20/20 Cricket

Peter: A few weeks ago I was given some tickets to see a 20/20 cricket match between Essex and Sussex played at Chelmsford. The tickets were for a corporate marquee on the boundary line through Fords. They were offered at work but as no one else wanted them me and another guy from work jumped at the chance. Free food and drink all night. Only problem was we had to drive. We got into the ground about 5:30. After a drink tea was served. The game began at 7:00pm with Essex batting. After 4 slow overs (only 22 runs ), Napier for Essex took charge scoring 152 not out. The innings included sixteen 6's and ten 4's. One of the sixes came straight through the marquee. Essex ended up on 242. Needless to say Essex won easily. The marquee was next to the commentary box. David Lloyd and Nasser Hussain were among the commentators. Ronnie Irani was in the marquee as well. It was an exciting game of cricket to watch.

Natural History Museum

Natalie: One weekend in London we went to the natural history museum and had a look around all the animals and plant sections. My favourite part was all the interactive parts. I like all the parts where you can get involved. I still enjoyed the whole Museum like when we were looking at the animals I liked to look at them and I thought it was well designed. There were different colours/sections which had different things in. when we went it was hot weather outside and inside, in the museum I also liked the dinosaur that moved and the big blue whale.

London Dungeon

Natalie: One weekend in London we went to the London Dungeons and it was fun. We got to see a lot of things and at the start we got a photo taken with us 3 kids in a thing where we get our heads chopped of. Mum and dad had the axes. It took us about 90 minutes to go around the whole thing and there were different parts like jack the ripper and the rides and a lot of other things. I was a worried at first but in the end it was really fun and I am glad we went to the London Dungeons. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun.

London Eye

Natalie: One weekend in London we went on the London eye and it was great fun. We got to see a lot and we got some really good pictures of London from up the top. It took us 30 minutes to go around the whole thing and the London eye never stops moving so we had to get on with it moving and get off with it moving. I was a bit worried at first but in the end it was great fun and I got to see a lot of London. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun.

Science Museum

Natalie: One weekend in London we went to the Science museum, I really liked this because it had a few small rides like the simulators and it had a huge range of interactive stuff. I also liked this one because this is where we went to Imax and this museum had a lot more things than the natural history museum. There were more levels and a lot of different objects. I like simulators and we got to go on one while we were there. I thought this was a great museum and I loved it. It was very enjoyable and I am very glad we went to the Science Museum.

Shakespeare's Globe

Natalie: On Friday the 11th of July 14 students from my school went to Shakespeare’s globe. The people that went were the people that are gifted and talented in drama. We left school at 8am and got back at 8pm. When we got there we went to the toilet and then went to our workshop, the first thing we did in the workshop was look around the theatre and we learnt some stuff about the theatre. After that we went to another building and did a bit of drama. We finished the workshop at 12 and then we had 2 hours to eat, go for a walk and buy some things from the gift shop. At 2pm we went and watched the show, the show we watched was called “A midsummer night’s dream” the play was all about love and magic. It was a whole dream up until the end when they all woke up. In the dream all the couples got mixed up and fell in love with different people but when they woke up it was all back to normal.

Sporting Triumphs

Peter: I found another racketball tournament to play in recently. But as before with no one to play against I had no practice before hand. It didn't matter though as the tournament started at 12:00 and was finished by 4:00 the same day. I got to play two games, only giving away a few points, winning the tournament easily. Most of the people in the tournament I had seen at the previous tournament. As usual its the same people every time. Racketball just hasn't taken off over here. Only a few clubs push it where it is popular and other clubs haven't even heard about it. I don't think I will get to play anymore racketball while I am here. At least I can go out as a winner.

With no racketball to play I haved moved onto cricket. I need to do some sport. I play for a village team called Great Staughton. They are in Division 5 and are rapt to have on overseas player in there side. Andrew plays as well. The first match was played April 27th against Warboys III. We batted first and made 121. I top scored with 43, Andrew batted with me for a while and made 2. We then bowled the opposition out for 56. I took 1 wicket. Here is the report out of the local paper.

