Alvechurch Stardust

Alvechurch U21s v Kings Heath Concorde U21s

Northfield Town v Montpellier

May Day holiday and my first choice was cheese rolling at Stilton followed by the United Counties Cup final at Peterborough Sports.  However, a lack of public transport in the western fens meant a 90 minute walk from Yaxley would have been required in both directions.  So a rethink was required and a relative paucity of choice ended up with a trip to south Birmingham with a couple of games at various levels of whatever the Midland Alliance/Combination is called this week.

Down to the station for the 0658 Leeds, when the slumber was disturbed by some rare freight action in the opposite direction.

Coinciding exactly with the arrival of my service.

It was a rare opportunity for double shots under dreary footbridges, as I arrived under the west walkway…

…and departed on the 0811 Plymouth from under the east overbridge.

Through Derby and a time warp with this pair of choppers stabled, as though they are awaiting to drop onto a summer Saturday Skeggy.

But no n/b action for me as I carried on to New Street.

I’d had enough of waiting for trains in locations without natural daylight, so I did a fill in move on a London Midland service.

How the mighty have fallen.  European champions to having to flog £14 tickets on trains, all in a mere 35 years.

It was to Longbridge, where the train terminated.  But before you could say ‘passenger over carry’ the dots were pulled off…

…and off the unit trundled into the turnback siding.

So what to do in Longbridge at ten am on a public holiday?  Well, there is no longer a car factory to go and look at, Bloody Thatcher.  There was the world’s shittest looking social club.

But instead I went to the newsagents to keep abreast of any developments in the world of pork scratchings.  Re-assuringly, there was an excellent selection in the outlet I chose.  I notice ‘leaf’ is spreading in popularity.  This basically being flakes of scratching.  Which actually sounds more like an eczema condition.

It was back to the station where my Redditch bound service was dutifully waiting time.

Southbound to Alvechurch.  I’d been here once before in my early teens in the late 1980s.  My memory of the station was that it was a short platform in the middle of a field.  That day also formed the basis of my approach to safety when I went on to become a station manager, as it gave a view it to the base level of fuck witedness of rail users.  We were on a four car class 116, but the platform only held three cars.  There were regular announcements that anyone in the front coach should move to the back of it in order to alight.  I was therefore surprised to see a woman with a toddler in a push chair attempting to alight from the front door.  I was even more surprised when she didn’t bother to check what she was alighting onto, and promptly pushed the ensemble out into mid-air, at which point buggy and child crashed down the few feet to the trackbed.  Cue pandemonium as the woman went ballistic, the guard scratched his head a lot and kept saying he’d never seen anything like it on 30 years on the railway, whilst other passengers actually managed what was going on.

My other memory from that day was that the access through the station was a footpath through a field, and whilst it now looked that the platforms had been extended to take all the train, it was still the same route out of the station.

So one of the more bucolic walks between station and a ground.

Even when a road was reached, it was still quintessential country lanes.

Finally onto a main road and it was welcome that a pavement had been added in the intervening thirty years since my last visit, so no ‘B road grass verge walk of shame.

Keeping up with the recent week’s spate of mutilated animal discoveries, though this time a pigeon.  Perhaps the hedgehogs were getting their own back.

 But shortly, I arrived.

Alvechurch U21s 4 v Kings Heath Concorde U21s 0, Midland Football League – Under 21 South Division,

Alvechurch have quite a strange history, and for me, having started watching non-league in the 1980s, I have quite a skewed view on their success.  They were formed in 1929.  By the 1960s, they were one of the top teams in the Worcester Combination, with the success continuing when it was renamed the Midland combination.  This saw promotion to the West Midlands league, where four title wins in five years saw promotion to the Southern League, with the Midland division title won, they then played in the premier division.  However, financial difficulties saw them fold in the early 1990s.  However, they re-emerged as Alvechurch Villa in the Combination in 1994, before reverting to their previous name and rising up to the Alliance, which became the plain old Midland League a couple of seasons ago, with Alvechurch in the top division.

