Banchory Veterans' Football Group

Friday night in Aberdeen

2012-01-28T04:13:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

The Banchory Friday night pub regulars decided to travel in to Aberdeen for a change, originally hoping to catch up with a few of those playing at the Beach. We met up in Archibald Simpson's:

McWhinnie, Paterson, Kilgour, Gore, Hay, McRae, Stewart and Sharp

It was noticeable that the 4 who had played football were all from the losing side - winners don't drink, I guess? Some of the clientele looked a bit dodgy and not the types I might have trusted with my camera, but Ryan spotted two young girls at a table and talked one of them in to doing the honours. She did a reasonable job with the team photo above, which is a lot more than can be said for Mr. Sharp, who wanted to get a snap of Ryan with the girl who had taken the photo, so he tried a couple of shots, but, for some reason, they all turned out rather blurry. Why was his hand shaking so much? This is by far the better of the two photos Ian took:

After a couple of beers there, including Andy buying us all a belated birthday drink, we moved on to the Prince of Wales and decided to eat there. Ryan declined any food, but he tucked in to his Red Stripe nonetheless:

Next stop was Ma Cameron's snug and then, before we knew it, it was time to catch our bus back to Banchory. Ian and John alighted at the east end of town, but the rest of us popped in to the Douglas, where we had arranged to meet up with Andy Marshall for a nightcap.

Firhill for thrills

2012-01-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was an idea that Colin Kilgour came up with some time ago - to one day sample the corporate hospitality that Partick Thistle could provide at a home match. We finally got round to doing it last weekend when the Jags hosted Dundee.

We booked a table for 6 of us - 3 Stewarts (me and my sons Gary and Ross), 2 Williamsons (Dave and son Alex) and a lone Kilgour. Thistle need all the help they can get just now, having just lost their main sponsor last week when Sangs (MacB) went in to administration, this following on from the recent announcement that their tenants for the last few years, Glasgow Warriors, are leaving at the end of the season.

The oldies got the train down, using the Club 55 + to get cheap seats, and two of us getting even more discount by using our Senior Railcards. The young Stewarts weren't as lucky - they had to catch the train at 5:30 am in order to try and match the price their Dad got! We all met up for a swift pint at the Counting House in George Square before jumping in a 6 seater taxi to Firhill for the noon start of the hospitality package. Here's the two halves of the taxi on the way there:

Ross, Dave & Alex

Colin, Ian & Gary

The old main stand at Firhill has been crumbling for a few years now and is only used for a few offices and the occasional Glasgow Warriors match. Mind you, it's not the only thing that's old and crumbling in this photo:

The club shop was closed at this early hour and so we walked round the east end of the ground and up towards the more modern Jackie Husband stand, spotting some classic graffiti on the way:

We necked the free "champagne" in hospitality and moved on to bottles of Arran Blonde. We were amongst the first to arrive and so we asked when the shop was due to open? The answer was a bit like the old joke - "what time's the kick-off?" - "what time can you make it, sir?". They said they would arrange to open the shop specially for us and, what's more, they would take us there via a shortcut round the pitch and through the main stand. Of course, this meant we had to pass the dugouts, so further posing was required:

Souvenirs were duly acquired, even including Alex, seen here displaying his new-found love:

We dined in the Alan Rough Lounge, outside which there was a large, fairly crude, 3-part mural:

For those of you not quite as anal as me on the history of PTFC, the first part shows Thistle playing in their old dark blue strip (that went on to be used by Scotland) at their first home at the West of Scotland Cricket ground, before moving to Maryhill in the 1920's. (Thistle started in 1876, a full 12 years before Celtic were formed.)

We had our meal and were then shown through to the Davie McParland lounge where the Honorary Vice President of the club, Robert Reid, gave a wonderful and amusing talk on the history of the club. We were surrounded by photographs and posters of legends (to me, anyway) of former days, amongst the more recent of which were:

We were in the lounge named after my own personal boyhood idol and so I just had to pose in front of some of his posters:

The team line-up was:

We had a comedian entertain us and then to the match itself. Dundee edged the first half and then we had a break for the obligatory pies:

The second half was better - at least from a Thistle supporter's viewpoint - and Rab Douglas proved he hadn't completely lost the ability that earned him Scotland caps earlier in his career, as he made a couple of great late saves to earn an away point for his team in what turned out to be a fairly entertaining scoreless draw. Here's a shot of the action later on:

There's a Celebrity Sponsors board next to our lounge and I noted Jag 20:

After a quick drink, we taxi'd back to the Counting House for another beer before catching our trains home. None of us were previously aware of the existence of the "Glasgow Eye" right outside the pub on George Square:

Grand day out!

It was 24 years ago today ........

2012-01-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Yes - 3rd January, 1988 was when it all started for Banchory Veterans' Football Group. I can't tell you the line-up on that day, or the scorers (apart from me, of course!) but I do know that Dave W and I, as instigators, were there, as were Dr. John Davies and a few other members of Banchory Squash Club.

It didn't take long to sort out the wheat from the chaff and soon we were casting our nets wider in order to recruit a few more ex-footballers, at the expense of those who preferred to use a racquet to propel the ball. Colin Elgie was also in at the start, but I'm not sure that any of the others who subsequently became regulars were there on that auspicious occasion.

What all this means is that BVFG is now officially in its Silver Anniversary Year - but how many of us will still be available/capable of taking part in the 25th Anniversary match on 3rd January, 2013?

Stadium no. 77!

2011-12-31T11:14:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was the local Deeside Derby today and a few of us showed up at Milton Park, Crathes to watch Banchory St. Ternan play Culter - and add another "stadium" to the database:

We bumped into a flu victim who was venturing out of the house for the first time for a few days. Anyone recognise whose rear view this is between Colin and Ian?:

The fermer's hat should be a dead give-away - not to mention the well-filled denims!

Here's a bit of the action from a match that Culter won 2-1:

One Andy Gore, there's only one .....

2011-12-28T04:47:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Yes, today Andy Gore officially becomes an OAP. He's promised/threatened to carry on playing football until he's 70, but I don't know if his Missus would approve of that. Much more feasible, however, is the prospect of becoming the first Vet to reach 1,000 appearances, which he's likely to reach sometime in 2012 - now that alone would be truly amazing.

Andy wasn't even one of the originals who founded BVFG almost 24 years ago - although he was talent spotted and recruited by Dave W not long after we started playing regularly. That trusty left peg hasn't changed much over the years - and nor has his pace, some have unkindly remarked - or is that a backhanded compliment?

Anyway, good on you Andy - I really don't know how you do it - most of the rest of us have long ago had to give up the football, much though we'd all love to be able to keep playing.

See if you can spot the difference:

1994 Raft Race

1999 Golf at Aboyne

2004 Tarland

2011 DATA

and this is what our 59 year old talent spotter said about him in the one and only edition of The Goredian, produced for Andy's 50th back in 1996:

Have a great one, Andy - you're a legend! (careful how you pronounce that).

Xmas Eve/DMW 59

2011-12-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

What an excellent afternoon - perfect conditions and a huge turnout, including a few late additions to the expected teams. It made for a busy pitch, but for those of us that are getting on a bit - like me and Andy Gore - it made for a slightly easier ride - less gaps to trot into.

The late changes unbalanced the sides a little - the Youngsters ended up with 10 on their side against the mere 9 of the Oldies. We did not bad however and it was nip and tuck, with each side swapping goals until it was 3-3, which was the turning point, with a controversial decision from match referee Ian McRae not to award what the Oldies all thought was a stonewall penalty. The Youngsters immediately ran up the other end and scored in what was effectively a 2 goal swing.

Of course, as I will be reminded endlessly, the Oldies - i.e. me - had earlier missed a penalty - or should I say Ken Black saved it? Geordie had strayed in to the box and, what's more, had blocked a goal-bound shot as he did so. There were loud appeals from the Oldies, but there was silence from the other side for a few minutes, until Geordie, having obviously taken a few moments to consult with the Almighty, finally confessed and a penalty was awarded.

The final score was 6-3 to the Youngsters, but it was great fun - although painful for the likes of me who haven't even tried to kick a ball for over a year. We also had debuts from Bill Whyman - who unfortunately pulled his hamstring after 15 minutes and ended up playing in goals for the rest of the match - and Raymond Tedeschi (Gerry Mullins' cousin). It was a nice mix of Wednesday and Friday night regulars plus a bunch of Veterans who only turn out for this occasion.

Here's the team line-up at the start:

Back l-r: Tyrie. Tedeschi, Kennington, Whyman, Ziegler, Hay (E), Black, Marshall, Williamson, McRae (ref), McCubban, Mullins and Stewart
Front l-r: Paterson, Lodge, Gore, Hay (R), Moir, Sharp and Trimble

It was then back to the Douglas for soup, sannies - and, of course, beer. We were joined there by Rob Dunnachie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Jamie Williamson. Dylan Tyrie and Andy Marshall's Dad, who was been a regular attender at these events. Here's the team line-up in the pub:

Rob Dunnachie is top left and Dylan Tyrie and Jamie Williamson are respectively 4th and 3rd right at the back, with Andy Marshall's Dad and Brian Fitzpatrick next to them.

It was quite a rake of drams for Dave to buy - thank the Lord he can afford it!

Eventually, one by one, chauffeur and chauffeuses - and the bus back to Aberdeen - turned up and people started to drift off. This made for some complications with the kitty and paying for the soup and sannies, but we got there in the end. There was, however, only £1.10 left in the kitty to donate to the Football Forecasts charity winner - unlike last year, when an amazing £30 was left over.

Weather dependent, there may be another outdoor match to celebrate the 24th Anniversary of BVFG's formation (3rd January, 1988) and/or Andy Gore's 65th birthday (28th December, 2011) - watch this space.

There was also interest from a few to attend the local Junior derby match next Saturday 31st December between Banchory St. Ternan and Culter. A walk there along the Deeside Way, then back to the Douglas to watch the teatime footy on TV - sounds good - watch this space again.