"Cricket Round-Up - April 26/27
17:44 - 29 April 2008
CRICKET ROUND-UPHunts League Division 5

Great Staughton fielded seven new players for the visit of Warboys III in the first game of the year, including Australian batsman Pete French.Batting first, Staughton struggled on a difficult track and fell to 121 all out. French, 43, and Jonny Brittain, 21, held the innings together.Warboys fell into disarray due to some fine bowling by Sam Gibbs (5-19), Dave Oddy (2-5 from six overs) and Curtis Gallagher (2-18) and collapsed to 56 all out."

The next game was at Ramsey on May 18th but he result was a bit different. We travelled to Ramsey where we batted first again. This time we were all out for 69. I top scored (again) with 19. They made the runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Anmdrew couldn't play because of his wrist. I don't play next week but after that there is four games in a row.

Andrews Injury

Andrew: On the 2nd of May we were meant to be going to London. But I put my arm through the bathroom glass panel. Then we went up to the hospital we waited 40 minutes then someone came and saw us. We thought we might only need stitches. When someone looked at it they cleaned it. Then I had an x-ray. On the x-ray it showed there was no glass in the cut. Then another doctor came and spoke to us he said you will have to have surgery tomorrow. After 5 and a half hours someone strapped it up then I went up stairs into a ward called the holly ward which is the kids ward. I had something’s to eat then I had to fast from 12 o’clock that night until the operation. The operation was meant to be between 6 and 9 am. But it wasn’t until about 10am. The operation lasted about 1 hour. Once it was done they said that I had cut it down to the bone and had cut 80% of my tendon I had also just missed my main artery. After that I went back to my room I had to have antibiotics until I left. That went into my arm like a drip. The rest of the time I just stayed in bed and watched TV. I came home Sunday night at about 10pm. My arm was in a sling and I had another sling to protect it more I couldn’t go to school for a while because if it got knocked it could bleed again. We decided we would go to London next weekend. After my arm has been in a cast for 2 weeks it has to go in a splint for 2 more weeks then I have physio.

Greyhounds

Andrew: On Saturday 8th March we went to a place called Peterborough and watched greyhounds. The first race was at 7:30 and the last race was at 10:45. The first couple of races I put one pound on each race. Then me mike and Dan put a pound in each for a trio but we didn’t win any and we also did some place bets. Lauren went home with the most money she had about 10 pound. Steve and Sarah won about 15 pound. We also got some chips and drinks. Mum and dad didn’t win much. Mike lost the most money out of all of us he lost 30 pound. We left to come home at about 11. Lauren slept round nans. We got home at about 11:30 it was a good night

Dorset

Natalie:

Monday, (1st day)

On Monday the 17th of March we left to come on a holiday down to the south of England in a place called Dorset. We left at about 1:30PM and got to where we were staying at about 5:30PM. We all went in to the reception and then through into the arcade machine area. After a little look around we went back to the car and drove to our mobile home. Our number was P45. We were right next to the pool and the arcades and the place were bingo, quizzes and entertainment nights were. That night we all went over to the entertainment area and mum and dad played bingo. While they were playing dad was being an idiot and just saying stupid things. None of them won any money. After the bingo there was a quiz for every one, including the Kids. We come joint 2nd out of every-one scoring 13 out of 20. When it was near the end of the quiz us kids went up to crazy caves, crazy caves is a little play area with ball pits and slides in. after the quiz we had a little turn on the arcade machines again then we walked home and had a drink and then we went to bed.

Tuesday, (2nd day)

On Tuesday we got up and then we went out to the new forest to see the deer’s and the horses. First we drove through it and then we stopped and park at the information centre. We went into the information centre and then into the gift shop. Some of us bought a souvenir. After we went to the gift shop we walked round the town and got some lunch. After getting our lunch we went back to the car and finished it, and then we went to the toilet and hopped back into the car. We then drove down the road and went into the paddocks with the wild horses. We did get out and walk up to them and we drove around the paddock. After looking at the horses we drove back through the new forest and saw a few more horses. After seeing some more horses we stopped and went to the deer look-out, there were about 40 – 50 deer’s in the one field. After the deer’s we went on our drive home, we saw a lot more horses just walking across the road and eating grass and then we went home. When we got home we went over to the arcades and had a swim. At night we went over and mum and dad played bingo and then we watched the entertainment.