Kings Heath Concorde started in the 1970s as a youth side.  They did have a big junior set up, unearthing such players as Julian Lescott and Darius Vasell.  However, a lack of money means that they now focus only on their under 20s side.  Surprisingly, they chose to step up the Midland League a couple of seasons ago, and they now compete with the youth teams of some of the bigger non-league clubs in the area.

Alvechurch moved to Lye Meadow and developed it during the 1970s.  However, it didn't pass the conference ground grading requirements when the Southern league was won in 1981.  How Runcorn or Fisher ever did is still a mystery.

The main feature is this stand, which is found on the near touchline.

Behind the goal, there is a short cover.

The far touchline houses the facilities in a low brick building.

The remaining end being open.

The covers are actually rebuilds of structures that used to be in place during the club’s heyday, but were unceremoniously removed and flogged to Bloxwich when the first incarnation of the club deceased.  This painting in the clubhouse gave an idea of its former incarnation.

The seating stand has been built within the perimeter of the former stand, which is marked by the low wall.

Though curiously, the seats extend just outside the cover.

Added to this was the very open nature of the rest of the structure, meant that the only area that remained dry during the game was the back row of seats, so everyone was crammed into that.

Behind the goal, the cover has only partly replaced the much longer structure that used to be in place, but I can’t remember ever seeing.

On my visit in the late eighties, the floodlights had just been upgraded but the posts of their predecessors were still in place, meaning twice the necessary amount of obstructions to watch the game through.  I am glad to say that, thirty years later, both sets are still in place.

There had been some addition to the seating capacity.

In club colours as well.  Which club, I don’t know, but a club’s colours nethertheless.

Some welcome club ironwork, dating from glories past.

As well as signage, also from the past.  This would have been a perfect opportunity to make a comment about the sign representing the clubs faded glories…

…but Saturday’s game…

…had led to this!

If you had ever wondered what step 11 celebratory bunting looks like, one of your minor life quests is now over.

With the terraces also displaying high jinks detritus.

In 35 years time, someone might be looking at an equivalent photo from Saturday.  And also making snide observations.

So to the game.

Alvechurch scored early on in the half.

And late on in the half.

Alvechurch were of a very decent standard and dominated the game playing some really enjoyable football.  This meant there wasn’t too much close play for the travelling support, both of them.

The most excitement they got was their sole shot on goal.

And the following procedure to extract the ball from the corner of the stand roof where it became firmly wedged.  Before you could say ‘wouldn’t it be easier just to get a ladder?’ a scaffolding tower was erected on the right.

Into the second half and it would be fair to say that the visiting keeper was taking things easy.

Until he was called into action, to make this save.

Which he promptly dropped over the line, much to the chagrin of the full back.

The ground is in a wonderful setting, with the start of the Cotswolds in the background.

The keeper had now woken up and had a hell of a kick on him, this clearance threatening Evesham.

Alvechurch had two exceedingly fast and skilful wingers, who were giving the very competent full backs a torrid time.  Inevitably, a late trip on one of them resulted in a penalty. 

Which was duly converted.

Two minutes later, a faithful recreation of the foul resulted in another penalty, but this time the keeper made a good save.

And so a decent and enjoyable game ended 4-0.

The rain during the game meant the footpath to the station was soaking wet, so with a bit of time to spare, I decided to finally see if there was a main entrance to the station.

If anyone was wondering where this years faded red Skoda Flavia Mayday show is taking place, the answer is a driveway by Alvechurch station.

So, a lifetime quest to find the main entrance to Alvechurch station is finally complete.

The station has been completely rebuilt in 2014, when the line was redoubled in order for services on the Redditch branch to go to three per hour.  A previous view.

Only taking in two games today meant I had a bit of a hiatus before my next game, so I did a fill in move to the end of the branch.

I took in as much of Redditch as anyone ever needs, I.e. I walked from one end of the train to the other.

All too soon we were off again, with me alighting at Northfield.

The station is on the main Birmingham-Bristol line, and used to have four platforms, but those on the fast lines are no longer required and instead house a display of wooden railway sleepers carved into tools that Britain used to use when it actually made things other than coffee.  Bloody Thatcher.

