Saturday, the twenty first day of May; will go down in history!  What as, I'm not so sure... But it was one hell-of-a day!

Once again the sun was shining on the righteous.

It was also shining on Wally's van and all those assembled around it. It shone on Pink shirts. It shone on bacon butty's. It shone on The Grim Jacket. It sparkled through glasses full of Pimm's. And if it could have shone inside Wal's van, it would have shone on a Budgie and a Goldfish!

This was it. This was... The FA Cup-Cup 2005

…And it started quite perfectly (if a 7am meet can be described as such!) – an early Pimm’s was just what the doctor ordered; god only knows why he ordered such a drink – it should be prescribed! However, once you’d got rid of the foliage it really was quite nice, but not worth going to Henley for! So while the Pimm’s was busy washing down a tasty bacon butty the crowd gathered.
Virgins to the event this year included Ken Sullivan (probably a long time since the words ‘virgin’ and ‘sullivan’ appeared in the same sentence!), Ken’s partner in crime, Ian Roberts; John Hornett; Tim & Wat’s dad – Ken; Mark Thompson; and Neville Baldwin.

Whilst many of the newcomers fitted in like a glove, it took some coaxing from Tim to get Mr Sullivan to join the throng (that’s t-h-r-o-n-g!), as he was standing a few yards away, absolutely gob-smacked at the host of attendees. Sadly Kevin Ansell, Richard Trett and a not-so-gagging-for-it Preston Foster were unable to attend; as well as Martin v. Aalst (aka Alfie), who had seen enough of wooden spoons for a while! Other non-players were Ron Dobinson (who was counting the days ‘til Wensum), Mike Cox (who’d stopped by before work) and Dave Sellens (to whom we have to thank profusely for getting up before his normal bed-time and taking most of the photo’s this year).

Once again ‘Toasting the Hunt’ was up for grabs (so to speak) for the shortest tee shot off the first from each group. So, with the draw complete, it was just down to Mark Fennell to start the event by teeing off wearing (I use the term far more loosely than it was around his waist) The Grim Jacket. Nevertheless, while his shot was probably the best opening shot for the FA Cup-Cup for many years; and indeed he out-drove his playing partners – Kenny & Wally; he declared himself the looser and immediately drained the Port!

The weather held good for most of the morning and at the half-way stage Ian Rydings was leading the charge (makes a change!) with an impressive 21 points. Sadly for him he failed to keep it together on the back 9, and in good Appleyard spirit, watched his wheels fall off faster than Ayrton Senna! It was therefore down to Paul Gillan, holding second place at the turn, to put in a solid round and take the spoils.

Normally, at this point, instead of writing about the post-match happenings, I would simply list the prizes and respective winners… this year something was lurking in the wings!!!

As custom has it; JV of The Bell Inn (Horndon) kindly donated a couple of fine bottles of wine for the player getting closest to the 18^th ‘pin’ in two shots. This year, for the first time, someone actually holed out with their second shot (not bad on a par-4). This someone was Dodger - a.k.a. Paul Fennell. Coincidentally, this year Wally (of Animal Allsorts) had donated a goldfish, complete with bowl, for anyone getting a hole-in-one… Well, since nobody had managed to get the ol’ par-3-eagle, it was left to the organisers to elect that Dodger was the next best thing…!
So, when it came to the prize-giving, Dodger got the shock of his life (well, up to then, anyway) as while clasping the two bottles, was then presented with the goldfish!

And it didn’t stop there…

There are also the age-old prizes of the Trill and Cuttlefish for the most birdies during the round; and since there were only five players with single birdies it didn’t take Tim & Wat much time to look towards Dodger as the winner once again with his eagle!

Up he got, to polite applause (and a few smiles from those who hadn’t witnessed the novel prize) and made his way to the front…

In his usual jovial manner, Tim handed over the Trill & Cuttlefish and shook Dodger’s hand. As Dodger turned to return to his seat Tim called him back…
”That’s not all Dodge. We’ve also got a little ladder, a small bell and tiny mirror for you…”
Dodge looked at the ‘extras’ with some confusion.
”… and what else can we give you to go along with these things?”
With that, Wally produced a large box, from which Tim pulled out a full-size bird cage, complete with budgie!

The place was in uproar! Several fell off their chairs, as Paul stood there absolutely speechless.

As the laughter was dying down as voice from the back said “First time I’ve seen Dodge with a bird for ages!” And so the quips went on…!

While the actual footy final was somewhat lacking that afternoon, the drinks weren’t. Especially when, as out-going champion, Mark Fennell celebrated his loss of the title by buying everyone a Gin & Tonic – well done Marky, it can be said that you wore that Jacket (and the responsibility that goes with it) in true style!

We also had the small matter of the Texas Scramble in the afternoon. And with a record number of players in this as well (18) it was with some relief to Wat that Rippo took up the responsibility of organizing it all.

It is true to say that I remember little of this event, and being teamed up with Marky Fen (thank goodness Kenny was also with us!) did little to help our scoring! Indeed, a few days later, Fen told me that he’d lost 9 balls in 12 holes… the state we were in, they were probably all on the fairway!

…And so to the honours;

Longest drive

Paul Fennell

Ian Rydings & Mark Downey

Paul Fennell

Neville Baldwin