5-nil at home... but Shirehampton F.Cs got potential for more...

This is the house that Jack built.

Well, not Jack. And it's not a house. It's the Shire F.C clubhouse. And Jack didn't build it. Pete McCall did, ( pictured, on the right) with some help from others in the club, ( Like Mark Stockham, on my left) and some friends who helped provide the decking, and wives who helped advise on what nice ladies toilets look like!

It would have taken a council many fathoms of paper-work and planning to build something like this. Members of Shire F.C did it in a fraction of the time, for a fraction of the cost, with no payment, in their own time. Impressive and really quite humbling that people should give up so much of their time and resources to build facilities for the younger generation. It really sets the standard for the rest of us.

When I went to see the club play at home, it was a lovely autumn day ( one of the ones we should have had in August) and Shire F.C annihilated the opposition 5-nil. We celebrated with BBQ-ed burgers ( left over from the dismal summer) and a beer on the decking outside the club in the late autumn sun.

The club has got so much going for it - a dynamic welcoming group of club-members supporting it, superb club-house and facilities, lovely grounds, and it's one of the few community amenities still left to Shirehampton now. But as the chairman Pete, Mark and Kelvin, the club president told me, they want to take the club to the next level. Floodlights, for example would enable them to compete on a different level all together.

This is a group with ambition, a vision for Shire and its youth, who deserve masses of support.

One of life's little luxuries

There was a significant moment during one university vacation when I made the decision to pack away the SNES. ('Super Nintendo Entertainment System'.) It was a choice between doing ok in my looming exams, or battling my way through three more Labyrinths in the SNES version of the classic game 'The Legend of Zelda' before I went back. I like to think I did the right thing and removed the offending console to its box, where it stayed more or less ever since.

But thanks to a friend's recommendation, I recently stumbled upon this 80s gaming website - a feast of early console games for the gaming glutton. Life's more demanding outside university and time wasting really isn't an option. But it does provide, I find at least, an occasional dose of one of life's little luxuries every now and again...! Happy gaming for anyone who shares the same memories!

Lockleaze Primary - bringing Lockleaze together

One of the memories that sticks out for me as a child was being taken to what was then called a "Rumpus Room". I faintly recall the one my parents took me to was somewhere in Bristol and was called "Mr. B's". Does this ring any bells with readers?

It was amazing. You could throw yourself about all over the place and jump around a padded room a lot with a load of padded big objects. Which, for some reason when you're anywhere between 3 and 8 years old, is virtually heaven. I remember pestering incessantly to go to Mr.B's which attained almost mythological status in my 5-year old eyes.

So it was with those memories in mind, that I visited Lockleaze Primary School and their new soft-play area. They described how successful the soft-play area has been and told me of their ambitious, but hugely exciting plans to create a soft-play cafe, in the school grounds.

The whole idea of the cafe would be to provide somewhere for children and young parents to come and have fun and socialise - whether by jumping around in a padded environment with colourful toys, ( the children) or having a nice cup of coffee and a chat while the children let off steam. It would continue the work (already successfully underway) by the school to become a real heart of the community, instead of simply a school building open from 9am-4pm. And it would also become a base for other services to come and meet parents ( eg. advisory services, support services etc) instead of parents having to go to find them.

The Head teacher, Gareth Simons, has already begun transforming the school. I look forward to watching progress and supporting wherever I can in the future!

From Girders to Gym.. continued....

And here's where it all begins to look like something recognisable. I'll try to keep you posted with progress right up until the new gym's opening... well done to Garry Cave and the team.

From girders to great stuff- Boxing Gym Progress

This is the next stage what happened to the girders below ( see previous blog post...) as the new Avonmouth National Smelting Boxing Club gradually takes shape. For a full photo gallery of the progress, have a look at their website.
The whole thing has been erected by Garry Cave, and parents of children at the club. Very impressive. I offered a helping hand with the girders, but given my incompetence at things like this, it’s probably a very good thing that Garry and his team politely declined!