Guilsfield v Airbus UK Broughton
Newtown v Prestatyn Town
Another Saturday and another cross-border move, this time into mid-Wales. The day started out with my workday train off Sowerby into Victoria.
Where a stroll across town to Piccadilly and a two car 158 vice a three car 175 on the Carmarthen.
This dropped down to Crewe, where what looked to be a line of demic duffs at the DRS depot...
...actually included the new traction for TransPennine Express. The delay in electrifying the line between Manchester and Leeds means there is a requirement to have diesel powered rolling stock that can be converted to electric. This has come in the from of old school loco hauled carriages, which will initially have class 68 diesels and in the future they may be swapped for electric locos. There was a franchise commitment to get the class 68s in service in 2017. Outcome? A one off special one way train between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport on New Years Eve. Box ticked.
It was onto Shrewsbury where I was off.
Under the control of the huge Severn Bridge Junction signal box, the next move was on a pair of 158s heading for Aberystwyth
This was an Arriva Trains Wales service, which is of course the railway operator for the Welsh Government...
...which is operated by the German government, who make a lovely 7% profit on the heavily subsidised contract. Well, at least we aren't stupid enough to react by spitefully cutting off all trade links with Europe in an act of thinly disguised hatred for foreigners, and sending ourselves into Economic oblivion, in a really arse about face way. Oh, right, too late you say?
Passing the Severn Bridge Junction box, which is celebrating its 114th birthday and is now the largest operational mechanical signal box in the world, which probably says more about the UKs inability to co-ordinate infrastructure renewals, rather than being any quaint boast.
Onwards through the rolling flatlands of the former Montgomeryshire.
I was off at the first stop, Welshpool.
Now Welshpool has a lovely big historic station building. However, in the 1980s the council wanted a bypass, but at the same point the locals didn't want to lose passing trade, so the compromise was to build a new road through the outskirts of the centre, which was in fact the railway. The then British Rail saw this as a great opportunity to get rid of a station that they only used a tiny bit of, cost a fortune in upkeep, but they weren't allowed to demolish.
So the old station now serves a bypass.
With the new station just an open platform sandwiched between a bypass and an industrial estate.
The paucity of the frequency of trains and buses meant I now had a two wait in Welshpool. But what to do?
Well the town noticeboard gave details of christmas events from December, and the very enticing Welshpool Country Music Festival was in July. Oh, that was July 2015.
So it was instead the usual first option, of going and have a look at the local football offering.
Welshpool were a Mid-Wales league stalwart until the mid nineties, when they had a couple of spells in the Welsh Premier league. However, a lucrative sponsorship ended and it has seen the club crash through the Cymru Alliance and are currently back in division 1 of the Mid Wales league. They gained notoriety when a 10-0 defeat earned ridicule on Soccer Saturday, and Chris Kamara and Paul Merson ended up playing for them.
The ground is shared with the cricket club
Well, I visited the Tourist Information where there were a variety of enticing offers.
National Wool Museum; "explore the mighty industry that produced shawls that were sold across Wales, and the world"
The Harlequin Puppet Theatre; "clever puppetry with all the fun of the sawdust ring"
Newquay Honey Farm; "see the amazing life of the honeybee before your very eyes"
Internal Fire Museum of Fire; "the oldest working Diesel engine in the United Kingdom"
The last of these was very tempting, but instead it was off to the canal museum. I know what you're thinking, why would anyone be interested in a Canal Museum unless there is photographic proof that the national football team manager has had a thoroughly happy time there?
Well here you are.
After a look at a fancy canal bridge over a river, which was only enhanced by the murky appearance of a supermarket trolley in said river...
...taking in Wales' no.1 Fish and Chip shop.
Though the rival seemed to be a split infinitive of the hero of an Arabian folk tale.
I decided to give this a go. Who'd have thought the missing link was in mid-Wales?
The route of the railway became more discernible, and was marked by a trail of information boards with before and after pictures at each location.
There were 13 information boards along the route which were all red penned for sight. Here is a collage of them that I have taken rather too long making.
There were also some good end of terrace murals.
Like Belfast, but none of the people depicted were wearing balaclavas or had ever taken part in a hunger strike.
Thankfully, most of the railway was taken over by preservationists, though it now starts off from the outskirts of town.
