Hallen Earth

Gloucestershirev v Surrey

Hallen v Hamworthy United

A train west to Bristol Parkway, then a bus down to the Gloucester Road.

Royal London One-Day Cup

Surrey 291 for 8, Gloucestershire 279 all out, Surrey win by 12 runs

Both teams had already qualified for the quarter finals so this was a bit of a dead game. However, as Surrey had stayed over after playing Somerset yesterday, they still had a lot of their first team.

 V 

Opportunity was taken to sit in a different part of the ground, this time in the temporary seats under the new stand, affording a different view of procedures.

The ground is handy for the range of shops on Gloucester Road, which means cans of Wiper and Drew from Brewers Droop, and a decent selection of cheese from the butchers.

Who also supplied a black pudding Scotch egg.

During the lunch break, on to the Annexe, the acceptable part of the Sportsman, and GBG.

After some early wickets, Surrey scored well in the middle of their innings, primarily through the three wicket keepers they had playing. Glous made a good effort of chasing, but lost too many wickets, mainly to the emerging Curran brothers, so left too much to do for the lower order in the last few overs.

Multi bus move across Bristol to Hallen on the western fringes of the city, for an FA cup replay against Wessex league Hamworthy, a suburb of Poole.

Been to the ground in the early 1990s when they were Lawrence Weston Hallen. The old entrance no longer leads to the ground…

….and the previous palatial spectator facilities are no longer in use, as the pitch has moved.

A treck around half the village eventually found the new entrance.

Hallen 0 v Hamworthy United 1

The Emirates FA Cup Qualifying - Extra Preliminary Round

Hallen were established in 1949 as Lawrence Weston Athletic, playing in the Bristol and District League and then the Bristol Premier Combination.  In 1979, they moved to Hallen, changing their name to Lawrence Weston Hallen and moving up to the Gloucestershire County League in 1987. In 1992 they joined the Hellenic League before switching across to the Western League, by now just called Hallen.  They are currently having a ding-dong with the Parish Council who are trying to evict the club.

Hamworthy were formed in 1926 becoming founding members of the Dorset Combination league in 1957. They merged with the wonderfully named Trinidad Old Boys in 1971 to form Hamworthy United. They were champions of the renamed Dorset Premier League in 2003 and 2004, which earned promotion to the Wessex League, where they have remained in the Premier division.

In a positive development, the club house had no lager on tap, obviously catering for local demand with three of the four taps being Thatchers.

Amidst the usual team ictures through the ages, was also an interesting montage of the stand being built.

To add to the interest, there was a very eclectic display of pennants. Topical ones such as the one from the original game from Saturday…

….but then Real Madrid and Man Utd nestling as equals with Plymouth Parkway, Exmouth Town, Fawley, Corsham and Brislington…

…Juventus, Roma, and the 2004 Champions League Semi Finals, on a par with Porthleven and Brigg Town...

….Pershore Town, Maldon Town and Bristol St Valier equal to Aberdeen’s early 80s double.  Notice the quality wiring.

Into the ground and completely different to when I was last here. A seated stand on one side, and covered steps at the far end.

The Corsham players were all warming up in orange t-shirts with the ubiquitous ‘keep calm’ slogan…

…but further examination showed it to be about a local testicular cancer charity.

Worlds worst spelling of any word, ever.

Good to get in the first of the season of another non-league mainstay; the double decker shipping container store rooms.

Cover at the far end, sorry, the MB Frames Enclosure…

…was obviously obtained straight from it’s use as a bus shelter, as it still had perch seats.

Main stand has been seen in many guises, but it has always retained the name of one of the clubs key officials in the 1980s/1990s.

Club name is tucked away inside, in an unreadable yellow on brick.

Teams came out and went through a lengthy hand shaking ceremony.

After the toss, the teams changed ends, which led to more hand shaking.

Pretty even game, not many chances.

Hallen had a huge shirt sponsor, akin to a French league shirt.

As the game drew on, Hallen conceded an own goal mid way through the second half. Proved to be the only goal of the game as the sun set over the wind turbines and pylons of Hallen Marsh, once home to Britains largest fertilizer production plant.

