Monday 24th May - 9.30am
The party gathers on Hucknall Market Place. First question is how are we going to play cricket with only 5 players of which only 4 are fit? The five intrepid travellers being :-
Jamie 'DAD' Braybrook ; Kev 'GRANDAD' Pearson ; Peter 'LORD' Bramley ;Andy 'FOZZY' Foster and Nigel 'LOBBY' Lobb. But none the less we set off in the hope that others would be joining us later in the week.
None eventful journey, only one Speed Camera at the M5 road works flash as we pass, but the traffic was slow moving along the last stretch of the journey on the A39. We arrive at Base Camp , The Dunkery Beacon Hotel, at around 1.30pm and head straight for the bar !!!
3pm we take a trip to the seaside , Minehead , just 5 miles away but after a 15 minute stroll we've seen it all. First indications are the Yorke Bar and the Hairy Dog look promising with a possible visit to the New York New York Night Club as a last night outing.
Return to Base Camp and meet up with Cis and Peter Rhodes so we have an umpire and scorer all we need now are some players. The Barmaid , Jo , decides she's had enough of us and closes the bar at 2 am so we all have an early night.
Tuesday 25th May
Breakfast is served, GRANDAD and LOBBY are the first ones down but miraculously we've all made breakfast by 9.15 with the LORD being the last to surface.
Disaster !!! the afternoon cricket match has had to be cancelled due to our lack of players. We console ourselves by deciding to spent the day at Butlins. The cost of admission should be £12 each but some quick negotiation by DAD get us all in on a Family Day Ticket, hence the DAD and GRANDAD nicknames, for just £6 each , a bargain!!?
England are playing Zimbabwe in the World Cup so first job is to find a bar with a TV screen, this is easily done in fact this bar had 16 screens. Ten Pin Bowling lane booked for 12 noon so we warm up with three quarters of an hours crown green bowls, the drink must be taking hold though as the bias on the balls seems to be taking the Woods the wrong way and was there a magnet in the ditch because quite a few found their way there.
Back to the Bar and then Ten Pin bowling. First strike goes to LOBBY but its short lived he's been No Balled and never recovers as DAD gets a Turkey and goes on to win with 158.
Back to the Bar - Nice Suit!! is the call.
Time to cool off so DAD , GRANDAD, LORD and FOZZY head for the Pool later to recount the tale of the Jacuzzi and the Spanish Suit..........
Back to the Bar, tea is taken (Burger King) and liquid refreshments are taken, Strongbow Ice seems to becoming very popular. England win the cricket so everyone is in high spirits or is it the Cider?. The trip finishes with a Go-Kart race, surprisingly no one crashes and the race is won by the LORD.
Back to Base Camp and of course the Bar to plan the course of action for the following day when we have a cricket match arranged. Although FOZZY has to head off home to go to a Boyzone concert we should have four other players coming down so we should just about have some sort of team. The evening is fritted away playing Pool and Bar Billiards until the Cards come out but yet again Jo closes up at 2 am , just what has LORD said to upset her!
Wednesday 26th May
Again everyone makes breakfast but bad news soon comes through that two players we were expecting are now not coming and the other two wont arrive until around 4pm that leaves us with just 4 players for the match at 2.30pm.
The morning is spent with a trip into Dunster, a very picturesque narrow street village overlooked by an impressive castle. A visit is made to the Forresters Arms in the hope of recruiting a few (well 7 actually) players for the afternoons game, unfortunately all we get is a drink.
Carhampton C.C. are the opposition and they agree to lend us two players on the understanding that we have two others on the way. The game starts and we bat first with LOBBY and the LORD opening the batting, the early depature of LOBBY for four brings GRANDAD in to partner the LORD and a stand of 70 runs lifts the spirits, the LORD finally being dismissed for 52 and GRANDAD for 30. One of the lads playing for us then scores 58 not out while DAD stands at the other end and just as we complete our 35 overs making 187 for 4 Smokey (Simon Bacon) and Jimbo (James ?) arrive at the ground. After a generous tea we manage to bowl Carhampton out for just 81 runs and then we have to pay £50 for the game.
Back to Base Camp in time to get settled to watch Man. Utd. somehow fluke a win in the European Cup Final. The bar closes early again and FOZZY gets back to Base Camp around 4 in the morning bringing Dave Lobb with him.
Thursday 27th May
Everyone makes breakfast again and our full contingent now reading DAD ; GRANDAD ; LOBBY ; LORD ; SMOKEY ; FOZZY ; JIMBO and non-players Dave Lobb, Cis and Peter Rhodes (click here touring party photo). Bad news , we were due to play Porlock in an evening fixture but they have had to cancel because the Top farmers are playing the Bottom farmers (Uh-Arh) but Daphine our gracious hostess at the Dunkery manages to arrange another game against Carhampton.
We decide to spend the day in Minehead, as the sunny is shining the dress code is shorts and tee-shirts. First stop The Yorke Bar and a seat outside - Nice Suit!! The day is spent visiting the local hostilaries and finishes in the Amusement Arcade trying to get rid of the two P's.
The second match of the week against Carhampton begins at 6pm, again they lend us a couple of players to make it 10 a side. We bat first with the LORD and LOBBY opening and the ball is soon flying to the boundary with 85 runs coming off the first 7 overs but both get fined for 'Jug-Aviodance' LOBBY out for 48 and LORD 49.
A bit of a collapse sees SMOKEY stumped first ball, we forgot to tell him to hit the middle one!! After our 15 overs a respectable score of 156 is posted. There is then a change in the weather as a storm starts to build up and as everyone gets a bowl Carhampton reach their target in the last over mainly due to DAD who as wicket-keeper in the gloom couldn't see FOZZY's deliveries and as the batsmen didn't want to know the Byes saw them home.
Back to Base Camp as the storm erupts, the thunder and lightening was incredible. Taxis' are booked for a final night in Minehead but due to the weather its decided we will stay in the Yorke Bar and have a go in the quiz which has a Jackpot of £500. As the drinks flowed the empty bottles built up are arranged to spell out H.C.C. By the end of the night, which as the Bar closed at Midnight was only a two and quarter hour session, there were some seventy odd bottles and glasses on the table - a sterling effort. Needless to say we came nowhere in the quizz , just how many lettuce do you need to eat to get 1000 calories? ,just one example of the sort of questions asked - apparently the answer is 12. With the Indian restaurant closed the Pizza bar is headed for and orders placed which are to be delivered to Base Camp at 1.15am. We arrive back at Base Camp just as the power comes back on following a lightening strike earlier but the Bar is closed. 1.15am comes and goes and no sign of the pizza's and when by 2.30am there was still no sign everyone retires for the night.
Friday 28th May
Final breakfast attended by all and the hotel bill is sorted out by DAD. Dave Lobb brought down with him a Club Pennant which everyone signs and is presented to Daphine to hang in the bar and by 10.30am we are on the road back to Hucknall.
Thanks go to Jamie 'DAD' Braybrook for organising a great tour and to all those who either dropped out or couldn't make it I hope this diary manages to give you an idea of the great time that was had in the hope that next year a few more players will want to tour with us.
Nigel Lobb.