However, there were no trains until mid-February.
So back to the centre and after a coffee in a delightful local cafe called Greggs...
It was time for my onward bus, which actually departed from the opposite side of the road and direction than was advertised on the flags.
This was a very pleasant ten minute run through the open countryside.
Before being dropped off in Guilsfield. It is a village of 1,700 people in Mid-Wales. Like most villages of 1,700 people in mid-Wales, there isn't too much about it. It has a nice church, some Anglo Saxon remains were once found here, and the name translates as Hemlock Field.
A short walk took me here.
Or more precisely here. A very old school web address.
Guilsfield 3 v Airbus UK Broughton 1, Huws Gray Cymru Alliance
Airbus UK Broughton played for 50 years in the Wrexham Leagues, before promotion to the Cymru Alliance in 2000 and the Welsh Premier four years later. Last season was not a good one for Airbus, with only five wins in the campaign meaning they finished bottom of the Welsh Premier, and were relegated back to the Cymru Alliance.
Guilsfield originally played on local farmers fields, which to add to their enchanting history, was paid for with services in kind as the players would then help the farmer with his harvest to cover the ground rent for the season. The construction of a community centre in the 1960s included a sports field, though this was shared with the cricket club. A stand and dug outs were built in the 1990s for promotion to the Mid Wales League. However, a need for floodlights saw the club move to an adjacent field, and this has now been developed as the dedicated football ground.
The new pitch had a stand built on the far side.
Thankfully not an Atcost.
There is a good provenience in the area to take advantage of the local agricultural dominance, and adopt a design for a farm building, which this might have followed, and is all the better for doing so.
However, on the far side, a couple of Atcost pre-fabs have snuck in.
The utterly stunning location of the ground means that for once they seem quite reasonable.
Behind the far goal is perhaps the closest farm to pitch proximity I've known. The farmer had chosen to put a massive pile of stinking shit immediately adjacent to the goal.
In the near corner was a large wooden hut which hosted a pleasant tea bar.
Venturing further afield and in the adjacent primary school the teams could be found warming up.
This was the aforementioned original pitch, shared with the cricket club and still used by the reserves, with the original stand in place.
As well as these delightful dug outs.
The changing rooms are oddly located out in the car park so the teams made there way out through the turnstyle.
The home goalkeeper deposited an @keepers_towel, and made his way to the now obligatory huddle.
The game got underway.
The ground is right on the edge of the village, and is in an absolutely stunning location. I can't remember a ground that has such scenery on all four sides, yet is still a proper ground, not just a pitch.
There was a bit of fast flowing football.
But more importantly, there was some tremendous high ball action, which as you will know, is what I think football is all about.
Lots of it.
Through balls that went high.
Short passes that went high.
Defensive clearances that went high.
I'm not sure what this was, but it still went high.
Even the forwards got in on the act, this shot can be seen rising above the house.
Infact, I missed taking pictures of the goals as I was taken pictures like this. Guilsfield took the lead but Airbus equalised.
There was then a stoppage in play as someone managed to snap a corner flag in half.
Spot the join?
Well, this bloke obviously could as he came round and swapped them over.
Obvious a more talented local tradesman was required, such as this. Are all Welshmen named like they are in Ivor the Engine?
Anyway, back to the game. The keeper watched on as a Airbus forward sat on the floor.
This bloke took a throw in.
And Guilsfield scored two more goals.
An entertaining game in an absolutely stunning location at a friendly club, finishing 3-1.
It was back to what I though was my bus stop, which for some reason was painted with pictures of donkeys. However, in a replay of the earlier escapade in Welshpool, it then arrived on the opposite side of the road and going in the opposite direction (the same direction I'd arrived in from earlier).
Therefore you'll have to make do with a picture of the bus back in Welshpool.
I wandered back to the station.
Where the platform only hosted a Vauxhall Vectra.
So over to the actual station.
Onto the platform and of note is the arrow sign on the left. The future of railway signalling is to have continuous signals showing to drivers in their cab, rather than the current method of traffic lights every mile or so. The arrow means that at that point they must obey whatever the signal indication is showing in the cab. Of course, now that the train has this information on it, it completely removes the need for a driver, but that is an argument for another day. Anyway, this is meant to be nationwide in the next twenty years, however, Network Rail have chosen to trial it on the Cambrian line. Whilst it might seem sensible to try it out on a secondary line, unfortunately the geography means there are loads of radio black spots and also you are trying to get the technology to work with thirty year old trains, all of which have made what should have been a straight forward project to have proved to have been somewhat of a challenge.