Wednesday, (3rd day)

Today we went down to the coast, but first we went to Corfe Castle, we walked up and round the castle and then we went into a few shops. After we had been through the castle we went and had something to eat and then we drove down to the coast line. We spent a little while down at the coast looking through the rock pools. We then drove to Lulworth cove and had a walk down there, then the last place we went to was Durdle Door. I didn’t go on the walk down to Durdle Door because my legs were getting sore and it was a really long walk. After Durdle Door we went back to the caravan park and had a swim and went to the arcades. At the night we went to the entertainment again and then come back and went to sleep.

Thursday, (4th day)

Today we got up and ready and then we went and played the mini golf up the top of the caravan park and then when we got back we got our swimming stuff together and drove out to splashdown the water park, when we got there we had to put some wrist bands on and then we went and got changed. The first ride we went on was a small slide that took about 1 second to get down and then we kept going on different slides, this was the most fun day ever I had a lot of fun. And again we went to the night entertainment and this was the best night ever because we had the up to date music and then we got to see some magic tricks and some really cool and dangerous stunts.

Friday, (Last day)

Today was the last day and we had to be out the caravan by 10:30. When we were out the caravan we then went to the arcades and got some prizes. We were on the road, on our trip home we went to Salisbury Cathedral and drove past stonehenge. I had a lot of fun on our holiday. When we got back we went into nans and Dave, Rikke and Emma were there on a holiday for Easter.

Racketball Tournament

Racketball Open Champions Decided

By Mark Williams

Hunts County Squash Club ran their first Racketball Open event over the weekend. The two day event included 4 main draws and was well attended by both club members and many Racketball enthusiasts from around the region. Preliminary rounds were held on Saturday, before a fun filled evening at the club bar and restaurant, with all finals taking place on Sunday on the newly built No. 1 Show Court.

The final match was a real showpiece between local favourite and Hunts County Club Pro James Powley and Peter French a tall and imposing Australian. From the off, Powley looked the more mobile despite having being out injured for much of the previous year with a bad knee injury. However, French’s accurate placement and ability to mix up his shots was enough to take the first game by a clear margin. In the second Powley got off to a flying start and was able to build up a large lead that French was unable to peg back. In the third the roles were reversed and it was French who dominated the scoreboard mixing powerful drives with deft drops at the front to make himself favourite to take the title. Powley however, had not read the script and the rollercoaster match continued in the fourth with Powley setting about his opponent with renewed vigor and determination. As the match drew on it appeared Powley’s superior fitness could be the deciding factor but French made it hard for him by making very few unforced errors and encouraging Powley to do much of the running. A strong finish from Powley to win the fourth, set up the 5 game final the tournament had deserved.Some incredible long rallies bought the near capacity crowd to the edge of their seats as Powley frequently looked to be running away only to be dragged back by the determined Australian. Both players began to tire but were still able to hit some outstanding winners which kept the crowd guessing as to what the final result would be. Eventually fitness was the decisive weapon and Powley closed out the match with 3 precise drops, good enough to win any tournament.

The event organisers donated a proportion of each entry fee to Sport Relief, raising over £130 for the cause. Each category winner and runner up received some top of the range Racketball equipment from generous event sponsors Head and all involved commented that “this was a wonderfully run and enjoyable event”. All the competitors will be back next year as this successful event will now be taking place on an annual basis.Thanks must go to the staff at Hunts County for organizing the event, to Head for their kind sponsorship and to Sports Relief for supplying all competitors with a free match shirt.

