Friday 13th November 1998

Due to a clash with a major UK national championship at Crystal Palace, it was a very small band who sallied forth to defend the honour of Chesham in yet another foreign field. There were four players to be precise (with an age difference of 48 years between the youngest and the oldest) who actually made the journey.

Quite apart from the depressing shortage of players, the whole thing started off fairly inauspiciously. When the rather pathetic little band finally got together, we left London in pouring rain. On arrival at Dover we found that the Hovercraft to Ostende was delayed by over an hour. This was at first welcomed, as it gave us time to grab something to eat and, more importantly, something to drink that might improve morale. When we finally got to Belgium, it was raining even harder, so it was quite difficult to see where we were heading, despite having the windscreen wipers going at full speed. Much credit goes to Rob for keeping going and keeping calm despite conflicting instructions and directions from his co-players.

We were now running really late and made a stop to notify Danny and the hotel that we wouldn’t get there much before midnight. Thanks to Danny’s crystal clear instructions, we found Turnhout and the hotel in the main town square without a hitch. Everyone was very impressed to find that, far from having closed down for the night, the town was really swinging. The team changed into their Chesham uniform and sat in the hotel bar to await the arrival of Danny, and to make a start with sampling at least two or three of Belgium’s hundreds of different beers.

Danny duly arrived and made everyone welcome. Eventually, after a little more research into Belgian beverage produce, Chris and Ralph turned in to their rooms in the hotel, while Doug and Rob (who were expecting to sleep on the floor somewhere) were carted off by Danny to spend the night in luxury in his own home.