My train rolled in. This was a pair of 158s splitting at Machynlleth with half going to Aberystwyth and half heading north along the coast to Pwllheli. I been on such trains many times and they are often full of Brummie holidaymakers, for which the split proves somewhat of a challenge. Over time I've inevitably seen people on the wrong portion, but I've also had it where a person has put their luggage in one coach, then sat in another, only to find that they have ended up at opposite ends of the Cambrian coast. On another, the station staff at Barmouth got on board to ask us if anyone had lost a grand parent as they had sat in a different coach to the rest of their family and ended up in Aberystwyth with the others obliviously heading for Pwllheli.
It was another one shack move, this time to Newtown.
My end destination was immortalised as a mural on the station.
Newtown grew as the mill town for the large sheep farming community in the area. It was further aided by being linked to the canal network, which saw it take advantage of industrialisation in contrast to a lot of the other mid-Wales market towns. I was disappointed to turn up too late for the WH Smith museum which is in the town, and no doubt charts the history of the firms shift from being a cherished supplier of comics to being a hugely overpriced station outlet that constantly trys to impose the sale of giant Gallaxy bars for a pound.
I found out that our Middle Eastern fast food spoonerism from earlier was actually a mid Wales chain.
Though at least I have an idea of what they sold, unlike this nonsense.
This sign gave me both directions to the ground and the opportunity to find out the Welsh for scout hut, what a day of learning it was.
And indeed, it did get me to here.
Newtown 3 v Prestatyn Town 0, JD Sports Welsh Premier League
The current Newtown were formed in the 1880s when the much more excitingly named Newtown White Stars merged with Newtown Excelsior to form the very boringly named Newtown AFC. Despite early success in the Welsh cup, they settled down to life in the Mid-Wales League. However, three title wins in the 1980s saw them choose to rise up the pyramid, which at the time was becoming a rather obscure outpost of the Northern Premier League in the English system. Come 1992, and a move to the newly formed League of Wales was enforced on them, and they are one of only three clubs to remain there ever since. They have had a fairly mundane time in the league, the highlight being a couple of runners up spots, but three UEFA cup campaigns but after first round exits to Latvia's Skonto Riga and Poland's Wisla Krakow, two seasons ago saw the defeat of Malta's Valletta, before going out to FC Copenhagen.
Prestatyn is a town on the North Wales coast where Scousers go to live in caravans and drink in Wetherspoons. The football club were founded in 1910 and played most of their early history in the Dyserth Area League, including a spell under the name Chandypore FC, which apparently was the beach front sports club that hosted them. The 1970s saw them as founder members of the Clwyd League, with the 1980s a move onto the Welsh League North, which became the Welsh Alliance. The last decade has seen them rise to their highest levels, as 2006 saw promotion to the Cymru Alliance, followed two years later by a title win that meant promotion to the top tier Welsh Premier. Since then, they won the Welsh Cup in 2013, but were relegated two seasons later. However, they ran away with the Cymru Alliance last season, and have returned to the premier this season. A single European campaign in 2013 saw them defeat those plucky Latvians Liepājas Metalurgs, before going out 8-0 to Rijeka of Croatia.
Newtown moved to Latham Park in the 1940s. It sits on a hillside and levelling of the pitch created a natural terrace on the far touchline. It has evolved considerably during the clubs tenure in the Welsh Premier.
A cover was erected over the central part of the hillside and in more recent times this acquired seating.
Welsh Premier requirements saw a large cantilever added although alongside, taking advantage of the hillside to provide the base of the tier of seating.
The next production was an open bank of seating at the Llanidloes Road end.
The new Millenium saw a smart new social club and hospitality suite being built, replacing temporary buildings after the old ones burnt down in the club's NPL days.
The last dedicated stand was provided in the near corner in 2007, though it's 180 seats are on a shallow pitch, and start at ground level. Adjacent was the final addition, in 2011 came the obligatory League of Wales nuclear holocaust proof TV gantry and media room. It also contains seating underneath.
