Darts in Barrow-in-Furness

Last weekend we had a marvellous time visiting our mate Marc Bazeley in his new home region up in Cumbria. As well as exploring the local area we were up in Barrow-in-Furness to attend a special Darts Exhibition evening starring the 1996 BDO World Professional Darts Champion, 'The Bronzed Adonis' Steve Beaton.

The charity event took place at The Kill One pub in the town, with fund from the night going to the Paul Larkin memorial darts competition and this year's chosen charity Parkinson's Disease.

The hottest ticket in town

We bought a few strips of raffle tickets which, if drawn, would entitle you to face-off against Steve in front of the crowd. As luck would have it my 'lucky' number was called out third from the end of the evening, much to the relief of Marc, Emily and Lauren.

What a venue

It was certainly a brilliant opportunity, but also pretty stressful to get up on stage and try to compete with a world class act.

In action against the 1996 World Darts Champion!

After my nine practice arrows I started the leg off and managed to average around the 40 mark. With the heavily refreshed crowd behind me I managed (Steve let me) get down to a finish of 53, before he ended any hopes of a win for me by shutting out the leg with an exhibition finish.

The night got a big thumbs up

Check out the video to see 3 minutes of sporting action I will never forget. Steve Beaton never stopped smiling. Neither did I. What a superb night.

The Sajwani Army with darts legend Steve Beaton

We had a wonderful time in Barrow-in-Furness and are looking forward to returning. I'm not so sure about returning to the oche against world class opposition anytime soon though!

Check out Steve Beaton's website, as well as The Kill One for more info about the next charity darts event at the pub.

To top it all off Marc and I made it onto Steve's blog post about the night too!

Crazy Golf in Grange over Sands

A look at the Crazy Golf course at Promenade Recreation Park in Grange over Sands.

My mate and minigolf rival Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley has been out and about playing Crazy Golf in Cumbria and sent over these great snaps from his visit to the minigolf layout at Promenade Recreation Park in Grange over Sands. It's a course we're yet to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

Marc tells me the 9-hole course is £3 to play. He also tells me that he won the match against his girlfriend Lauren by 9-shots. Knowing how Marc rolls that could be a likely story!

Visit the Grange Promenade Recreation Park website for more information and opening times. Looking on it there's a grass Putting Green there too. I look forward to playing both courses there in the future.

Links:
- Grange Promenade Recreation Park website
- Grange Promenade Recreation Park on Facebook

The worst Christmas trees of 2016

A fine selection of the bad and ugly Christmas trees spotted this festive season.

During the festive season I've been engaged in discussion and competition with Marc Bazeley and Dan Paynton as to who has seen the worst Christmas Tree on their travels.

The Christmas tree that started the spotting - on a back street in Stockport. On the 9th of November

Among the dregs and dross of what passes for seasonal decorations we've noticed some common themes, most notably the erection of metal railings imprisoning the tree. Some of these barricades have also carried signs bearing that most traditional of greetings 'WARNING DANGER OF DEATH'. And while we may scoff at that message, at least the trees seen with that sign have at least had lights put on them!

So, after not much consideration our top three worst Christmas Trees of 2016 are as follows

In Chorley Marc found this delight.

The tree of Christmas past by the look of it

In Chale, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight Dan snapped this beauty.

I think you'll agree this sums up Christmas perfectly

Dan quite liked the look of this sorry affair I spotted in Cheadle Hulme's Oak Meadow.

Lots of barriers

The best of the rest...

Not a bad tree per se, but while in Bolton I had to frame the photo like this to make it as ludicrous as possible.

Nothing says Christmas like some portaloos

And speaking of ludicrous I have no idea what was going on with this 'tree' in Stockport!

Interesting use of some street furniture

A selection of the others spotted by members of the newly formed Awful Tree Spotters (ATS) club.

