The travellers from the West got off to a bad start with Adam ‘the navigator’ Pattison twice taking the wrong turning? First error in Cockermouth, and then the second in Carlisle which lead to a quick visit to GRETNA!!!!
On arrival it became evident that ‘getting there’ was an operation in itself with only John & Duncan Murchison arriving on time. Melissa & Co. were on hand to rescue the unfortunate John ‘I love my Mummy’ Mulligan, who for some bizarre reason, drove his car down a dead end becoming stuck! (The car was later retrieved from its plight by the rest of the lads & lasses with some expert reversing by Chris ‘Driver’ Backhouse.)
The 16 warriors were split into teams of Youngies v Oldies
Youngies Oldies
J Mulligan A Pattison
J Hawkins C Backhouse
J Raffel S Trimble
B Scott J Murchison
S Atkinson M Clarke
D Murchison B Rush
J Atkinson A Huddart
W Backhouse S Dobinson
Game 1
The Oldies pushed forward & were picked off one by one by Youngies Joe ‘Sniper’ Raffel. Youngies 1 v 0 Oldies
Game 2
The return leg was a lacklustre affair with both teams digging in & a stalemate prevailed running out of time. Youngies 1 v 0 Oldies
Game 3
Flag ‘touching’ was up next with Adam Pattison stealing the show by sprinting into the enemy camp via an excellent ‘flanking manoeuvre’ (Round by Gretna to get to Carlisle springs to mind!) drawing the Oldies level at 1 v 1.
Game 4
The Oldies claimed the return by default due to a little ‘gamesmanship’ from the Youngies camp! Special mention to Kamikaze duo Ben Scott & John Mulligan in this game becoming Canon fodder! Youngies 1 v 2 Oldies
Game 5
This game was dominated by the Youngies as they captured the flag, and quickly transported it into the opposite camp with Joe Raffel hailing it. Scores level 2 v 2.
Game 6
The Oldies again took charge with firstly Alan ‘No Gun’ Huddart claiming the flag before cheaply ‘dying’ allowing Becky ‘Watch my footing’ Rush to all but hail the flag in the enemy camp only to be thwarted by an evil ‘slip/trip’ with only yards til victory? Adam Pattison then claimed credit for the final two yards hailing the flag & a 3 v 2 lead for the Oldies.
Game 7
The Youngies had the game or elephant handed to them on a plate as Alan ‘Headless chicken’ Huddart, with only yards to run strangely changed direction, and was shot down allowing the Youngies to stroll home & square the game at 3 v 3.
Game 8
Obviously a strong game for the Youngies, or a biased elephant? Again the Youngies rescued then transported the ‘PINK’ elephant to the enemy camp to take a 4 v 3 lead!
Game 9
A long end to end battle seeing the scores levelled at 4 v 4 with some precision shooting from the Oldies. I would like to say the shooting was from Steven ‘Dead eye’ Dobinson but alas he was just Steven ‘Dead’ Dobinson!!!!
Game 10 – Winner takes all
As the teams entered the arena for the final battle with scores locked at 4 v 4 it was pointed out that Will ‘very clean’ Backhouse was indeed ‘very clean’ due to avoiding the bullets for the previous 9 games! Unfortunately this feat would not continue as he was taken down several times in the final battle.
Melissa & Becky were the two main players for the Oldies in this encounter as they successfully drew fire from the enemy (wasting the youngies ammo) in this war of attrition allowing the Oldies team to encircle the ‘naive’ Youngies. When totally surrounded the youngies were shot into submission & gallantly (with the exception of Joe & John, who squealed like pigs!) laid down their arms admitting defeat.
Final Score
Youngies 4 v 5 Oldies
Summary
After an early snow covered morning, and several ‘wrong turns’ a fantastic time was had by all, including the two squealers!!!!
Special praise must go to the winning team of the Oldies who were just brilliant!!!!!!!
Thanks for coming.