Another reunion of Brigg sportsmen is being suggested. This one is of a LIGHT-hearted nature.
During the second half of the 1980s, Brigg Men's Hockey Club was still playing regular Sunday friendlies on the large grass pitch at the Rec, fronting Wrawby Road.
After these games we would take our opponents to the nearby Brigg Town FC Hawthorns clubhouse where crates of light ale were laid out for consumption by thirsty players.
When it was time to leave, two or three of us would be sent round to collect empties to go back in the crates.
Each collector had a glass into which the left-over ale would be put to see who could eke out a final free pint.
It became known as the Dregs Club.
We were reminded of this at the weekend, in the Yarborough Hunt, by John Brumby who was also a member of that Brigg Sunday side.
John reckons a reunion of the Dregs Club is long overdue. And we agree.
Our good friend Alan Brock - a notable cricketer - was in charge of ale collection back then and we often assisted his efforts.
Sadly, it became increasingly difficult for Brigg to find Sunday friendly opposition in the 1990s.
We ended up playing Normanby Park week after week in what became known as the World Series. Then the plug was pulled altogether on friendlies.
The Sunday XI comprised members of all four Brigg sides and was a good way for players from different teams to get to know each other.
It helped foster the 'one club' ethos.
Astroturf pitches across Lincolnshire and Yorkshire were starting to become the norm in the 1990s, making it possible to play two or even three league games on the same Saturday.
This resulted in staggered start times and meant that Brigg teams playing away returned to the town at different times and the social side of the game suffered as a result.
What dear old Lenny Marshall, our umpire and club president, called apres hockey.
Today we have one hockey club in Brigg, the Ladies' and Men's clubs having combined in a very welcome development.
At long last there is also a 'Blue Astro' floodlit pitch at The Rec, provided by North Lincolnshire Council. Many thanks again!
We wonder what today's players would make of the Dregs Club.
Some, we are sure, would enjoy the experience, though there would be no little or no support for playing friendlies on grass.
The sport has moved on since the 1980s and 1990s and is now much more skilful with fewer stoppages.
Lenny was a wonderful umpire if you played in the lower teams where offences like foot touching the ball and third party obstruction were very common.
He would turn a blind eye - Admiral Lord Nelson fashion - to many minor infringements and let the game flow.
We raise a glass of light ale in his memory!
Lenny also produced a monthly club newsletter called Short Corner on antique printing equipment at his home in Wrawby.
This was written in jocular style and was years ahead of its time.
The content would fit perfectly into today's era of Facebook and Twitter.
Which brings us back to John Brumby, who has already suggested the hashtag #thedregsclub for use in Twitter posts relating to the reunion.
I can remember the time when beer arrived on a dray in barrels.
ReplyDeleteOnce in the cellar they had to be left for serval days to settle, after this, they were tapped, the wooden plug on top of the barrel was hit with a mallet and disappeared inside the barrel....and eventually, the beer pipes were connected.
'Waste not want not' was the motto of the day and the spilled beer dregs that collected in the trays beneath the hand pumps were put in a bucket and recycled back into a barrel of beer using a large rectangular funnel.
Ardent bitter drinkers claimed that they could taste contaminated beer, so it was customary to funnel the dregs in the mild barrel.
I can also remember a time in Shropshire when a local pub brewed its own beer in the attic. It was the hot summer of 1976, beer was fermenting violently until it couldn't take it any longer and blew the pub's roof off!