Golf/Xmas football/Forecasts/Birthday

2011-12-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

1) We now have 10 confirmed for the golf outing at Kemnay on Friday 22nd June, 2012 - Messrs Corbett, Gore, Grant, McDonald, Meany, Paterson, Sharp, Stewart, Tyrie and Ziegler. It would be really neat - and would save us all £6 per head on the green fees - if we could get at least 2 more, and I haven't heard one way or the other yet from some definite suspects like Messrs Black, Lodge, Marshall, McRae & Williamson - it would be good to know whether they are possibles or not? At this stage, the only commitment is £5 deposit - so even if you're not sure about your plans that far ahead, surely there's not much to lose by just saying yes?

To confirm the booking with Kemnay, I have to send the deposit cheque off in the next couple of days, so would appreciate early responses.

2) Xmas football confirmed as 2pm ko at DATA, weather permitting on 24th December. Soup, sannies & beer afterwards in the Douglas Arms. So far, we have just 13/14 names for the football - Messrs Black, Corbett, Gore, Grant, Hay, Hay (?), Lodge, Marshall, Moir, Paterson, Stewart, Tyrie, Williamson and Ziegler. No response yet from McRae, Mullins, Sharp, Simpson or Trimble?

3) Another little reminder that time is running out for the 5 permitted changes to the Football Forecasts - let me have them as soon as you can please. Andy Marshall has made his changes already, and Chris Dickinson and Ken Black have prepaid the £5 - although they haven't put their changes through yet. The more changes that are made, the more money is raised for charity.

4) Remember buzz-bomb Ken Johnson? Well, he is 52 today - happy birthday, Ken, wherever you are. He's no longer on this distribution list, so no point in pinging back a "happy birthday, Ken" e-mail!

2012 Golf - £5 required!

2011-12-09T00:56:00.001-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Kemnay have confirmed our booking for 22nd June, 2012 - details as follows:

So far, 7 have confirmed their attendance - Messrs Ziegler, Sharp, Gore, Stewart, Corbett, Grant and (hopefully) Meany. Apologies received from John McWhinnie.

I have indicated to Kemnay that we anticipate 10-12 attending, and you will note that, if we get 12 or more, then everyone gets a reduction of £6 on the green fees. There are a few regulars/past attendees who I haven't heard from yet - e.g. Messrs Black, Lodge, Marshall, McDonald, McRae, Paterson, Tyrie, Williamson etc - could they please let me know asap whether they think they'll be able to make it or not? I know it's a long way away, but it's only £5 deposit that's required - nothing much to lose?

2012 Golf Outing

2011-12-06T03:35:00.001-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It may seem a little early, but good courses get booked up quickly - especially for Friday afternoon outings - and we have the additional complication next year of making sure we hold the event before the current champion departs these shores and returns to California - never to be seen again, presumably?

Accordingly, on Geordie's behalf, I have booked Kemnay for Friday 22nd June, 2012 for our outing - please get it in your diary now and confirm - or otherwise - your attendance at Geordie's farewell.

Numbers were down at this year's event, but I would hope we could get them back to former levels for next year. This was the select group that teed off at Brechin in July:

2011-12-03T01:41:00.001-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Gathering in the Douglas last night - photo taken by Andy Marshall, fresh from his stint at the panto!:

Match officials warm-up

2011-11-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

The two linesmen/assistant referees at Saturday's match at Crombie Park were put through their paces by the referee, who seemed to be a bit of a fitness fanatic. They struggled a bit to keep up with him - check out this short video:

http://youtu.be/Xrfdb4V3mzA

New Stadium for database!

2011-11-21T01:55:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Does Crombie Park, Culter qualify as a "stadium"? Well, they did erect some scaffolding to make a mini-stand for Saturday's cup tie against PTFC - for the home fans. Us away fans just had to stand at the perimeter of the field - but it was a fun day out, with Culter ecstatic at getting a draw and Thistle relieved not to be on the wrong end of a cup shock.

We arrived about an hour before kick-off and took a few photos:

Clubhouse/changing rooms

Pitch with dugout opposite and you can just see the temporary scaffolding to the right for the home fans

Culter jog out for pre-match warm-up, led by captain and ex-Don, Hugh Robertson:

Teams come out

Wearing the colours

CK hides his colours

Jags fans put up banners

Bob Bennett 52!

2011-11-16T03:45:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It's a very happy transatlantic, slightly belated, 52nd birthday to young Bob, former buzz-bomb of these parts, and yet another Banchory Veteran who's a high-flier now. Bob's with Baker Hughes and, a decade ago, they moved him to Houston, USA - which is a long way, both geographically and socially, from his upbringing in Airdrie - and he's never looked back - only down.

Bob has over 250 appearances on the database, mostly from 1996 to 2001. It's been a while since we heard his non-stop chatter over here - I wonder if he's got any plans to pay us a return visit?

Here's one of him from 1999, shaking hands with JSMcD at one of our golf outings:

Hope it was a good one yesterday, Bob!

Cheers,

Ian

Scottish Cup Tie

2011-11-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It's a sell-out - all 1,200 tickets have gone, but we've got ours for Saturday's match:

Could there be a cup upset? Hope not!

You, too can become a big shot

2011-11-10T06:21:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Spotted in last Saturday's P & J:

For those that don't know, baby-faced Geoff is a former BVFG member, having 52 appearances on the all-time database, most of them made in the late 1990's. In fact, he is one of those featured in the photo on the front of our Yahoo Groups site (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/BanchoryVeteransFootballGroup/?yguid=260253071).

Here's another one of him in a team shot from a snowbound DATA at the New Year match in 2001:

That's Geoff kneeling between Jack and Malcolm in the front row

Geoff's done well for himself - don't suppose he'd manage a game at the Beach on Friday night now?

PTFC come to town!

2011-11-10T04:13:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Hot off the press is the news that Spartans - like Sion before them - have just been kicked out of the Scottish Cup for fielding ineligible players. This means that the team Spartans defeated in the last round - Culter FC - go through and they now face a home tie against Partick Thistle!

The match is a 1:30 pm kick-off and will be played a week on Saturday, 19th November. The Banchory branch of the PTFC supporters' club will be out in full force!

PTFC 4 Celtic 1

2011-10-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Yes, it was 40 years ago today when a young, newly promoted Thistle team took on the full strength of one of the strongest sides in Europe at that time, with Celtic having reached the European Cup final for a second time just a year before, and with a team containing the likes of Jimmy Johnstone and a young Kenny Dalglish.

I was there - and loved it. 4-0 up at half time and coasting. When word of the half time score from Hampden was relayed to the Rangers fans at their home match, thousands of them immediately left Ibrox and headed over to Hampden to witness Celtic's humiliation! Here's the goals, introduced by the legendary David Coleman:

The winning team line-up was:

Rough, Hansen (J), Forsyth, Glavin, Campbell, Strachan, McQuade, Coulston, Bone, Rae, Lawrie. Sub: Gibson

Premiership weekend + new stadia!

2011-10-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Our long-planned and much awaited Premiership weekend didn't go quite as smoothly as planned - at least not for me. I was a very late withdrawal on Saturday morning, so, as it was supposed to be my car we were taking, Ken and Colin had to do a bit of scuttling around as daylight broke. They managed OK in the end, although roadworks in Manchester meant they were a bit later than planned in meeting Dave, who had taken the train up from Reading, and they only caught the last 10 minutes of the lunchtime televised Liverpool - Man Utd match.

They did, however, make it safely to the Etihad Stadium in good time for the Man City - Aston Villa match, which, by all accounts, was a rather sterile, uninspiring match - apart from Milner's superb goal. Not being present at this match, I have no photos to add to this blog, nor the Stadia file on Yahoo - perhaps Dave will do the honours later?

On Sunday, I felt a bit better, so I jumped on the train and met up with the guys in Newcastle. We had a few pints in the Strawberry opposite the stadium, where the blackboard displayed a caricature of a former local hero:

The Arsenal - Sunderland match was on TV and there was an almighty roar when Van Persie's late free kick soared in to the net to beat the "Scum" 2-1!

The Newcastle - Spurs match was great - fantastic atmosphere - a complete contrast to the previous day's entertainment, according to Dave, Ken and Colin, photographed here at the start:

We had great seats, at a good height near the halfway line, but, as you can see, we weren't in the same row.

My abiding memory of the match, apart from two superbly taken goals by Defoe and Ameobi, was the midfield battle between two ball artists - Modric and Tiote - they were terrific to watch.

Here's a shot from inside the stadium before kick-off:

So, our stadia count, after a rather inactive period, is now up to 68. how long before we make the magic ton? Your assistance is required.

Jeb Tyrie 53!

2011-09-06T04:50:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

A day belatedly, but happy 53rd birthday to Jeb, seen here looking slightly baffled at Brechin at BVFG's annual golf outing this year:

Have a good one, Jeb!

Double birthday celebrations/Premiership plans

2011-07-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It's a very happy 45th and 47th birthday respectively to Geordie and Cubby.

Geordie hasn't had much chance to display his silky football skills recently, but he's far more successful anyway nowadays on the golf course, or forecasting winners:

Cubby, on the other hand, gets a game every week, and has been known to join us in the occasional celebration back in Banchory:

Have a good one, boys.

On a separate matter, Dave, Colin, Ken and I are planning our next Premiership weekend for 15th/16th October. We're planning to go to the DW stadium to watch the Wigan - Bolton derby on Saturday afternoon, then drive through to the Etihad stadium to watch City - Villa early Sunday afternoon. We'll stay overnight in Wigan and partake of a few ales, and also plan to take in three televised matches - the Liverpool - Man U and Chelsea - Everton matches sandwiching the live action on Saturday, and West Brom - Wolves serving as a warmer to the Sunday match. Anyone who would like to join us, please let me know as soon as possible.

Malcolm Lodge 60!

2011-07-04T01:13:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It's a very happy big 60th birthday to Malcolm "Duracell" Lodge. Malcolm's in Scotland now, with family visiting them. We tried to entice him to Friday football the last 2 weeks to present him with his "60" shirt, but he couldn't make either week. We even tried to get him to our Headbang a week ago, and then our golf outing on Friday, but despite me pre-clearing it with Eleanor, he couldn't make it along to either, so we were left with no alternative but to make a special presentation to him at his house last Sunday:

Happy birthday, Malcolm - keep on chooglin'!