I have to say, I knew nothing about Northfield.  However, the first thing I encountered was this social club, which seemed at the opposite end of the scale to that at Longbridge, suggesting it to be a much more opulent area.

For somewhere I’d never really heard of, I was also surprised to find it had a large town centre with a number of high street outlets.

So B&M bargains provided 72 individual portions of UHT milk and Argos met my traditional April requirement when I find over the winter that the sunscreen has leaked into the binoculars in my cricket bag.  This year has been even more traumatic as it has also partially destroyed my 1984 County Championship Panini album, which I am only 30 stickers away from completing.  I once bought a wardrobe from a second hand shop as it was covered in stickers that I needed.

I carried on to the ground.  If anyone has ever seen the film Twin Town, the opening credits are bizarre sites that were seen as the producer drove around Swansea, such as a bloke walking around with an inflatable shark.  I’m often amazed at what similar lunacy is out there, and here is such an instance, as two women drag a rowing boat down the pavement of a dual carriageway in Birmingham.

I was heading for here.

Northfield Town 0 v Montpellier 1, Midland Football League – Division 3.

Northfield started as Allens Cross in the 1950s.  A merger saw them become Northfield United, and also saw their brief spells in the Kings Norton, Mercian and Midlands Alliance, progress to a long spell in the Combination.  They stayed there with some success in the various divisions, until the leagues merger two seasons ago when they were put in division three of the new Midland League.

Montpellier are a very strange outfit.  They were set up last summer by ex-Villa player Lee Hendrie as a development of his football academy.  He has since been joined by Julian Joachim, who also has an academy/agency.  They were elected straight into the Midland League, and secured the division three runners up spot over the weekend, which means promotion up to the second division.  They are based in Badsey, which is near Evesham.

The Shelley Sports ground was opened in 1935 and was home to the original Allens Cross club.  It was subsequently developed by its owners, Cadburys, who's Bourneville works were a major local employer.  It houses a cricket pitch as well as three football pitches.

The game was being played on the main pitch, closest to the facilities.

There is a cover in one corner, adjoining the club house, and with a small section of bench seating at the far end.

Down the touchline is a low cover.  My notes from a previous visit note that it has ‘unusual angled supports’ and then lists what other grounds have them.  This gives me hope that I have become less boring with age.

The other two sides are open, with the touchline being shared with the cricket pitch so is only roped off.

With the subs not looking particularly interested, the players entered the fray.

The game started with perhaps the highest clearance of the season, so much so that I couldn’t get both the ball and the pitch in the same shot.

Pleasing to see that despite it being late in the season, to get another @keepers_towel.

There were chances for both teams.

But neither side took them.

Until a Montpellier forward who looked just like Julian Joachim scored.

The ball being grabbed by his team mate who looked just like Lee Hendrie.  This was because they were Julian Joachim and Lee Hendrie’s brother.

Another pleasant backdrop to a game.

I think the visitors then had a player sent off for calling someone a cunt.

  
It was a fair sized May Day crowd, with even the obligatory Midlands non-league crowd group of shaven haired blokes, having left the club house for the sun.  Though they were just unfunny as unfunny and slightly menacing in the open air.  Yes, we know the goal keeper is fat, but mentioning it is like being at a weight watchers convention doesn’t get any funnier after saying it for the 15th time.

Not that it was that easy to watch it from anywhere else, as it was a bit of an obstacle course to navigate the narrow touchline around the dug outs and the stand.

There were a few more chances.

But the game ended 0-1.

A more direct route back to the station, and more ‘well if Birkenhead can have leafy streets, why be surprised that they have them in south Birmingham?’.

Onto a Lichfield bound Cross City service.

Into New Street.  Still putting the black in the black country.

Out of the gloom emerged my Glasgow bound Voyager.

Which took me up to Leeds.

On to the one train a day that goes directly from Selby to Sowerby Bridge.  Not that I can imagine there is that much demand.

And back into Sowerby, with the planters still looking well, and just in time to read the Stilton Cheese Rolling web site in more detail to see that there was a special bus service in place.  So that’s next year’s May Day already planned.