Another railing, sorry Christmas tree, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport. This one is in Adswood Local Centre

Marc's local Christmas tree in Askam. Glitzy

A Christmas tree in Barrow in Furnow. It doesn't look real

Neither does this one

This Christmas tree on a roundabout in Bramhall in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport looks like it's had a bit too much of the Christmas spirit

One of the first we spotted pop up in an odd location. Plugged into the street light too

  

One of the DANGEROUS Christmas trees in Cheadle Hulme

The little brother of the electrical Christmas tree above

The dark tree of Handforth

Ipswich Market's Christmas tree is bright. But it's also almost mostly hoarding

Wellingborough's effort is a bit of a spit and sawdust affair

The Christmas tree in Newport on the Isle of Wight looks a little bit lost

Northampton's Christmas tree is a big 'un. No decorations though

I spotted Stockport's Christmas tree just before it was lit

Emily spotted a couple of Christmas trees while in Vienna, Austria. However they don't count as they're actually nice.

Elegance and class

A little over the top on the decorations. But better than nothing

And while it's not a Christmas tree I'd like to finish this post with this lonesome decoration on the seafront in Felixstowe.

Related blog posts:
- Christmas Trees

Mr Mulligan's Pirate Adventure Golf in Milton Keynes

Revisiting Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf course in Milton Keynes.

A view of the tremendous facility

On Tuesday 2nd February I played my first round of miniature golf of the year as I swung into action against my old minigolf rival Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley at Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf course at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre in Milton Keynes.

Playing through the cannon

Marc in the ship on hole 1

The game was a rematch from our first round at the tremendous facility in December 2011.

A criminal element on the course

This time the score was not as close, as I picked up the win with a score of 47 to Marc's 60. March had been royally robbed on the 9th hole as he scored a dreadful seven. A couple of other jiffs on his scorecard, caused in no small part to his ridiculous 'tactic' of only playing the ball "to the right" on every single hole, meant 'The Roller' added another silver medal to his collection.

Unfortunately the rafts were out of action rendering the island hole unplayable

Visit Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf website for details of the course, opening times and prices. You can also find out about other Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf courses in Castleford, Nottingham and Woking. We've played at Castleford and Woking, but are yet to get to the Ramsdale Park Golf Centre course. There's a pair of new Mr Mulligan Adventure Golf courses opening in Stevenage, Hertfordshire this year too.

Related blog posts:
- Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf in Milton Keynes
- Pirate Island Adventure Golf at Abbey Hill Golf Centre, Milton Keynes - Minigolf Course Played #281
- Milton Keynes
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf website
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf, Milton Keynes website
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf on the Abbey Hill Golf Centre website

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow Richard and Emily on Twitter. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

The Game That Got Away sports blog

My friend and minigolf rival Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley has started up a new sports blog.

The Game That Got Away is dedicated to Rugby League and will include opinion, analysis and features on the sport.

Marc (left) and me outside the now demolished Greyfriars Bus Station in Northampton during the epic year of sport that was 2012

Find out more about Marc's blog here.

Links:
- The Game That Got Away blog
- The Game That Got Away on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- Marc Bazeley
- Blog
- Blogging

Winning at the PDC Unibet Darts Masters in Milton Keynes

A trip to the 'arrers in Milton Keynes.

On Sunday 1 February me, Emily and Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley attended the 2015 Unibet Masters Darts tournament presented by the Professional Darts Corporation and played at the tremendous facility that is the ArenaMK.

Two of the Sajwani Army on manoeuvres at the PDC Unibet Darts Masters in Milton Keynes

As BIG darts fans we were really looking forward to being at the major PDC competition and we weren't disappointed by the event. We had tickets for the semi-finals and the final. We saw some brilliant matches, with the Unibet Masters title won by world number one Michael Van Gerwen. We also got to meet darts legend 'The Prince of Style' Rod Harrington.