Annual Golf Outing - Brechin

2011-07-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Despite a spate of late withdrawals, the six of us who did play yesterday at Brechin had a fine afternoon - and we now have a new name on the trophy - Geordie Ziegler! Given his winning ways with the Football Forecasts competition, perhaps it was no surprise that Geordie also turned out to be a winner at golf too - although there was a fairly lengthy discussion after the round about what handicap he should be given. Geordie doesn't play very often, and we hadn't agreed his handicap before the start of the round.

After a fairly inauspicious start, it must have quickly become clear to his playing partners - Messrs McDonald and McRae - that Geordie was no beginner. It was also soon pretty clear to Jeb, Andy and I, playing behind them. We got to the 3rd hole, which was our first Nearest the Pin. It's an uphill par 3 with a 2-tier green, with the pin right at the back on the top level. It's 140 yards of carry to the pin - Geordie was past the pin, with what we discovered later was a 9 iron - impressive stuff.

Even more impressive was Geordie's drive at the 16th hole - the nominated one for our Longest Drive. Splitting the fairway at precisely 284 yards off the tee, Geordie also won this easily. It transpired that he had borrowed Ian McRae's driver just for this shot.

For the record, defending champion Ian McRae got the other Nearest the Pin at the 10th. Back in the clubhouse, the Handicap Committee (McDonald & McRae) eventually decreed that Geordie should play off a handicap of 24. This gave him 37 Stableford points, beating me by one point, with John one further point behind.

Here's the team at the first hole:

Ian Stewart, Jeb Tyrie, Ian McRae, John McDonald, Andy Gore & Geordie Ziegler

Jeb hit some great shots - eventually - but he struggled when he got in the bunkers. This was one classic example - check the marks - there's at least six, and each swing was getting progressively faster than the last. Finally, the wretched ball came out - at 100 miles per hour - and sailed clear out of bounds and out of sight:

Time for the prize-giving - here's Ian presenting the shield to Geordie:

and then, the famous "green" jacket:

The most important prize was left to last - Jeb took the dreaded Filofax home:

and, to prove he was a real sport, Geordie turned up at the Legion later, complete with green jacket and shield, but wearing a baseball cap, for which he was promptly admonished by the steward:

This was our 21st outing since the first trip to Spey Bay in May, 1991, and Geordie becomes the 11th name on the trophy. Brechin was the 14th course we've played in that time.

The responsibility for deciding on next year's location falls on Geordie, and it's likely to be held slightly earlier than usual, as Geordie is returning to California at the end of the school term. Watch this space.

St. Andrews

2011-06-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Trawling through some old photo albums last night, I came across the following from an early outing four of us from BVFG made to the Old Course 19 years ago:

(Narrative on the back of the photo provided by GAG)

Check the hair and the Pringles!

Andy Marshall 50 - almost!

2011-06-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Andy will be 50 on Monday but it was arranged that he would receive his presentation shirt at the Beach last night. I wasn't present, but Dave took the photo for the records - perhaps he'll e-mail it to us?

Andy stood his hand in the Douglas last night and he'd had the good sense to bring his presentation shirt along:

and the rear view:

I asked a lady to take our group photograph and she grasped the opportunity with some enthusiasm, taking multiple shots from different angles:

I have to report a classic Senior Moment last night. Steve went to the loo and came back, sat down and leaned over to pick up his dram. I said "hands off - that's mine!". Steve looked bewildered - "where's mine then?" We all looked at the table - there appeared to be one missing - where has it gone? It was then that John McW said to me "what's that in your left hand, Ian?" Whoops!

Lord's

2011-06-08T04:05:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was our annual visit to the MCC last Friday - and what a glorious day it was too. Much time was spent at the Nursery End drinking pints of Pedigree:

You obviously get a much better class of punter at the cricket - there were champagne corks popping all around the boundary rope:

If it's your turn to go for the beers for the lads, there's no problem carrying them back to the stands:

Here's one of me in front of the spaceship-like Media Centre:

A few beers and a lot of sunshine and what can a man do but grab 40 winks in the sun?:

Great day out - recommended.

Deeside Piper

2011-06-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

From this weekend's edition:

Champions League Final/Football Forecasts Finale

2011-05-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Nine of us gathered to watch the Champions League Final at the Douglas on Saturday night, and we made the presentation to Geordie for winning the Forecasts for 2010-11 - again - at half time. 40/50/60 shirts were supposed to be worn for the occasion, but several of us forgot to bring them! Here's the presentation:

McRae, Marshall, Fitzpatrick, Ziegler, Grant, Kilgour, Corbett (half hidden), Stewart and Black.

It was half time - it was 1-1 and Geordie was wearing his favoured Man Utd colours. However, both the match and Geordie's top had changed come full time - here he is with a Barca strip on now:

Well prepared or two-faced? You make up your mind.

The cheque, made payable to Geordie's nominated charity, Nansato Nursery Trust in Malawi, was for a record total of £195 - well done to everyone who contributed. Good fun and a good cause benefiting - what could be better?

For the record, the final results (out of 20 forecasts) were:

1. Geordie Ziegler 11
2= Andy Marshall 10
2= Dave Williamson 10
2= Colin Kilgour 10
5 Steve Paterson 9
6= Ian McRae 8
6= Ken Black 8
6= Gary Grant 8
6= Malcolm Lodge 8
10= Ewen Hay 7
10= Andy Robertson 7
10= Tim Trimble 7
10= Jeb Tyrie 7
10= Chris Dickinson 7
10= Ian Stewart 7
16= John McWhinnie 6
16= Nigel Meany 6
16= Rob Dunnachie 6
19 Ian Sharp 3

Hopefully we'll get a few more to take part next year and manage to raise even more money for somebody's favourite charity.

Friday night frolics

2011-05-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It's a busy weekend for your blogster - first of all, Friday night in the Legion - it was Ken Black's turn to buy the birthday drams:

How many photos like this do we have in the archives? A bunch, that's for sure - and most of them feature Sharpy in a prominent position - not to mention CK and I!

A late arrival was John McWhinnie, straight from a company do in Dundee, and perhaps a bit over-dressed for a session at the Legion?:

Friday night drams in the Burnett

2011-05-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was John McWhinnie's first Friday night in the pub since his big 60th birthday last week and he did the honours in the traditional way:

Dave's new look

2011-04-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

On my way to the golf club on Friday night, Dave picked me up in one of the Williamson family fleet of vehicles, which has a floral internal decoration:

Very fetching, Dave!

Rare raffle prize win!

2011-03-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Sorry - I know you'll all be bidding to win this rare signed football - but it's mine and I'll be keeping it for posterity:

Now, if only I knew some of the players who signed it!

Friday night drams again!

2011-03-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was Jack's turn this time to buy the birthday drams - large ones they were too - but "only" 10 yo Macallan:

John McWhinnie; Ian Sharp; Steve Paterson; Ian Stewart; & (dramless!) Jack Simpson

Recognise the venue? For readers too young to remember, it was back to Scott Skinner's last night after what seems like a decade or so's absence from it being our regular Friday night venue.

There was one missing from the above photo - Ian had some shuttling around of his boys to do before he came back and re-joined us:

Ian McRae

Double birthday celebrations

2011-03-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Yes, it was Friday night drams again in the Douglas last night and it was appropriate that they were doubles (Macallan Fine Oak, 15 yo) as we celebrated, slightly prematurely,both the 56th birthday of Steve Paterson, and also my 62nd - both tomorrow (Sunday 6th):

I'll try to have a good one tomorrow - hope you do too, Steve.

CK birthday drams

2011-02-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Yes - it was time to celebrate yet another birthday on Friday night in the Legion on Friday - CK's 63rd:

New Friday night regulars

2011-02-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was a bit of a strange evening in the Stag last night - no CK, but a few faces who haven't been seen on a Friday night for a while:

"Mad Jack" Simpson - 2nd week in a row!

Hibee Ken B

Andy Marshall after a rare Friday night appearance at the Beach

Sharpy just returned from his overseas trips chez Meany in Dubai and chez McWhinnie in the Algarve

John McWhinnie - perhaps dreaming of being back in the Algarve?

Ian McRae had been down earlier and hoped to make it back, but son-sitting problems meant he couldn't make it back, so he missed his photo opportunity.

Fun evening - with karaoke in full flow and a Fitzpatrick starring - not Brian, but son Craig.

Melbourne - more stadia!

2011-01-31T02:50:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

In Melbourne this weekend when we were hoping Andy would have pulled it off, but it wasn't to be. The Rod Laver Arena is just a short stroll from the city centre:

Almost adjacent is the wonderful MCG - already added to our collection by John McDonald, but here it is again anyway:

Some great statues outside the MCG as well - including one of the great Dennis Lillee in full flow. The Members' dress code published outside the cricket ground (in Batman Avenue of all places) lists, amongst other barred items for gentlemen, "no thongs" - the mind boggled at first until we realised what the Aussies call flip-flops!

More stadia!

2011-01-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Greetings from Adelaide - we're on a trip Down Under, visiting our daughter. We stopped off at Hong Kong on the way and came across the Hong Kong Jockey Club at Happy Valley Racecourse:

We moved on to Oz and over to Adelaide where the Tour Down Under (featuring Lance Armstrong) was taking place. We went to see the final day when they do a circuit of 20 laps (90km total) round the city centre. Here's the start:

The circuit goes round the Adelaide Oval, where the Barmy Army are due back tomorrow (Australia Day) for a One Day International. It's a superb stadium in a fantastic setting - renowned as one of the prettiest in the world:

Unfortunately, my plans to go and see the ODI have been scuppered by my daughter who has bought us tickets to go to Barossa Valley and watch Sting in concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in an outdoor setting - oh well - another time perhaps.

One for the Hibees

2011-01-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Sitting in the BA lounge at Heathrow, just spotted Craig Burley and his co-commentator (can't remember his name) preparing themselves for tomorrow's lunchtime Sky match.

Indiscreet to the last, Burley was dissing Ian Murray big-time. I would have said something had I disagreed, but I always thought he was c**p too!

23rd Anniversary celebrations

2011-01-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Well, there was no footy to celebrate our 23rd anniversary, but we managed a nice sociable get-together in the Douglas:

Surprise showing of Geordie Ziegler (far left), with me, Dan. John McW, Ian McR, CK and Ian Sh also in this photo. If we'd taken it a bit earlier, Jack and Ken B would also have featured, as would a few from the squash club.