Full Results:Men’s Over 60 Final - John Dent (Hunts County SC) Beat Engkhim Sng (Hertford Squash & Racketball Club) 15/4, 15/6, 15/8. 3-0Men’s Over 45 Final - Mark Mitchell (Cambridge University Press squash) Beat Mervyn Rossin (Hunts County SC) 15/6, 15/3, 15/3. 3-0Men’s B Final – Mervyn Rossin (Hunts County SC) Beat Peter Kassner (Hunts County SC) 15/10, 15/4, 15/7. 3-0Men’s A Final – James Powley (Hunts County SC) Beat Peter French (Australia) 7/15, 15/5, 6/15, 15/6, 15/12. 3-2

This was the report on the England Squash Website about the tournament I played in recently. I am now a tall and imposing Australian! Be Prepared

Woburn Safari Park

Lauren: On the 16th of February we went to Woburn safari park. We got there just as it was opening. We did the road safari first and it was set into different enclosures. In the first enclosure there were rhinos, buffalos, Oryx, zebras, cattle, eland, elephants and giraffes. In the next one we saw tigers. In the next we saw bears and wolves. we had our window open right next to the bears and a wolf came running past. We then went to the lions and there were some cubs. Next we saw the elephants, giraffes and some more zebras. There was one baby giraffe. We then went into the monkeys and they had some babies as well. When we got to there they were jumping on all the cars. And they had to keep driving with them on there car. In with the monkeys there were some bongos. In the next enclosure there were gemsboks. Then we went to the camels and there was a train track going through them. There was also some addax. We then went to park and have lunch. We went to the foot safari and we went to the monkeys first and they were climbing up our arms and looking in our pockets. We went to the Australian walkabout next and they had wallabies and emus. Next we went to the mammoth play ark and there was a slide with a ball pit at the end. There was another slide were you had to go in a bag. There were two more slides and the first one was smaller and you drop from a fair way up and and then slide and the other one was the same but it was bigger. Mum and Steve went both of the big ones. When we left there we went to the seals and the elephant encounter and they showed us a males and a females tusk and an elephants baby tooth. They then walked the elephant around the edge and we got to pat it. We went to the bird show but it was the end of it but we saw to macaws. We went around and looked at the penguins and the hogs, goats, sheep and horses. We then went to the land of the lemurs and we patted a lemur. Dan liked the smell of the soap that we washed our hands with out side of the animal’s enclosures. We also saw marmosets, chickens and a python. Our last place we went to was rainbow landing were you got a pot of nectar to feed the parrots with. We went and drove around again and we went home.

Football (Soccer)

Andrew: On the 26th of January me dad, Michael, Daniel and Steve went to watch Peterborough play West Bromich Albion. The game was at Peterborough. In the first ten minutes West Bromich Alboin were winning 2-0. At the end of the game Peterborough lost 3-0. We wanted Peterborough to win. Next season West Bromich are going to be in the premier league. In the premier league at the moment the team I like is Tottenham. I also like Manchester united. Tottenham are in the Carling Cup final against Chelsea. My favourite players for Manchester United are Wayne Rooney and Christano Ronaldo.

Life in England

Jackie: Things are going well this end. Have made some friends working at the pub, it’s a good social outlet. Went out last Friday night with Vicki, a girl I work with, had a good night. She’s a Jordy lass. For all you that have no idea what that means, she is from Newcastle, north of us with a really strong accent. Most people are friendly except for one side of our neighbours they are complete wankers, and I have had to let them know. Have had a bit of a run in with them on a couple of occasions and the last one involved the police as Eddie the arsehole as we refer to him, deliberately reversed into my car twice. But all has been quiet for the last week.
The kids are still hanging to see snow, but it hasn’t happened yet. Dave is arriving tomorrow (Feb. 7th) he’s just over for a long weekend. We are planning on going to Denmark in August for a week.

Christmas

Lauren: On Christmas Eve we all went around to Steve and Sarah’s house for a Christmas quiz and we were in teams of 4. Later when we went home we stayed up for a bit and then went to bed. I slept on the floor because Andrew didn’t want to sleep up in the top bunk. We woke up at about 5:30am and opened the presents on the end of our beds and later fell back to sleep. I got a monkey teddy, Andrew got a ball maze thing and Natalie got a set of 6 dog teddies. We then woke up again at 7:50 and got up. Me and Natalie had a shower and went down stairs to open our presents. I got a winnie the pooh box, 2 puzzles, a drawing book, a magic eye book, sweets, clothes any a lot of other things. Later in the afternoon Nan, grandma and Uncle Andy came over to have lunch with us, we showed them what we got from mum and dad and sat and talked. At about 3:30 Steve and Sarah came up and we opened our presents from them, Nan, grandma, Andy and grandad. From Nan I got a pink inflatable chair and a gym bag set, from Steve and Sarah I got a Hama beads set and a Sudoku game, from grandad I got a key ring and jewellery and from grandma I got a paint by numbers set with 2 paint by numbers and all the paints I needed, an easel and a picture of what there suppose to be like and it all came in a zip up bag. They stayed and played some games and played with our presents and they stayed for tea. We all had a game of Andrews archery set he got from Nan. They all stayed for tea and went home. On Boxing Day we went around to Steve and Sarah’s again and had a games night.