'Squire' Richard Gottfried playing a game if Inflatable Darts at the Unibet Masters - to win a Unibet 180 t-shirt you had to score 60 or more with three 'darts' (velcro balls)

Before the action got underway we had a wander around the ArenaMK venue and found that the tournament sponsor Unibet had set up an inflatable dart board where you could compete to win a Unibet 180 t-shirt, we couldn't miss that opportunity so stepped up to give it a go.

Channelling the spirit of darts underdog Peter 'Chatterbox' Sajwani I scored 100 with my three darts! Emily also won on the game, scoring treble-20, 20 and 5. Marc didn't play, but was incredibly happy with the Unibet Trucker Cap he got at the player's walk-on area

Links:
- Professional Darts Corporation (PDC)
- Unibet
- ArenaMK
- Peter Sajwani, Darts player (Twitter and Facebook)
- Darts Performance Centre

Related blog posts:
- Darts
- Milton Keynes

A trip to High Wycombe

A visit to High Wycombe’s two Chair Museums.

Q. How interesting can furniture be?

A. Very

Ahead of visiting a friend’s housewarming party in High Wycombe I asked her what else was interesting, or a ‘must see’ when in the town. She said that amongst the good shopping on offer and nice walks (if the weather is nice) that there is a Chair Museum. She said that the Buckinghamshire town is famous for its chair making, much like Luton is renowned for its hat making tradition.

Checking online for details of the museums and also on twitter to see if they had a presence I also found out a number of other people talking about the High Wycombe Chair Museums, most notably via the Crap Towns* twitter feed (linking from a blog post), and the book’s author Sam Jordison who was keen to hear all about it.

So here goes...

Driving into the town on the West Wycombe Road the Brown Tourist Sign for the Chair Making Museum was nice and prominent, so as soon as we had parked up we knew exactly where to head to. The Chair Making Museum actually had seven Brown Signs that we could see (including one right outside!), Amanda at the Follow the Brown Signs website would be in her element.

On our arrival we spotted another brown sign advertising the museum and a nicely crafted door. 

On entering the showroom for Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and museum upstairs we were welcomed by the ‘curator’ Tom who was intrigued by our story of how we had found out about the museum. 

He let us know that if we wanted the full tour of the Chair Making Workshop it would be £6 each, but he was happy to give us some background information about Chair Making and also a variety of chairs in the showroom – including the Winston Churchill chair (with secret compartment) and a one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic rocking chair! 

The most comfortable chair I've ever sat in

We also found out why chairs have an H-frame and why a top hat should be kept top-side down. Intriguing stuff.

The Chair Making Museum is open seven days a week and we were advised to book ahead and perhaps visit on a weekday to get the full experience.

Ironically in the road right next door to the museum was an old chair, upturned and used to block a drain!?

After a break wandering around the town we headed to the town’s main museum. This is in Castle Hill House on Priory Avenue and very close to the town’s railway station. 

The museum had some fascinating exhibits about the chair making industry, the people involved in it and the town itself. 

There was also an excellent sporting exhibit (running until the 8th of September 2013) on the town’s football team – Wycombe Wanderers (aka Chair Boys) - to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Fellow Minigolfer, Bar Billiardist and Skittler Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley was also due in the town to report on the Wycombe Wanderers F.C. versus Northampton Town F.C. but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Amongst the displays, information and trophy cabinets there were interactive elements, including a table football game (Emily beat me in the best of 3-points game and I won 3-2 overall) and a penalty shootout game which I won 2-nil, although Emily made the save of the match by using her face!

The High Wycombe Museum and Gardens are well worth a visit if you’re in the town, it really was a very well maintained and interesting set-up and gave me some good inspiration for the Crazy Golf Museum.

We had a great day out in High Wycombe and there was plenty to see and do, though no Coeliac-friendly places to dine out gluten and wheat free (a real shame). We’ll be heading back again to visit the Hell Fire Caves which we spotted advertised on a Brown Tourist Sign on the drive in.