I'd put out a late text to wear our souvenir shirts - too late for many, but Messrs McRae, Kilgour and Corbett did (eventually) don theirs - I was already wearing both my 50 and 60 Thistle shirts - Geordie happened to have a Scotland top on, so we let him join in as well:

Time was marching on but the usual Friday night hard core celebrated with a late dram:

DATA

2010-12-31T07:13:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It is a beautiful day today in Deeside, but the downside of the clear blue skies is that the temperature has dropped again and the milder, damper air of the last couple of days has gone, and it now looks unlikely that DATA will be clear of snow by Monday. This was the scene this morning:

We do have enough willing to play if Gary, John McW, Jeb and I all turned out - we would then have 15, with a couple more possibles. However, a number of the players have indicated they would like to play at DATA - I don't think we'd get enough willing to travel to Strikers again on Monday.

I'll keep you posted, but it looks a long shot now.

Boxing Day Fun Run

2010-12-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

All the pub talk in recent weeks - including as recently as Friday - came to nowt when it came to the crunch - with one exception - our man from Houston turned up raring to go:

The weather conditions had severely reduced numbers - normally there's a three figure turn-out, but I only counted 16 at the start this time, all of them younger and including some regular runners. Understandably, Malcolm lurked at the back a bit:

Here he is hiding behind the beefcake:

and off he goes:

but by the time he had crossed Dee St and headed along Bridge St, poor Malcolm was already trailing by 50 yards or so:

Still, at least he had the bottle to do it, unlike everyone else. I met Malcolm at the end and he told me he had done it in 40 minutes - although there was a suggestion that he had perhaps cut off a bit of the route. He had got a bit distanced from the rest of the field and had to make up his own route back!

Well done, Malcolm!

Dave's 58th

2010-12-24T13:53:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

A couple of late cancellations (CK & Sharpy) plus a couple of latecomers (Messrs Moir & MacIndoe) meant that we only had 12 of us in the team photo at Strikers:

The match went well - it was nip and tuck all the way, but the birthday boy eventually emerged on the winning side. Back at the Douglas, Dave did the honours:

Soup and sannies went down well, but eventually some of the drivers had to leave. Here's the east wing team:

On the south side of the snug in the Douglas, Dan, Malcolm, Colin and Tim were in earnest conversation:

The west end of the snug were a bit more light hearted:

Super day out - and, despite my fears that everyone had left without making a suitable contribution to the kitty to cover the soup and sannies, we ended up leaving a reasonable tip for the staff and still having £60 to carry over to the next gathering - hopefully on 3rd January, which will be the 23rd anniversary of the formation of BVFG - with any luck at DATA, if we get the forecast thaw next week. Watch this space. Should the match not take place, the surplus funds will go in to the Football Forecasts charity fund.

Friday night in the Stag

2010-12-18T02:19:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

The planned discussion about the Boxing Day Fun Run/Walk didn't last long - and, to nobody's surprise, was inconclusive. I did, however, manage to collect £10 from Steve Paterson and also prise £5 from Sharpy's wallet for the football bets. There's only 2 weeks left to make changes to your bets this season - ideally, I'd like to have them by next Friday at Dave's birthday match. The more people make changes, the more money we collect for the winning charity.

The Stag has got a cracking coal fire and it was very welcome last night - even if it tended to toast you on one side and leave the other feeling comparatively cold. Ian enjoyed it:

Of course, the main event was the rake of drams that birthday boy McRae bought:

and yes, as the sign says, there was karaoke on last night - Sharpy picked up the book of available songs, but that's as far as we got - we weren't that drunk!

As the cold weather continues, it's looking increasingly likely that DATA will not be playable next Friday, in which case we will have to revert to Plan B - Strikers. There are still pitches available there, but the latest time is 1:30 pm. Watch this space.

Cash collections

2010-12-11T00:20:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

We bumped in to Chris Dickinson last night in the Douglas and he was quick to hand over £10 in payment of his football bets fee for this season - including the extra £5 for the 5 changes that he's planning to make this month. Chris wanted to make sure he featured on the blog for the first time, so here he is handing over the cash:

So, a useful reminder that time is running out to make any changes to your bets - let me know asap please.

Pub talk

2010-12-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

On a cold, wintery night in Banchory, we thought it was only appropriate to have a warming dram in the Legion last night:

The combination of Macallans and several beers was followed by discussion about the old Fun Run photo circulated earlier this week - we even talked about us doing the Boxing Day Fun Run again this year! Mmmm ......

Sharp practice

2010-10-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Check out Saturday's P & J - young Graeme featured again - his 200th match for Peterhead. There was even a mention for Dad - http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1954707

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be for Peterhead - nor Thistle - and it's a Ross County - QoS final in the Alba Challenge Cup.

Rob Dunnachie 59!

2010-10-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Our man in Dingwall enters his 60th year today. It's a decade since he left Banchory and absconded to the Highlands and he remains, to this day, the only person ever to receive a commemorative shirt that wasn't a significant/round number:

This was a guest appearance at Fred's 60th in 2001:

Rob has the misfortune to support two teams from Division 1 - his home town team, Dundee and his adopted Ross County. Have a good one, Rob.

Top football on TV next Sunday

2010-10-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

BBC Alba (Sky 168) - next Sunday 2:50 pm - Challenge Cup Semi - Ross County v Partick Thistle - come on the Jags!

Another packed stadium

2010-09-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

On a recent trip to Fife, Ian and Gary took in the Peterhead match at Bayview, Methil:

Number 61 and counting!

Another stadium

2010-09-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

After our little stroll along the latter part of the West Highland Way last weekend, with the others still munching breakfast, Colin and I took off and made a slight detour and managed to get another stadium to add to our archives - number 60 on the list.

Claggan Park is not the most exotic, but the backdrop certainly is. Here's a few snaps we took:

(For other photos from our walk - check out http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/)

Andy Marshall goes celebrity hunting

2010-09-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Mick McCarthy looks well pleased to meet up with that well-kent Wolves fan, Andy Marshall:

as does Christophe Berra:

Andy has also contributed 3 more stadia photographs - Loftus Road, Boleyn Stadium and Craven Cottage. That takes our collection up to 59. Any more to come?

Tim Trimble

2010-09-07T00:01:00.001-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Article in this weekend's Deeside Piper:

Go, Tim!

Cricket!

2010-08-25T00:51:00.001-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

CK and I had to pull out of Saturday's trip to the Oval to see what turned out to be a foreshortened final day of the 3rd Test v Pakistan, but Andy and Dave made it along.

Andy sent me this photo of him with the ICC Trophy - presumably taken on Saturday:

Friday night at the Legion

2010-08-07T13:38:00.001-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

There were a few non-regulars along on Friday night - Andy Marshall and Steve Paterson made all too rare appearances - something was said about absent wives:

Also, it was the return of an old face - Dan Corbett is now back in Banchory and could be a Friday night regular from now on:

Dan decided we should celebrate his return and bought a rake of Macallans for us all:

Vince's brief cameo appearance earlier at the Beach provoked some earnest discussion about a possible football trip to Paris some time in the next year - for further discussion later.

Forecasts 2010/11

2010-08-02T01:51:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

20 was a nice round number of forecasts for last season, so we'll go for the same number again this coming season. As last year, £5 per head entry, with up to 5 changes (at £1 per change) possible at Christmas/New Year, with all proceeds going to the winner's nominated charity.

The 20 forecasts for the coming season are:

SPL winners (1)
SPL relegated (1)
SFL winners - divs 1, 2 & 3 (3)
Scotttish League Cup (CIS) winners (1)
Scottish Cup winners (1)
Barclays Premiership winners (1)
Premiership relegated (3)
Football League winners - Championship + Divs 1 & 2 (3)
Carling Cup winners (1)
F.A. Cup winners (1)
UEFA - Champions League winners & runners-up (2)
UEFA Europa League winners & runners-up (2)

For information on the relevant teams etc - try these links:

http://www.scotprem.com/content/default.asp?page=home_Statistics

http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/

http://www.premierleague.com/page/Home/0,,12306,00.html

http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/Home/0,,10794,00.html

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/index.html

Rod Liddle gave some of his forecasts in the Sunday Times yesterday:

I think the deadline for the initial 20 entries should be the end of September - there's still a chance to change 5 of the forecasts 3 months later.

Unlike last year, in the event of a tie, to encourage a healthy cheque for the charity, the first countback this season will be those that made the most changes at Christmas - i.e. paid the most in to the kitty.

Football forecasts 2009/10

2010-08-02T01:16:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

The final table for the 2009/10 season forecasts shows:

1 Ziegler, Geordie 10
2 = McRae, Ian 9
2 = Paterson, Steve 9
4 = Dickinson, Chris 8
4 = Lodge, Malcolm 8
4 = Marshall, Andy 8
4 = McWhinnie, John 8
4 = Stewart, Ian 8
4 = Tyrie, Jeb 8
10 = Black, Ken 7
10 = Kilgour, Colin 7
12 = Grant, Gary 6
12 = Meany, Nigel 6
12 = Robertson, Andy 6
12 = Trimble, Tim 6
12 = Williamson, Dave 6
17 = Dunnachie, Rob 5
17 = Hay, Ryan 5
17 = Macindoe, Stewart 5
20 Sharp, Ian 4

We all knew that Geordie had won, and the shame game "winner" was also pretty clear some time ago - Ian actually redeemed himself a little in the World Cup Final by forecasting Holland as runners-up - the only one to do so - otherwise he was well adrift at the foot of the table, correctly forecasting only Chelsea, Portsmouth and Notts Co prior to that.

Geordie's 50% success rate is pretty good. Rob and Andy R also had 50% last year, but that was only 4 from 8 on that occasion - this time there were 20 picks.

Get your thinking caps on - the 2010/11 season is almost upon us - I'll be sending a separate note out about that.

Friday night at the Douglas

2010-08-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was Friday night - the Stag had run out of ale and the front bar in the Douglas was packed, as was the lounge. No option then but to sit out on the decking at the back - even though it was a touch parky and the midges were biting:

In the absence of John McW, Dave seems to have taken over the pointing role - what was Sharpy being accused of here?

