WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The Title is an expansion of the 1974
song by Esther Philips which talked about a day.
Saturday 22nd May 2010
Up at the crack of dawn to drive Russ Mabbutt to the headquarters of Jackson Coaches and meet up with the
other Wesham intrepid Wembley goers
– Martin, Finlay, Lee, and Bernie.
Blackpool v
Cardiff
Championship play off final – who would have expected that even 3 months earlier,
(the so called “experts” predicted relegation to League 1 – 3rd division in old money!)
A trip down, with the Finlay music collection – a regular occurrence in his tenure as Wesham Captain. Lots
of singing and general frivolity.
Arrive at midday with the sun cracking the
flags; scarves face paint and anticipation all in abundance. Try to get in the
designated pub but full so we camp out on the roundabout next to Tesco having acquired a good ration of
the amber nectar.
Merry, but not drunk. Rowdy, but all in good taste,
we make our way down Wembley way for
the biggest game in Blackpool’s
history since the Matthew’s final 57
years earlier.
Well what a game and what an example of the
character of “the Pool”. One - nil down; equaliser; 2-1 down; equaliser. And then a Charlie Adam special free kick. And all
before half time!
Wow – what will happen in the second half
we think while enjoying a half time pint. Unfortunately, for
the neutral, not that much in terms of goals.
But did we care for the neutral – not one
jot.
More songs and frivolity on the way back.
But the anticipation was just for what would happen in the Premiership.
This was the start of “the best trip we’d ever been on”
Sunday 23rd
May 2010
The Blue
Light 5 mile race, organised by our esteemed chairman and the first running
of the race.
Guess what – the sun was cracking the flags
again. Far too hot for running in my book but, as is always the answer when we
runners complain about the weather, nobody forces me to run it.
Starting from just past Bispham Tram station – if you are going
towards Fleetwood – and then towards
town on the pavement for 1.5 miles. Then you turn down to the lower walk and
run along in the opposite direction until Anchorsholme
and then back along the pavement to where we started.
As I was running along I came along Helen Lawrenson, who was suffering with
the heat – she was fine in a bit and finished the race in 43 minutes – which
made me think about slowing down. I did stop off at the water station ahead to try
and get help for her – it wasn’t far away –but then she came up behind me
anyway.
I finished in just over 41 minutes but I
did start off at a pace suggesting about 37 minutes. So not
too good really.
Fast forward a
year and we get to:
Saturday 21st
May 2011
The National
vet relays. Wesham have had a good showing in the past – especially in 2008 when we were Vet 50 champions. The powers that be, however, have decided to
change the Vet categories to
coincide with
Unfortunately, despite Finlay’s best efforts, we only managed to get 13 runners on the
day.
We had no ladies, but we had a complete 55
team, (4 in all), and a complete Vet 35 team (8 in all). We had one in our vet
45 team and that was Captain Finlay.
When I say we had a complete Vet 35 team we had one 62 year old; one
54; one 52 (me); one 50; one 46; one 42 and then two actually between 35 and 40
– Lee and Steve Myerscough. We were under 55 though.
Advertisement for next year – this is a great day out and
we usually get a coach. So get your name down when next year’s captain asks and
show the rest of the country what a great club we are! Same goes for the Welsh Castles.
Whilst the Vet 35 team did not pull up any
trees we weren’t last and it is the taking part that counts. The Vet 55 team
did very well, though, although at the time of writing I don’t know the
results.
Weather was good and, whilst not cracking
the flags, it was warm and dry and not too breezy.
Sunday 22nd
May 2011
A busy morning for yours truly started with
another early rise – we were up at the crack of dawn yesterday for the coach –
to marshal at the St Annes triathlon
from 8 a.m. to 9-30 a.m. 
at the first bike turnaround point.
Unfortunately, the wind was very strong and
the ‘road closed’ signs were not able to stand up so I had to park my car
across the road to stop traffic – as you can imagine it didn’t always work but
it mainly did. And no, I didn’t have a crushed or damaged car, but somebody did
drive on the pavement to get round it without having the sense to think there
might be a reason why I had done it! (Do some people have the brains they were
born with?)
From what I could gather there was supposed
to be someone watching for the cars trying to get down Todmorden Road and another watching the turning point, but there
was only me. And so I had to watch for the bikes and then put my glasses on the
back of my head to see the cars! Fortunately, after the police had laid down the road signs there wasn’t a problem with the
cars.
At 9-30am I was relieved at my post and
then set off for my second appointment of the morning.
This was to run in the second running of
the Blue Light 5 race.
You may recall that last year the flags
were cracking with the heat. Well this morning the only thing that was going to
crack the flags were the rain and the wind – still gale force – as I say in the
title “what a difference a year makes”
We all huddled together at the beginning
before having the wind and rain in our faces for a mile and a half, before
turning round to be wind assisted for 2 ½ . My question is – why does it never
have the same affect when the wind is behind you? Having said that, I did get
pushed along quite well, at times.
Anybody with a mathematical brain will be
able to work out that the left a mile at the end and, boy, that was hard.
However, I did finish a minute
quicker than last year, having done the relays yesterday so I was reasonably
happy. Maybe, with a bit of luck it will be a case of third time lucky with the
weather next year
The third important event, today, was the
big match. Unfortunately, as you will all know by now, it did not go to plan as
But the important things to say about it
are as follows:-
1. The experts got the points wrong
in that they said Pool would go down
with the least ever number of points (10).
They got 39 so that showed them.
2.
3. They can at least say they have
done something good since 1953, even
if they didn’t stay up.
4. They will come 2nd in the Championship next season – behind
Written By: Pete Cooke
Submitted: 22nd May 2011
Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR