Day 28 - ECPC - Huntingdonshire
2011-08-05
Date: Friday 6th August 2011 Venue: Sutton Conservative Club, Sutton, Huntingdonshire Frame Played: 25 Frames Won: 23 Frames Running Total: 627/700 Well, today was thoroughly enjoyable for many reasons. First, it meant I got the opportunity to see my god-son, George, Phil Harrison’s son who I have been best friends with for twenty years and more and how he has grown!
While it made me happy to see George, it also made me down as I thought about Corinne at home, and although she is not alone (she has my Mum and her Mam there for company) I still wished I was home.
I know that in the diary, there are few mentions of Corinne and the pregnancy but that has been deliberate. It has been extremely hard for me to focus on everything, knowing that I should be with my wife and the very reason I have not spoken about it in my blog is because it just makes me feel very sad that I am not with her.
That’s why today was enjoyable as plenty happened and when plenty happens, it takes my mind off it all but it doesn’t mean the situation is forgotten. It just makes it a little easier to bear and I don’t feel so down and it also makes the day go that little bit quicker as time does not go any slower than when you are waiting for something. Hence the saying springs to mind, “A watched clock never moves”. So, so true…
Anyway, after setting up and having to use our pool table for the second time during the trip, all was done by about 1pm.
Phil was on hand to help Paul and myself along with a few other lads and early initial misgivings about getting the pool table through the Sutton’s narrow doorway were dispelled. In fact, there was plenty of room, but the narrow hallway gave the illusion hat a table would never fit through there!
The day was spent with Phil, George, Louise and Darryl - Phil’s family - and we had some lovely lunch before going for an indian locally. Beautiful food as this was surprisingly only the second indian I’d had since the last one in Cumbria and I do like my indians!
The evening was probably one of the busiest nights of the whole challenge with over 100 people in there - the venue was no very big, but this was just fine as this allowed us to generate a perfect atmosphere - albeit a noisy one.
Thank God for the scotsman who, when quiet was required, bellowed loud enough to magically create silence and at the same time make a deaf bloke deaf! (It doesn’t make sense I know, but hopefully this will give you an idea of just how loud the bugger was but I was grateful for this as I no longer had a loud voice after 28 days of constantly talking at the top of my voice for hours!!!)
The village of Sutton had never had an exhibition (only when Phil has done it, but Phil himself told me that even this is just consisted of some frames of pool played and that they’d never seen a ‘proper’ exhibition, bless the man!).
The evening was a brilliant success and everyone really got into it.
For such a small village they raised an incredible £2,500 and upon looking at their certificates displayed along the bar, it was evident that this small village has a massive heart and I felt very humbled.
However, it is people like Tid (Tony Rutterford) and his team that get the ball rolling and oversee it and they are an integral part of giving the village a great name, and it is the people of the village themselves that dig deep and help others, even if they are not really in a position to do so so I have the utmost respect for that.
It is no wonder Phil wants to stay in the town and bring his kid up there - the values and the morals of the village cannot be bettered.