Annual golf outing - Alford 2010

2010-07-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Last year's winner was this year's organiser, and Andy G. chose to take us back to Alford. We were last there in 2005, and it was our 3rd time there in all - the first being the famous one in 1994 when we were first regaled with the sight of Nigel, on a wet day, wearing what was described at the time as the nearest thing to an all-body condom.

We had thought there would be 13 of us playing, but Gary was a late withdrawal - with apologies but no explanation. His car was, however, spotted in the car park at Banchory golf club at lunchtime - he'd obviously got a better offer to play in the charity Pro-Cel-Am organised by the Lords Taverners. Mmmm.

Never mind - 12 is a good number and so we switched the teams round and organised three fourballs. We had lunch washed down by pints of Ossian and awaited the latecomers - Jeb and Malcolm. Jeb eventually showed, but where was Malcolm? I sent out a text, thinking Malcolm must be on his way in the car, but no reply - so I said to Andy (again) - "are you sure Malcolm said he was playing?" "Yes, yes - he replied to say he was coming over and would like to take part."

Eventually, I had to phone Malcolm. "Where are you?" "Houston", he replied! What? "Andy swears you told him you were coming over to play in the golf outing." "Not me", he says.

OK, Andy - explain.

Anyway, after all this pfaffing around, the 11 remaining stood to attention for the obligatory team photo:

It was a lovely afternoon and we all thoroughly enjoyed it - and the scoring was generally very good. We had 3 players finishing with 37 points - Ian Sharp, my brother-in-law Brian Hanson, who was up from Elderslie for the weekend, and John McDonald, fresh from his appearance at the Pro-Am at Carnoustie for the British Seniors. It was John who had the better inward half so he was awarded 3rd place.

I finished with 39 points - and, frankly, thought I must have a reasonable chance of winning it (again!), but, surprise, surprise, Ian McRae popped up with a tremendous score of 43 points! So, we will have a new name on the trophy, which goes back to 1991. This was our 20th outing and Ian becomes the 10th person to have his name engraved on the shield. Before the presentation could be made, however, Ian had to squeeze himself in to the "green(ish)" jacket:

Nigel got the first Nearest the Pin prize and also the Longest Drive, while Ken got the second Nearest the Pin at the 16th hole. There was a (slightly unbalanced) team competition - the first fourball came in with a best two score of 85 points, whilst the second group, comprising just me, Brian and Steve had one point less, but the 3rd group of four, consisting of Messrs Sharp, McRae, Black and Tyrie - always favourites - had a whopping 99 points.

There were just 2 presentations remaining. Firstly, the famous Filofax, first presented by John McWhinnie at Tarland in 2004. It's a luxury leather one and John had originally thought it might be a suitable prize for the winner of the tournament, but it quickly became the least favoured prize awarded annually as the booby - succeeding the previous - and infamous - Wheel Cleaning Kit donated by Brian Fitzpatrick in the early 90's. It was Andy Marshall who now holds the Filofax for the next 12 months:

Just time for one more surprise presentation to our organiser:

The list of winners over the years is now (number of wins in brackets):

Ian Stewart (5)
John McDonald (4)
Gary Grant (3)
Dave Williamson (2)
Brian Fitzpatrick, Ian Sharp, John McWhinnie, Rob Dunnachie, Andy Gore & Ian McRae (one each)

Where to for the 20th anniversary year next year? The very first event was held at Spey Bay in 1991, but it's believed to be in disrepair nowadays. For discussion later.

Stadia

2010-07-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Stretching the definition slightly from pure stadiums/stadia to "sporting arenas" and we can include the Open championship at St Andrews last week - Ian McRae and I travelled down together but we weren't allowed cameras on the course, so all we have is this shot from the car park:

Ewen also sent me photos from his trip to the Nou Camp on his 40th birthday back in January:

So that's us up to 56 - just 44 to go to get to the magic ton - any more contributions?

New (old) Friday night destination

2010-07-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It was a venue with a difference on Friday night - back to the Tor-na-Coille hotel for the first time in many years. In fact, it pre-dates the official Friday night rota, but it used to be a regular venue for the squash playing fraternity who originated BVFG in the late 80's.

Good turnout too - Andy Gore had been and gone before some of the regulars made it along:

Stadia stats correction

2010-07-07T06:29:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

54 Stadia
15 different countries
12 sports
13 members' contributions to date

Stadia

2010-07-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

My 3 days down south with Dave last week managed to add 3 more stadia to our list. Firstly, Wimbledon:

Then, the Henley Regatta course:

Lastly, the Royal Albert Hall. Not immediately synonymous with sport, several tennis tournaments have been held there - including http://www.aegonmasterstennis.com/:

The above 3 are numbers 53, 54 & 55 on our list of stadia of the world. We've had contributions from 13 members of BVFG so far - if you haven't contributed yet, then why not? Let's see if we can get the ton up within the next year or so. Any sport, anywhere - you don't even have had to watch the sport - just being there to take the photograph is enough.

Gore family roots?

2010-07-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

On Saturday night, Dave and I went to the Royal Albert Hall and noticed one of the side streets:

Long lost cousin, Andy?

Lord's - Saturday

2010-07-06T04:33:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Another day, another sport - this time cricket - the real reason why I had planned to go down in the first place. Dave and I usually take in one of the ODI's and this year it was the Aussies who were on tour and the final match looked like it had the possibility of being a cracker, as it could have been the series decider - that was until England went against the form book and won the first three matches in the series.

Still, it was a lovely day out and the first time we'd been to a match in the capital when it wasn't cool and windy. In fact, it was an idyllic day for watching the cricket, and Lord's is a super place.

Walking from St John's Wood tube station, we passed the flat Dave used to live in - pre Jayne, in the mid 70's:

Most appropriate change of use we thought.

Celebrity spotting again - we saw Merv (the swerve) Hughes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merv_Hughes):

Everyone, including me, was convinced it was him, but Dave questioned this and suspected it may be a doppelganger passing himself off as the former Aussie bowler.

We stayed off the sauce until Australia had completed their allotted 50 overs, but then headed straight for the Marston's and lunch at the Nursery End:

Collingwood just failed to make his ton and the Aussies won with a couple of overs to spare, so we managed to make a quick escape and were in good time for our evening concert at the Royal Albert Hall - Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Henley - Friday

2010-07-06T03:59:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

How to follow a day at Wimbledon? What about a jolly trip up the Thames to see what the chaps were up to at the Henley Regatta?

Didn't take us long to spot some Hoorays dressed in their blazers:

Dave and I were a bit more casual in our wear:

Note the sign behind Dave! We didn't spend too long in Henley - it was the afternoon of the Brazil - Holland match and the Nadal - Murray semi, so we could only take in a flavour of the place and then pub hopped between the football and the tennis.

Wimbledon trip (2)

2010-07-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Our first bit of star spotting was off court - Richard Williams (father of Venus and Serena) was wandering around and sat down to tie his shoelaces near us:

There was a mandatory photo stop at Fred Perry's statue:

We quite fancied checking out the next Great British Hope, Laura Robson, in her Girls' quarter final match:

Frankly, we weren't terribly impressed - she seemed a bit leaden footed.

It was another lovely day and a spell on Murray Mound/Henman Hill was called for, with Pimm's and lemonade to refresh us - and so it should have done at £6.70 per tumbler!:

It was a great day out - Dave's first visit and my second - the previous one was in 1974 when Connors won. There's a wonderful atmosphere and it's great to just stroll round the grounds and take in whatever takes your fancy. We had seats for Court No. 1 but didn't actually use them all that much - it was more fun checking out some of the outer courts and celebrity spotting. We even saw Martina Navratilova playing!

We recommend applying for tickets in the ballot - well worth while.

New recruit for Friday nights

2010-07-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Dave and I were at Wimbledon on Thursday and we happened upon a new potential recruit for Friday night football. He comes from Mallorca but is quite well off and I'm sure he could charter a plane to make it over in time - if only he could get a place in the top 12.

See whether you think he's good enough or not at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52C7etqJpI8

Geordie

2010-06-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

As a postscript to my previous posting, what's even worse is that Geordie got none - not one - of his forecasts right last season! This was his "apology" e-mail on May 31, 2009:

"Given that this is my first season paying attention to your sport, I accept your understanding and grace at my inability to guess any of the winners. Chalk it up to loyalty (choosing MUFC over Barcelona) or to ecumenical peacemaking (Choosing Celtic over Rangers) or simply to plain ignorance (all my other choices), at least I can only improve next year! Ian, I will get you the money next time we have a party I can attend!"

He certainly did improve this year!

Deeside Piper

2010-06-28T00:42:00.001-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

For those that didn't see it, here's the feature - on the sports pages - from this weekend's Piper:

It's also been reported to me that my statement that Geordie has now won it 2 years in a row is incorrect. Well, I've checked the databases and - guess what? - I was completely wrong - Geordie did not win it last year - it was a tie then between Andy Robertson and Rob Dunnachie, who both correctly predicted 4 teams (out of 8) in season 2008/09.

What happened, I now recall, having checked all the previous correspondence on the matter (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/BanchoryVeteransFootballGroup/message/1286), was that we did not have any form of countback last season and, whilst I was able to pay Andy his cash, we didn't see our man from Dingwall last year, so he offered to donate his winnings to the charity that Geordie was collecting for.

My cock-up - apologies - but isn't it funny how everyone - including Geordie - went along with it? Ah yes, I remember it well, as Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold sang in Gigi about half a century ago - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sISWPzEqHLQ

Celebrate good times - come on!

2010-06-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

CK became a grandfather on Sunday, and did the honours last night at the Legion:

SFL fixtures - 2010/11

2010-06-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

In case you missed it - forget the SPL, here's the SFL fixtures for next season, to help us plan our sporting trips:

(Click on the image on the blog to expand).

Breaking World Cup news

2010-06-22T00:56:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Mexico meets Uruguay at Rustenberg.
Greece meets Argentina at Polokwane
England meets France at the airport!

Ryan Hay 33!

2010-06-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It's a very happy birthday to the big fella, last seen in Banchory holding court in the Douglas after our 20th Anniversary of the Database match:

Have a good one, Ryan!

