White Hart, in Bridge Street, from 8pm.
If you are interested in joining the club, or even taking up the sport, why not pop down? Officials will also be hoping for a good turn-out of existing members.
Many of us can look back on happy years spent playing hockey for Brigg, initially on the famed grass pitches at Brigg Rec, and latterly on 'the Astro' at Quibell Park, Scunthorpe, and Yarborough, Lincoln.
Such matches were always followed by a few pints, just to put back the fluid lost during all that running about!
We wore the green shirt with pride, but we lost more games than we won during my 18 years. Especially once the friendlies were replaced by fixtures in the Yorkshire League's lower divisions.
But it really was the taking part which mattered, not whether you won or lost...Even when we journeyed halfway to Lancashire, to take on Ben Rhydding within the shadow of Ilkley Moor (Bar T'hat).
Once, with 'Sass' Markham in goal (now Coun Andrew) we ventured into Cambridgeshire for the first time, only to get heavily beaten on a windswept day in Wisbech. It was the only friendly opposition we could find, but we were hopelessly mis-matched.
Early and late season treks to Nottingham were the norm, and we went north to Old Malton, who then had one of the few remaining grass (and muddy) pitches in the league.
A trip down memory lane for the seniors, but a terrible shock to the young up-and-coming players who found what would have been deft touches on a synthetic pitch failed to roll more than a few inches on the Malton gluepot.
Always hotly contested were games against Normanby Park, especially the Sunday friendlies which we dubbed The World Series. Friendly opposition had become so difficult to find by then that the two local teams often ended up taking on each other month after month.
Our picture shows action from the 1998 Normanby Festival involving Brigg (green shirts) and the host club.