Buses had stopped running from the village, so had to walk back to Cribbs Causeway, for a bus to Temple Meads for the train back to Swindon. At Temple Meads, it seems these fuckers are making an appearance again.

Get Down Shepton

Shepton Mallet v Hallen, Western League

Initial plan was to head for Sidmouth, but this was scuppered by the driver of a freight train at Reading, who managed to go through a red signal, bringing the network to a halt for an hour, scuppering original plans.

So instead, headed west to Bath for the bus to Wells, stopping off at the guide pub at Chilcompton. These are the things I learned from that pub.

1. The locals had a ‘reach over the bar and serve yourself’ arrangement

2. 90% of the locals drink the exotic tipple of Cheddar Valley cider and orange

3. If you want cheap lawnmower carburettor membranes, this is the pub to head for

4. Motorcycle CBT refreshers can be held in pub back rooms, and there appears to be no restriction on what the pupils are drinking.

5. Tempering the locals language is only effective if you also do it for the pub parrot.

On to Wells and a quick dash to the market produced the offerings for later.

An unexpected bonus was the Cummins ISBe 135 PS engined, Marshall Capital C39 bodied, 2002 TransBus Dennis Dart SLF, on the 161 to Frome via Shepton Mallet. This is a sub fleet operating out of Wells, ticked for the first time in 2007 whilst it operated the First Capital service to Ruislip Lido.

It was also the filthiest bus I have ever been on, this being the back shelf.

Shepton Mallett grew as a centre for the wool trade.  However, the weaving trade moved to the mechanised north, which saw the town focus on the manufacture of silk and crepe, meaning a proper revival in the 1970s.  Added to the 1970s theme, is that Shepton is where Babycham is brewed/made/pissed.  These days, it is the actual place where the Glastonbury festival takes place, Glastonbury itself being somewhat distant from the Eaves farm.  It is also host to the Royal Bath and West Show, where people with squints go to stroke cattle.  A wander around the moribund centre took about thirty seconds, so I headed for the suburbs.

This took me to the dullest named ground in non-league; the Playing Fields.

Shepton Mallet 0 v Hallen 0,  Toolstation Western League Premier Division

 

 

Shepton Mallet Town FC were a mainstay of the Somerset League, before steping up to the Western League in the 1970s.  They spent ten seasons there before nominally going bust in 1986.  In reality, they dropped the Town suffix, and continued in the reserve teams place back in the Somerset Senior League.  After 15 years of high finishes, they won the league in 2001, and returned to the Western.  This time it was 13 years before they gained promotion, this being their first season in the premier division.

Hallen FC started out as Lawrence Weston, a large post-war housing estate in the north east of Bristol.  By the early 1980s, they had moved to a new ground at Hallen, which saw them join the  Gloucestershire County League.  They then progressed to the Hellenic league in 1992, switching to the Western in 2000.  They were promoted to the premier division in 2004, where they have remained since.

Despite its appearance, the Playing Fields have only been in use since 1956.

The main stand was previously in situ at Street’s Victoria Park, but Shepton bought it off them when Street moved to the Tannery field.

Opposite is a recently built stand, grandly calling itself a ‘pavillion’, but contained the sort of fixed seating around a table you normally only get in a Wimpy. Both were named after dead people.

Letting the ground down, an Atcost monstrosity is also present.  This replaced a a lorry sawn in half that used to adorn the far touchline.

The pitch has a noticeable slope, which seems to be a feature of Somerset.

The Main stand has gone goth and every inch of it now painted black.

 

Fortunately this man had a hi-viz declaring he was the official team photographer, because I’m always confusing them with the unofficial ones.

 

The game was of a decent standard, despite Hallam being third from bottom and not paying players.

However, neither side could muster a goal and it finished 0-0.  They need to bring back the home sides greatest player, Peter "The Shepton Showman" Applegate.

Move home was 161 bus to Frome for the 234 to Trowbridge, where I finally had to succumb to some 153 mileage for the year for the direct service back home.

The aforementioned local foods were a Somerset Charcuterie cider and mustard salami, a Wooton Dairy sheeps milk Dumpling and a blue veined Somerset Cheddar. Shant was just over the gallon of Glastonbury Ales Mystery Tor.