2010-06-12T05:14:00.001-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

A goodly crowd showed up last night to watch the France - Uruguay match in the Douglas and witness the presentation of the winning football forecast cheque to Geordie. The Douglas obviously knew Geordie was coming:

Geordie was in celebration mode:

We then got the team together to make the official presentation to Geordie. Everyone was in good spirits - especially Dave:

and here's what Geordie received for his chosen charity:

We quizzed him on the secret of his success - that's 2 years in a row that he has outwitted the Brits. He reckons we're too emotional in our selections and we need to be a bit more detached. Ian McRae then illustrated the point by saying "yes - there's no f.....g way I was going to forecast Rangers to win anything!"

Geordie was then good enough to stand his hand for the assembled throng - but the celebrations weren't over - Andy Marshall decided to pre-empt my congratulatory e-mail for his birthday on Sunday and bought a rake of drams:

Andy obviously enjoyed the evening - we were sitting in the bar chatting after the match and he said to me - "which album cover is that over there on the wall behind the bar?":

No more drink for you, Andy - even allowing for poor eyesight from a distance, nobody else thought this extractor fan was an album cover!

Belated birthday celebration

2010-05-29T00:06:00.001-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Newly returned from a short break at his Algarve pad, John did the honours at the Legion last night - photo courtesy of Chris Dickinson:

Wolverhampton Warrior

2010-05-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

At the Macbethfest beer festival last night, Andy Marshall was proudly modelling his new t-shirt - it says "Staying where we belong - 2010/11":

Blast from the past

2010-05-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

We were in Edinburgh for a theatre visit last night and found out that the Elgies were going to the same show tonight. Our times overlapped a bit, so we arranged to meet them for lunch today - it was just like old times with Colin, one of the original instigators of BVFG.

Colin retired from Shell this year after 26.5 years, but he's had a few health issues in recent times - a bit of skin cancer, operations on his hand caused by the hereditary Dupitrans Contracture, and he lost sight in one of his eyes as a result of a freak accident playing 5-a-sides in Yorkshire, where he now resides. He's since regained 30% of the vision in the eye, but, understandably has decided to give indoor footy the body swerve from now on.

Despite all this, he was in good humour, and, apart from the limited vision in his left eye, in pretty good health, having hopefully now overcome the other problems. He's still fit and jogging regularly. Here we all are:

From l-r - Leslie Mason (one appearance on a Wednesday night in the early 90's - good impression of Bambi on ice); Colin Kilgour; Colin Elgie; and me in the Guildford Arms today.

Must buy single

2010-05-05T00:59:00.000-07:00

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/ New charity single - a must buy for all Jags fans - here's the You Tube video:

20th anniversary celebrations

2010-04-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

We'd had the 20th anniversary of the first Banchory Veterans' Football Group game a couple of years ago, but last night was time to commemorate the formation of the official database in April, 1990. I started it off and ran it for the first decade before handing over to Rob Dunnachie, who, in turn, then passed it on to Dave Williamson.

Jeb Tyrie was the next person charged with the onerous responsibilty of keeping it going, and, after 3 years, he passed it in to the safe hands of the present incumbent, Ewen Hay. Suffice to say, the database format and layout has changed a little over the years, from the Lotus 1-2-3 (anyone remember this?) file I initially used, but the principles have not changed in all that time - the top 12 who get first option of a game on Friday night at the Beach is still selected from the previous 6 months' appearances.

Not everything has stood the test of time so well - R.i.P. the famous Momentum rule! The database now lists 102 separate names - not including the anonymous one-ofs who appeared under AN Other - the total number of appearances listed is 12,277, with 30 names having made over 100 appearances.

The one and only Fred Morrison appears at number 22 in the list with exactly 200 appearances and the Hay brothers have now both crept over the 300 mark at numbers 15 & 16. They look the two most likely to be next to get their names on the 500 Shield, but it's probably going to be 3 years or more before they do so.

Nigel Meany just managed to get over the 400 game mark before retiring and he is one of 3 who look unlikely to ever join the famous 500 club - the others being Gary Grant (467) and Rob Dunnachie (470).

There are now 10 names on the 500 Shield, the most recent of them being John Moir, who has now risen to number 7 on the list with 564 games under his belt - not long to go until he overtakes John McDonald, who remains static on 573. Brian Fitzpatrick is in 10th place, stuck on 507, and just ahead of him is Jack Simpson who edges up ever so slowly with his appearances strictly limited to celebratory and Christmas/New Year matches only.

There are just 5 players who have made it past the 600 mark - I've got 602 and Ian Sharp has now overtaken me with 616 appearances. Malcolm Lodge's move to USA must now make his 3rd place on 657 a little vulnerable to attack from Sharpy over the next year or so.

Likewise, Dave Williamson's insistence on further enriching his already very healthy pension pot by continuing to work in exotic locations like Rio, Paris and Reading (?) has meant that the gap between him and the top slot is now ever widening. Dave is now on 858, but is probably only adding to this total by about 20 games a year now.

Then we come to the King of them all - the irrepressible Andy Gore who has now reached the incredible figure of 902 appearances. The big question is, can we keep him alive long enough to make it to the magic 1,000 mark? It's going to take another couple of years probably, but the old boy is certainly determined to give it a go.

Anyway, we celebrated last night with an outdoor match at DATA, with most of the Friday night regulars making a special effort to take a trip out to Banchory to take part. A match between the "Eastenders" and the "West Wing" had been planned, with the teams being split on roughly geographic criteria - although it looked rather like another Youngsters v Old Boys match. It looked at one stage that there were going to be 17 of us taking part, but, in the end, we had a few unfortunate late cancellations - Andy Robertson had to withdraw and Dave Williamson was a victim of the Icelandic volcano ash and got stuck in Amsterdam, whilst Jeb Tyrie's son, Dylan, had an accident and fell off his bike, so he, too, had to pull out.

It was 18 C and a beautiful evening. There were a few last minute arrivals so I had plenty time to set up the team photo. First time around, the camera was leaning back a bit much, so we got plenty of blue sky:

No - not quite right - try again, and this time, angle the camera down a bit:

Whoops - slight over-adjustment - autoflash had kicked in and the light had bounced off the sand particles in the pitch and created a bit of a white-out. To hell with it, that's enough - time to play some footy.

It ended up as a 7-a-side match and the huge spaces available on the wide pitch at DATA definitely favoured the younger legs of the Eastenders and they soon raced in to a 5-0 lead. The West Wing eventually got going and did manage to score 4 goals, but, in the end, were well beaten 7-4.

Hard work over, now on to the fun part of the evening. The sweaty Eastenders trotted straight off to the Douglas but the rest of us went home to shower first of all. Some folk were, unfortunately, having to drive back home but it didn't seem to get anyone down too much:

Jeb and Dylan had to pull out of the meal late on so I phoned the Derbar to let them know about this - "we'll be round in 30 mins" - "no problem". Of course, when we arrived there, it was chaos - no table set aside for us and little prospect of getting one in the near future. Harsh words were spoken, but we managed to get ourselves a table at Franco's at the last minute, so we retreated.

Another chance for a team photo:

Some sloped off after the meal, but a few of us crossed the road to the Burnett to keep Ewen and Ryan company before the last bus arrived - and to play some daft trivia quizzes - we failed miserably.

Great fun - and here's to the next one.

Training for WHW

2010-03-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

A few of us are planning a long weekend in September to do a bit of the West Highland Way, and we thought we needed to get some practice in beforehand as we are complete rookies, so, yesterday was our first outing. It had originally been intended that we do Clach-na-Ben, but we thought that might be unwise due to the soft lying snow - ok - let's do a simple one instead - from Potarch back to Banchory.

We caught the bus - CK and I using our free passes, but the others having to pay - down to Potarch where Dave met us and shuttled us up to his house for some warming soup, bread and cheese. Dave had just returned from South Africa, where, bizarrely, he had acquired 2 Fifty Trillion Dollar notes issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe - for the princely sum of £2!

We set off bang on noon, but decided to take a team photo first of all:

OK - failed - no heads. Try again:

Whoops - Dave missing this time - ok - give up.

The more observant of you will have noticed that we had a pro in our midst - Ken had been kind enough to bring along sets of poles for us to try out. We walked uphill from Chapel House to Shooting Greens then headed through the woods with the initial intention of looping round and up Scolty Hill on our way back to Banchory.

As we climbed, the snow got deeper and deeper and nobody had been out in front of us to lay the trail, so it was real hard work lifting boots up and out - and, of course, our feet were wet through eventually. We had to stop a few times - ostensibly for photo opportunities, but more realistically to give the cardio systems, limbs and lungs a rest. Here's one of these (over-exposed) snaps:

We had to give up our plan to traverse Scolty and detoured back down towards the river, where there were obstacles along the way - but they didn't disturb Sharpy's phone call:

Once we had decided we were back down to more sensible walking conditions, John produced the very welcome Glenfiddich:

It was a pretty hard starter - even Ken thought the conditions were tough. We retired to the Douglas for some welcome pints of Flanker's Tackle - excellent - and planned for our next training walk - hopefully in drier underfoot conditions up Clach-na-Ben on Sunday 18th April - all welcome to join us.

Marrakech

2010-03-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

In case anyone wondered why Ian McRae wasn't playing football last Friday, here's the evidence of him - plus me and Dan - making a fool of ourselves in Marrakech:

We were at the most wonderful restaurant inside the Medina - Dar Yacout - a former palace, dating back to the 12th century - so, naturally, Ian and I had to do the silly hats routine.

Murrayfield

2010-02-08T05:36:00.000-08:00

It was the opening weekend of the Six Nations championships and Colin, Ken B and I had managed to secure three tickets, allowing us to tick off another of our Sports Wish List items for 2009/10.

Ken had made a late change to his travel plans and cancelled his train ticket and drove down on Saturday to visit family. Colin and I used our Seniors status to buy 2 Club 55+ tickets and we drove in to Aberdeen on Sunday morning, parked the car and made our way to the train.

The first scrum of the day was getting on to the train - there was only one unreserved coach and everyone was desperate to grab a seat as soon as the doors were opened. Thankfully, we managed OK and settled down with the Sunday Times for what we hoped would be a nice relaxing journey down. Thankfully we had aborted our original plan to board at Stonehaven - had we stuck with that, we would have been standing all the way down.

As we travelled south, each station platform was getting more and more full with fans - eventually about 4 deep - and nobody could get on our train - it was jam-packed. This also meant we were over half an hour late in arriving, but we'd kept in touch with Ken by text and he had sussed out a decent pub (The Haymarket) with ale, food and footy.

