Ploughing On

Bath & Trowbridge Ploughing Society 69th Annual Match

Laverstock & Ford v New Milton Town, Sydenham’s Wessex League.

Major rail engineering works at Reading meant no trains heading in that direction, but instead a variety of diversions, meaning unusual traction on unusual routes. 

So it was westwards, for the short hop to Trowbridge, to see some Westbury outstabled Turbos, heading back from re-fueling at St Phillips Marsh, this line being recently route cleared for them

Bath & Trowbridge Ploughing Society 69th Annual Match

This is a qualifying competition for the National Championships held in Kent in October; in effect an FA Trophy for the Countryside Alliance. I’ve done the other big four but was bowled out by this one when it got abandoned in 2013 due to wet weather. A fair old yomp from Trowbridge along a main road littered with discarded prescription drugs boxes.

As can be seen, the reversibles dominated the event

But still a good turn out from the conventionals

Another Massey Ferguson MF35, the Ford Escort of the vintage tractor world.

As usual, the horses stood around doing fuck all but attract fair-weather families.

And they’re off.

The competition hots up down the back straight.

Ploughing done, and the judges set to work.

The winning class 2 furrow.  Neat eh?

The winner celebrates with a run of his Allis Chalmers D272 through of a guard of honour formed by the other tractors.  No programme issued as such, just a list of the rules with a logo on.

By now it was lunchtime, but I was disappointed to see none of the competitors tucking into a rustic loaf, wedge of cheddar, tomato, celery, pickled onions and apple. I reckon these pub lunches aren’t as authentic as I may think.  On my way back, in an adjacent field, was a real farmer, doing real ploughing.  The loser.

The desire by farmers to start work at 4am so they can spend the afternoon fraudulently applying for EU set aside subsidies, meant I could get a game in afterwards. Only one place to be heading.

Laverstock and Ford 0 v New Milton Town 3, Sydenham’s Wessex League.

Laverstock and Ford were formed in 1956.  They played in the Salisbury league before entering the Hampshire League in 1992.  The won promotion to division 1 in 2003, which saw them rise to the Wessex League in 2004 when the leagues merged.  They did get promotion to the premier, but soon dropped down to division 1.

New Milton Town are the rump of one of the most bizarre mergers in non-league.  AFC Lymington were a major force in Hampshire football, winning the Wessex, but unable to get promotion as their ground was shared with the cricket club.  Nearby New Milton had a nice new ground, but the team was doing poorly in the Hampshire League.  So the clubs merged, with the Lymington team, playing on New Milton’s ground, under the name of Lymington & New Milton.  But the Lymington supporters did not want to leave their home, so set up Lymington Town, and the players of New Milton could not get in the new team, so set up another club in New Milton, which most of the supporters also followed.  Despite having no supporters, Lymington & New Milton won the league again, and got promotion, strangely, to the Isthmian League, and then to the Southern.  However, a lack of funds meant they had to drop straight back down to the Wessex, where they remain, but having renamed as New Milton Town.  So the merger of two clubs, done to enable promotion, actually managed to create three teams, and the merged club chose not to stay in the Southern League when it got there.  Not the most successful of masterplans.

Rather than a programme, spectators were instead directed to a large board with the players details on.

In quite a unique layout, all the spectator facilities were crammed together in a corner.

A couple of Atcost seated offerings, perpendicular to each other.

And a homespun scaffold cover.

The ground has a distant view of the Salisbury – Waterloo main line.  Mundanely, a pair of South West Trains 159s.

However, the rail engineering works at Reading meant Great Western services were being diverted via Salisbury and Basingstoke. This meant an opportunity to add to my cherished album of High Speed Trains passing non-league football games (67 to date, less than 10 were fixed). Here is today’s contribution of a Laverstock attack, with 1V75 1406 London Waterloo – Penzance in the background (for those that are interested; set LA72, power cars 43135 and 43078)

The game finished 0-3 to the away side.  Another HST passes in the background.

I headed back to the station, to pick up one of the diverted HSTs to Westbury, it seen passing an SWT on a Totton service.  In my day this would have been a 50 and a Thumper.