Visit to Uncle Johns

Natalie: We went up to Grandmas and had a drink and something to eat and then we went up to Uncle John’s. When we got to Uncle John’s we said hello then we went and played the Nintendo Wii with Dominic and James. First we played the sport one and we each took it in turns of playing then we played the Simpsons game on the PS2. We went into the lounge and had a drink. Later we went back into the play room and had another go on the Nintendo Wii, this time we did the mixed games, I liked the mixed games. Then we went back into the lounge and had something to eat and drink. Then Dominic, James, Lauren and Andrew went out into the garden and played football. Then they came back in and we had some lunch. After lunch we had desert and then all of us kids went out and played football. At the end we had a drink and something to eat and then we played the Nintendo Wii again. After that we went home, on the way home we stopped and had some tea at Burger King. When we got home we went straight to bed.

Driving in England

Peter: All I do all week is drive around England. There are just so many cars on the road over here. You are probably never more thean 50m away from another car. Quite often accidents will cause major traffic chaos and it is not uncommon to be stuck in a traffic jam for a couple of hours. Tailbacks from accidents go for miles. A few mornings I have started work at 4.00 am and there is still plenty of cars and trucks (or lorries as they are called over here) on the road. last week I did 1600 miles in the week. I went from Bournemouth in the south of England one day to Cardiff in Wales the next day to Cumbria near Scotland the next. At least I am still getting to see a lot ofEngland. The trip to Cumbria was interesting. Driving back I had to go through a snow blizzard. the road I went on was closed about 15 mins after I left it. Another morning I left for work and it was -6 degrees. There have only been a few days below zero and the kids haven't seen it snow yet it Huntingdon. The winter is fairly mild for over hear.

London

Natalie: On the 2nd of February we went to London to look around some of the sites. We each had a list of what we were going to see. We arrived in London at about 10:30 and we got home at about 5:30. I liked ‘‘Cleopatra’s needle’’ and ‘‘Oxford Street’’. We saw some nice cars they were Pink Hummer, Stretch Limo, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Maseratti, Bentley and an Aston Martin. We stopped at Hyde Park and went for a walk around the serpentine lake and ate some lunch there. We also saw Buckingham Palace and it looked very good. It wasn’t very busy throughout London only in Oxford Street it was really busy. We saw a lot of Double Decker buses and some open top buses. When we stopped at St. James Palace we walked up to the door and took a picture of the guard, the guard had a gun with a knife on the end of it. We saw two other guards on horses and there was a little crowd around them. As we kept on going we saw some police men armed with guns. We drove past Regents Park and just looked at it out of the car. When we left Hyde Park we saw some people feeding some squirrels, the squirrels were grey ones. There were about 5 or 6 squirrels round the tree. We drove across the London Bridge and took some pictures of the river Thames. I also liked the look of the London Eye and the Gherkin. The last thing we saw was Lords, Lords is the Cricket ground and at the start we went past the O2, the O2 is a Sports Stadium. I also really like the Piccadilly Circus. The Piccadilly Circus is a corner of a building covered in billboards.

Cross Country

Natalie: At school we have been practicing for the cross country and I got through the first round, so did Lauren. The next round was at Kimbolten School. We left school and when we got to Kimbolten we looked around and went for a little run. When it was my turn I had a drink then went up to get ready to start. The whistle blew and everyone , it was a long track to run around but I finished and I think I came 43rd out of 60 people, Lauren didn’t really want to go to the cross country but she still did and she finished the race. Lauren came 60th because she didn’t want to do it.