Mind you, getting in to the pub proved a little tricky - it was pretty full, with bouncers on the door operating a one-out, one-in policy. We did manage, however, and it was a great atmosphere, full of rugby fans dressed up for the occasion - many of the French as cockerels.

It was an easy stroll to Murrayfield - we had had an earlier viewing of the stadium from the train:

Famous Grouse, as stadium sponsors, highlighted the obvious differences between the teams:

There were also regular updates along the route as to how far it was still to go. Ken picked up one of the fliers, hoping for a free dram, I think:

The basic burger lunch we had had in the pub left us longing for the dessert course, and, once we were inside the ground, we found the ideal stall and had our fill:

Inside the ground, we had superb seats, virtually on the half-way line and we enjoyed the pre-match entertainment, surrounded by hordes of invading Froggies lustily belting out La Marseillaise - surely the best National Anthem in the world - and punctuated by regular cries of "Allez Les Bleus":

Scotland gave a decent account of themselves in the first half, but there was no doubt after the interval who were the better team, and France eventually ran out 18-9 winners. There was one amusing moment as the teams lined up just before kick-off - all three of us commented on Scotland's new strip - then we noticed that it was being worn by a few heavy set black players. Whoops, eyes left - Scotland are playing in white:

After the match, Ken made his way back to pick up his car at his parents' home in Corstorphine and Colin and I headed off to the famous Diggers where we saw the 2nd half of the Chelsea - Arsenal match over a pint or two. Ken's last words to us proved to be prophetic - "if the train is too crowded and you want a lift, give me a call - preferably before you get past Inverkeithing".

We boarded the return train at Haymarket - it was already standing room only and they had to prise us both in, leaving hundreds of passengers on the platform. It was inhuman - CK likened it to both the Japanese bullet trains and Auschwitz! We took the advice of the guard and got off at Inverkeithing to get on the longer train behind, which we were promised also had a buffet car. No sooner had we got off the train then they announced that the next train was delayed - grrrr! Fortunately, the cavalry arrived unannounced - Ken had pulled in to the car park to see how we were getting on, so we took him up on his offer to drive us north, with a pit stop at Kinross and slight diversion for him to take us in to Aberdeen to pick up my car.

Despite the travel frustrations, it was a great day out - it had been years since I'd been to one of the Five/Six Nations matches and I'd forgotten how good the atmosphere is - both in and out of the ground.

Au Revoir Malcolm

2010-01-23T01:17:00.000-08:00

The beer was good in the Stag as we gathered for Malcolm's little farewell soiree. Jeb Tyrie, Andy Gore and Gerry Mullins came along for a few beers, although they couldn't stay for the meal, and Andy Robertson made the effort to travel out from Aberdeen to join us.

Here's the team gathered in Franco's restaurant:

I'd run off a few of the old photos of Malcolm, going back over the last 20 years, and copies of "The Goredian" from 1996 and "BVFG - a Brief History" from 1999 were included in the pack that Colin, doing his Eamonn Andrews, presented to Malcolm:

This was prefaced with CK reading out the pen portraits from 1996, including the reference to Malcolm's "burger addiction".

Andy R had to catch his bus back to Aberdeen but the rest of us retired back to the Stag again, and it quickly became a double dram evening:

What was Malcolm thinking about?

Colin managed to feature again - this time with Andy M:

Andy M managed to find a guitar somewhere and, after some arm-twisting - never usually required - Gary finally gave us a tune:

And so we said our farewells - and Malcolm told us he's back in 6 weeks' time anyway!

London footy weekend

2010-01-13T06:14:00.000-08:00

Our long planned weekend trip to London and the Emirates stadium was now upon us, but the weather didn't look like it was going to be very kind to us. In fact, the Friday night forecast was for heavy snow and massive transport disruption in the South East on Sunday. On the back of that, Colin was a last minute cancellation - he couldn't afford the possibility of 2 nights away. So, it was just Malcolm Grigor (Banchory Car Centre and avid Arsenal supporter) and I that headed off on Saturday morning to meet up with Dave in central London.

The plane down was delayed a little, but we were still able to meet Dave at Paddington around 11am. Time for some ale - let's tick off a few Good Beer Guide entries and grab some lunch before we head for the Emirates stadium. Our first port of call was The Duke of Hamilton in upmarket Hampstead, where the walls were adorned with sporting memorabilia, mostly rugby and cricket, including this bat from England's 3-1 Ashes win at the Oval in 1985:

We had an excellent lunch at the nearby Flask - pie and chips for £12! - and I took this slightly blurry photo of Dave on my Blackberry - notice the spooky mirrored image of me taking the photo in the distance:

On to the Emirates then:

It was absolutely perishing - colder even than I can ever remember at Pittodrie - and Dave decided he needed some extra protection, so it was a quick trip to the shop for the Arsenal scarf and hat:

The stadium is much more impressive inside than its approaches. This was our view as the second half started amidst snow flurries:

We watched the Birmingham - Man Utd match in different pubs and then headed back to Dave's pad in snowy Reading. Dinner at Wagamama (http://www.wagamama.com/) and then back to the flat for drinks and Match of the Day. It had been a long day and Malcolm was the first to falter:

followed by Dave a few minutes later:

On previous sporting trips with Dave, my sleeping experiences haven't been the greatest - many may recall the famous shared double bed at Luton airport a couple of years ago; and last year, it was a rather narrow couch for me after CK won the toss and he got the single bed. This year looked like being OK as the toss this time gave me the larger of the two available rooms - but there were hazards ahead. I was warned about the low entrance to the upper mezzanine area - this girder was about 5'9" off the ground:

I slept on an inflatable double bed, which apparently had a faulty valve (or so I was told in the morning) and so I ended up feeling rather sore, virtually lying on the bare floor. I staggered up for my shower and headed for the narrow spiral staircase, but, of course, completely forgot about the low beam - bang - flesh wound on the top of my skull - what a great start to the day!

After Dave cooked Malcolm and I some bacon and eggs, we went back in to Central London. First stop was the National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.org.uk/), just behind Trafalgar Square, where we saw the Beatles to Bowie: the 60's Revealed. The West Ham match had been prematurely and unnecessarily postponed, so we had time for a leisurely lunch at the Porterhouse brewpub (http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/coventgarden.html). There's a bit of a sporting theme on one of the walls - all Chelsea related - Chopper Harris and all. Here's Dave and Malcolm posing in front of it:

After lunch it was off to the movies (see Headbang blog for details) and then Malcolm and I headed off to Heathrow and Dave went back to his flat in Reading. We were back home, after only a short delay, about 11 pm. Sod's law, Colin could easily have come with us - the weather forecast for heavy snow in London and major transport disruption on Sunday all came to nowt.

Celebrations

2009-12-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

It was Andy's 63rd birthday - and also my 600th match - and it was back to Strikers again. Here's the Oldies v Kids line-up at the start - before John M appeared:

The plan had been to go back to the Burnett for a change - and we'd been in to recce beforehand - but the beer, even though it was my 60th birthday ale, Nechtan, was a bit off - too sharp - so we hastily relocated to the Douglas across the road. The beer there was excellent - particularly Caledonian's Kiss Me Quick - but no soup or sannies had been organised, so we only had crisps to soak up the ale and the drams that Andy and I bought. It wasn't long before some of us were losing the power of speech! Here's the team who had the first round of drams:

We watched the the old pros playing in the Scottish Masters on Sky - wondering who some of the characters were - and the general opinion was that their game was much slower than ours had been!

Dave 57

2009-12-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

The snow in Banchory meant that the planned venue of DATA was out, so we relocated to Strikers in Aberdeen:

It was back to the Duglas for soup and sannies afterwards - and Andy presented Dave with a unique present:

Somebody made sure that their beer wasn't touched:

Lemon Tree gigs - Blockheads

2009-12-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

Messrs Sharp, McWhinnie, Williamson and Grant all had their various reasons for not coming along to the Lemon Tree for the second gig in a week, but Andy Marshall managed to join us this time. We arrived for the 5:15 bus a little early so there was just time for a very swift half of OSH in the Stag first of all - the last time short measures were poured that night:

And yes, I did get on a bus - CK showed me how you do it and I used my bus pass for the very first time. Here's the rather unflattering evidence:

We tried the Star & Garter for a quick pint of Ossian, whilst watching the World Cup draw on TV, then headed down to Carriages. Disaster! Diners only - we couldn't get in. What to do? We were due at the Jewel in the Crown in half an hour. In the end, the logistics were against us and we cancelled our curry and headed off to Archibald Simpson's for ale and food. It's so convenient for the Lemon Tree anyway.

Although one member of the Grant clan couldn't make it, elder brother Donnie, standing in for Gary, met us at the Lemon Tree:

We had last seen the Blockheads in 2006 and they were great again this time. Norman Watt-Roy on bass was, as ever, the star of the show - you couldn't keep your eyes off him - but the rest of the band - including Mickey Gallagher on keyboards for the second week in a row - were terrific as well. Check their web site for the biogs of the band - www.theblockheads.com. Here they are doing Clevor Trevor, with Derek the Draw laconic as ever on lead vocals:

The band played straight through with no interval, so we had time for yet another pint of Old Speckled Hen in the Globe - good band playing there too. Beside our bus stop in Union St, the same old lonely busker was playing. Andy requested Tangled Up In Blue:

Then it was the bus back to Banchory:

Still time for yet another OSH in the Stag before heading off home. Great evening.

Lemon Tree gigs - Animals + SDG

2009-12-05T02:49:00.000-08:00

The first of two consecutive Friday nights at the Lemon Tree saw 6 of us going to see the Animals (for the second time in 5 years), joined this time by 70 year old Spencer Davis. This rather poor photo shows Spencer on the left:

The piece de resistance - Keep On Running:

Headbang - Friday the 13th

2009-11-14T01:14:00.000-08:00

There must be something about Friday the 13th - our last headbang in February was also held on this date. We had a full attendance from the headbangers section - plus our youngest ever new recruit - Jeb's son, whose name is, appropriately, Dylan. It's always the youngsters who flag first at our headbangs - Dylan was spotted dozing off on his Dad's shoulder pretty early on in the evening - although he just managed to prise his eyelids open in time for this shot:

As usual, we started with our obituary section - and there has been a total of 12 relatively significant artistes who had passed away since our last gathering - one of whom, Ellie Greenwich, was a writer rather than a performer, but her place in the pantheon of rock and roll history is so assured that we had to include a couple of clips of her famous songs - from the Ronettes and the Crystals.