The final end is open standing.
Though with a few benches thoughtfully added.
There is also a small area of standing in the corner. This used to stretch down the touchline until the largest of the new stands was built.
The dressing rooms are located at the back of the large corner stand, so the players have to descend through the stand to access the pitch. You could hear a blaring of music from the home dressing room, but when the door was opened, it was reveled to rather embarrassingly be the music from the dance scene in the Inbetweeners film. The door was hastily slammed shut by an anxious looking substitute, so god only knows what was going on inside.
There were the customary handshakes.
And then a mascotless minutes silence, which started off being in memory of a club stalwart who had passed away during the week, then someone's wife was also mentioned, then it was a bit of a free for all with 'and anyone else who it might concern' being added on the end.
The game kicked off with a continuation of the excellent high ball action.
The pitch was converted to 3G in 2015.
There were chances for both sides, here the visitors do something. A little know fact is that John Prescott is from Prestatyn.
Newtown's most notable former player is probably lazy scouse winger Ian Woan, who these days is the only assistant manager in the Premier League who's playing career ended at the Syracuse Salty Dogs.
It wasn't until looking at the pictures later that I noticed I'd captured a journey through the hopes of youth.
Stage 1 - the hope as the lad second from left gets ready to cheer a goal.
Stage 2 - the reality as the outstretched hands are instead used to bemoan how it is physically possible to miss the goal from there.
Stage 3 - the aftermath as the crushing actuality that this is what the remainder of there three score years and ten will be like. Good standing on the ball action from the fella second right, we've all done that.
Despite having almost 1500 covered seats, inevitably, it was still the open benches on a grass bank that found most favour.
Next up was some excitement, as from this very innocuous challenge...
...a 21 brawl erupted.
Which the players soon lost interest in and resulted in just a couple of bookings.
However, it seemed to enrage the Prestatyn supporters behind the goal, with one bloke going apaplectic with the referee, with a particularly intriguing "Evans you fucking fucker, we fucking know what fucking happened at fucking Connah's Quay". Yes, but now we all want to know. Anyway, it only succeeded in Newtown going straight up the other end and scoring.
There were double @keepers_towels
The home keeper having a very unique back corner of the net position.
Half time and a chance to take in some of the ground signage.
Surely, rather than being for health and safety, the reasons for this is more about billions of years of parental emotion, paternal instinct, and above all, the bollocking that a dad gets from his wife to come home to announce their child had died at the football.
This is the sort of thing that parents should be protecting their children from. To be fair to the club, they did have two decent ales on as well.
I joined the grass bank brigade for the second half.
And got to see Newtown double their lead.
Prestatyn had a very off tactic for goal kicks, with the full backs standing on the sides of the penalty area. Someone obviously had a coaching manual for christmas.
The home side added a third.
And so an alright game in a decent location ended 3-0.
It was back to the station.
For a Birmingham International bound single 158.
This was taken to Shrewsbury.
Where this mornings route was retraced onto the arse end of a Milford Haven - Manchester service.
At Manchester, I either had an 18 minute connection off Victoria, or a more leisurely move via Huddersfield and Halifax. I decided on the latter, only to find that TPE was in meltdown due to signalling issues at Liverpool, and that both my trains up to Huddersfield were running so late that it would be touch and go to make the last Halifax train.
So in the end it was over to Victoria, but there is a 90 minute gap between Calder Valley trains so instead it was onto a Blackburn via Burnley all shacks.
Where it was off at Todmorden. Notice that the middle coach has no lighting, my second Saturday night class 150 lighting failure in a row. God, even for me that is a dull fact.
The lazy stereotype of provincial northern towns is that they are just markets, railway viaducts, stone buildings and bus stations. So here is the centre of Todmorden, which is, er, a market and a stone bus station situated under a railway viaduct.
Still, it made a nice framing for my Halifax bound bus.
This dropped me off on the main road above Sowerby.
And a bit of a different walk home, this time a five minute stroll down into town, with 'Happy Valley' stretching out before me.
And to guide me home, the 150 year old chimney that blocks the daylight from my lounge and the mill that now makes UPVC window frames and who's beeping reversing forklifts keep me awake all night.
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