Oneupmanship clinches cribbage trophy

Back in the days of the league’s games secretary Ted Richards, St Denys arrived at Freemantle Social Club armed with their own cards and boards.

Richards said: “No”. Freemantle would supply the kit.

Bob Patterson recalled: “We all sat down and they stayed at the bar. When they sat down, we all went to the loo. Then we beat them 5-1.”

Patterson - who remembers picking up a wooden spoon (the award for teams finishing bottom of a division was abolished in 1995) at the Top Rank - learnt to play cribbage at the BTC club in Stoneham Lane.

“I used to sit there and watch them,” he said.

Offered a game of penny-a-dozen as they were short, Patterson laughed: “I wiped them out. Beginners luck.”

Many years ago, The Brook team, now playing as Acorn Social Club B, arrived for a match at Woolston Cons with four women and the game was moved from the men-only bar.

One of the team’s newest signings insists he plays for the challenge and the enjoyment.

Chris Thompson, set to emigrate to Basingstoke, said: “You don’t know what you’re going to get and the challenge is to try and get the points if you’ve got nothing there and to see what you can get out of it.

“I just do it for the enjoyment and the relaxation in the evenings. I don’t take it seriously.”

The Acorn side gave an emphatic “no” to suggestions of promotion to Division 1.

“We’ve been up there; they take it too seriously,” declared skipper Sue Patterson, pictured with playing partner Sarah Durrant.

And her husband added: “We’re quite happy in Division 2.”

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