After playing all 12 clips, we each voted on who would be the most and the least missed amongst them. The clear winner was Les Paul, and the top 6 finished up this way:

Les Paul - 74
Koko Taylor - 69
Michael Jackson - 65
Willy de Ville - 64
Ellie Greenwich & Mary Travers - 54 each

Stephen Gateley barely mustered the minimum number of votes - although, despite issuing detailed voting instructions earlier in the day, our host seemed to struggle with the concept of ranking the artistes from 1-12!

Next up was a brief celebration of the 40th anniversaries of 3 significant events that occurred in 1969:

The release of the Beatles final recording - Abbey Road
The Stones in the Park gig - their first with Mick Taylor, just a few days after the death of Brian Jones.
Woodstock

The first and last named were clearly the most significant and the voting was almost evenly split, with Colin, Gary and I opting for the Beatles, but we were out-numbered by the rest who voted for Woodstock.

The main theme of the evening was old favourites - and Andy and Colin had taken the lead here by pre-selecting their favourite clips from my archive of over 1,000 individual music video files.

Andy had selected 17 clips, which were voted for on a scale of 1-10. There was a tie at the top between Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry and Squeeze's Up the Junction - both with 74 points out of a possible maximum of 80. Seasick Steve's Doghouse Blues came in a close 3rd with 72.

Colin's favourites were more extensive - 36 in all, which meant the taxi back to Drumoak and Culter arrived before we got through all the video clips, forcing Jeb, Dylan and Malcolm to miss the last 7 of CK's selections - and Gary also took the opportunity to slope off at this time.

The hard core of Colin, Andy and I stayed on at Dave's, playing more of the videos, and we asked Malcolm and Jeb to order a taxi to come out and pick us up. We were a little surprised that it was the same taxi who came to pick us up an hour later - especially when we discovered that it was a Davro 6 seater, which could have taken us all at the same time!

The team photo was therefore a bit short in numbers:

Nonetheless, we managed to garner sufficient votes to declare a result on Colin's favourites. The clear winner here was the Who's Won't Get Fooled Again with an amazing 69 out of a possible 70 maximum (Dylan didn't vote as he was asleep during most of it!). The rest of the top 10 scored pretty well with Cream, Dylan, Animals, Stones, Blockheads, Dr. Feelgood, Fleetwood Mac, Hendrix and the Faces trailing in behind the Who.

Another great night - bring on the next one!

Maximum Rhythm 'n' Blues

2009-11-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

It was billed as a Night at the Flamingo, featuring the Alan Price Set and guests. Our host and droll raconteur was first to feature:

He then gave the spotlight to Zoot Money, whose Big Roll Band (alternating with Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames) used to be one of the house bands at the Flamingo in the 60's:

For many of us, the star of the show, and one of the main reasons we came along, was to see Maggie Bell in full flow again:

Chris Farlowe, complete with strange, rotund upper body shape was next to feature:

Of course, some of the Animals music was featured - Alan Price opened with I'm Crying - but next up was Bobby Tench (check him out on Wikipedia) with Black Magic Woman:

Then Chris Farlowe and Maggie Bell duetted on William Bell and Judy Clay's Private Number:

After the break, Chris Farlowe did T-Bone Walker's Stormy Monday Blues, with Bobby Tench wailing away on lead guitar:

Hibs v Aberdeen 31 Oct 09

2009-11-02T05:16:00.000-08:00

Our second footy trip this season took us down to Easter Road, where Dave wanted to do some box-ticking, never having been there before.

We caught an early morning train down from Stonehaven, which gave us a chance to relax, read the papers and still get to Edinburgh in time for a Costa Coffee stop (no buffet service on the train!):

We then headed down Broughton St to CK's favourite pub - the Cask & Barrel, where we watched the Arsenal - Spurs match:

With Ken (a Hibee) with us, and me supporting the Reds, we had to sit in the relatively neutral ground of the main stand, but just before we got there, CK posed in front of the Famous 5 stand:

Now - without Googling - can you name the members of the Famous 5? I managed it OK, but the rest of the crew failed with one of the names.

This is a view of the Hibs end at the foot of the famous Easter Road slope, taken from our seats at the far end of the main stand:

The Dons fans had turned out in good numbers - many of them in fancy dress, as we were to discover later on the journey home:

Hibs finally beat 9 man Aberdeen with two late, late goals. Ken stayed down in Edinburgh with family and the rest of us headed back on the train. Fortunately, we caught a slightly later one than most of the Dons fans, but we were delayed a couple of hours outside Kirkcaldy by what was described by the guard, in increasingly hysterical language, as a major riot on the train in front of us. It transpired to be no such thing, although it did have fairly serious repercussions for one or two individuals involved in what was probably initially a prank involving fireworks and a fan in sheep's clothing - check http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8336485.stm

Dundee v PTFC 10th October, 2009

2009-10-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

Gary Grant and Steve Paterson joined CK and I on our first trip this season to see Thistle, who had just gone to the top of the table, against the money bags of Dundee, most people's pre-season favourites to return to the SPL.

Steve joined us for the first time on one of these trips because of a family connection - his wife's grandfather used to play for Dundee (and Scotland) - and he had never been to Dens Park.

We stopped off for lunch at the Fisherman's in Broughty Ferry - the only pub in Scotland to have appeared in every edition of the Good Beer Guide since its inception over 30 years ago. It's a great little pub, but we caught them on the hop a bit yesterday - the first few pints poured were a bit warm and cloudy - a product of being the first pourings of the day. It put poor Gary off and he made a point of ordering Pieroni for his second beer of the day:

Here we all are, lined up in the bar just after lunch:

We headed off to the match and parked the car, but the Sat Nav took us to the wrong end of Dens Road, and we faced a longish walk uphill in the relatively warm weather and we were all a bit hot and sweaty by the time we made it in to the Jags end of the ground:

The teams came out in warm sunshine - the Dundee fans were mostly in the opposite end in the Bobby Cox stand:
On previous trips to Dens Park, we sat in the main stand, but it's one of the most curious stands I've ever seen - it doesn't run parallel to the pitch - it's v-shaped, which means that the closer you try to sit to the centre line, the further you are from the pitch:

Anyway, the atmosphere was much better in the Thistle end and we all thoroughly enjoyed the match. Ian McCall's team, in particular, play a very attractive brand of passing football and I think our guests were very pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the football on show in the First Division - much better than anything we've seen at Pittodrie in recent years. Unfortunately, however, it was Dundee who supplied the punch with two well taken goals, albeit against the run of play.

After the match, we walked down Tannadice St past Dundee's SPL neighbours and another 2 stands named after legends of that club:

(Click on photos to enlarge).

Next trip is on Saturday 31st October down to Easter Road to watch the Dons in the SPL - hope the entertainment is as good as yesterday.

Dave's 850th

2009-10-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

This rather dull photo was taken at the golf club last night as we celebrated Dave's 850th match:

The Beautiful Game/St James' Park

2009-10-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

From the Times - Saturday 26th September, 2009 (click to enlarge):

Two cruddy shots from the train of St James' Park, Exeter:

Stag, Banchory or Linda's Bar, Algarve?

2009-09-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

The McWhinnies and the Kilgours were out in the Algarve - at Linda's bar - and this rather grainy photo was sent tonight to witness the scene:

Meanwhile, some of the Friday night regulars plus a few of those we don't see so often were down in the Stag in Banchory tonight:

It's Ramadam and our man from Dubai was going native - Diet Cokes all round - apparently in an effort to get the alleged 36" waist back down to a more manageable size. There were a few "mmmm's" all round - but Nigel is determined to finish his alcohol free month - three quarters of the way there already - we all suspect it's an elaborate con game and he's determined to win the golf outing at Boat of Garten this weekend, by hook or by crook:

Golf at Lumphanan

2009-07-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

There were quite a few Knobbly Knees and Varicose Veins on show at BVFG's annual golf outing, held at Lumphanan for the first time last Friday:

And a new name on the shield (plus somebody to take the bloody green jacket away) was Andy Gore, with 40 points:

After our meal in the clubhouse, most of us (bar the winner!) retired to the Douglas for some ale, followed by drams to celebrate Malcolm's birthday the following day:

Belated celebrations for Andy

2009-06-26T23:33:00.000-07:00

Great buzz in the golf club last night as the Club Championship came to an end. There was a good crowd to watch the final round of the golf and the Captain made a speech congratulating the winner.

Dave and Brian were both down briefly but had left by the time we got down to the drams - supposedly to celebrate Andy's recent birthday - but they were bought by Mr Sharp! What's that all about?:

Neil Young

2009-06-25T05:55:00.001-07:00

A few of the Headbangers section went along to AECC last night. I saw Jeb at the start and Andy M at the end, but not Jack, Gary nor Malcolm.

Great concert, but as they say locally, he's nae awfy bonny, is he?:

The accoustic bit in the middle of the concert was well received - here's a brief snippet of the Needle and the Damage Done:

Even more CK

2009-06-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yes - he's still in hospital, but gretting pretty p....d off. All the tests have produced no positive results yet, but they've now fitted him with a 24 hour heart monitor harness, which should be removed tomorrow and hopefully they can let him out - at least for the weekend.

He is still taking some anti-seizure pills, but that's all. He's been moved to another ward (30), which seems to be a day ward, which must be a good sign. Now that he's no longer hooked up, he's free to wander and so he walked Johanne and I down to the front door this evening:

Pleased to note CK's change of t-shirt!

More CK

2009-06-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Colin has been moved from the Emergency Assessment Ward down to an ordinary ward (3) and has had more tests. They are now going to fit a 24 hour heart monitor so that they can review what's happening. He's getting pretty bored and restless and is feeling fine - he can't wait to get out.

This was taken this afternoon (Tuesday) - CK was concerned that he was wearing the same t-shirt as the last time - he asked me to let everyone know he has 2 of these!:

and, believe it or not, it was 1994 when he was taken to hospital after collapsing on the kitchen floor - it certainly doesn't seem like 15 years ago.