Links:

- Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and Chair Making Museum

- Wycombe Museum

* My home town of Luton, Bedfordshire won the title of ‘Crap Town’ in 2004 (beating the likes of Windsor and Sunderland and 47 other UK towns) and I recently found out that in winning the ‘honour’ the town was NOT bestowed with a plaque or trophy of some sort! Hopefully the next winner, wherever it may be is given something tangible to mark the distinction.

Two and a Half Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men

Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men spotted in Bangkok (and Worcester).

It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen any Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men on my travels. However, Emily being the world traveller that she is, has spotted two (and a half’ish) of them over in Bangkok, Thailand.

The first ones, that aren’t really the fun type of Airdancers made ‘famous’ by Al Harrington, were spotted outside the Times Square shopping plaza on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.

A pair of Airdancers at Times Square in Bangkok, Thailand

A close-up of the two Airdancers at Times Square in Bangkok, Thailand

The second lot were ‘real’ Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men and Emily spotted them attacking passers-by as she travelled in a taxi in Bangkok! I'm not sure what they were advertising though.

Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men spotted in Bangkok, Thailand

Last week I re-visited Guildford, Surrey but didn’t spot a Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Man like I did on my first visit to the town.

It also reminded me that fellow Minigolfer and Tweeter Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley spotted a couple of Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men at a Worcester Warriors Rugby Match back in September 2011!

Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Men at Worcester Warriors Rugby Club spotted by Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

Emily also spotted a Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-Man advertising Mattresses on a trip to Melbourne, Australia in 2009.

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubemen are products sold by Al Harrington of Al Harrington's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubeman Emporium and Warehouse.

Link to all Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-men Blog Posts on The Ham & Egger Files.

A day out of fun and games in Milton Keynes and Northampton

A minigolf revisit, a Dalek, Bar Billiards and no Laser Tag - a trip to Milton Keynes & Northampton.

On Monday 20th February Emily and I headed off on a trip to Milton Keynes and Northampton.

We’ve been to MK a number of times and on my last visit I had faced-off against fellow Minigolfer Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley in the "MK Winter Sporting Challenge". We would have a re-match of sorts in Northampton later in the day.

Before heading to the Centre: MK for some shopping we stopped off at Willen Lake to see if the minigolf course there was open. It wasn’t. We previously played the course in July 2007 when it became the 29th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The Willen Lake Adventure Golf course

Another view of the Willen Lake Minigolf course

Last July we had played a Crazy Golf course at the Centre: MK, unfortunately there was nothing going on in the Middleton Hall area on this occasion (we’d also found some great Gluten Free Meat there in March 2011). But wandering around the shopping centre we did spot a Dalek and an Only Fools & Horses Reliant Regal!?

A Dalek and me at the Centre: MK

The Trotters' three-wheeler

We then headed back on the M1 up to Northampton. It’s somewhere we’ve never, properly, visited before. On the way to the Manchester Miniature Open minigolf competition in 2009 the hire car we were driving had caught fire just outside Northampton Services and we’d received a tow to the rental office in the town, but that’s as far as we’d previously got.

This time though we managed a good walk around the town centre and it was a nice enough place to spend the afternoon.

In the Tourist Information Centre we had spotted a leaflet for the Laser Force arena in the town centre and ahead of meeting up with Northamptonshire’s number one Crazy Golfer Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley we decided to scout it out.

First off we looked inside the Sol Central leisure complex, but couldn’t find the laser tag. We did however find an Amusement Arcade that was closed.

The closed Fun Station at Sol Central in Northampton

We eventually found the arena, but unfortunately the Laser Force laser tag at Sol Central is closed on Mondays (except in holidays).

The Laser Tag in Northampton is closed on Mondays

From the posters and adverts outside it looks like a good set-up and we’d like to play there in the future. It’s also got a ‘Machine City’ zone! I wonder what fellow Laser Tagger Oliver ‘The Machine’ Florence knows about this?

Note: The Laser Tag Rankings therefore remain unchanged.

Even more disappointing was the fact that, as with the Peterborough version, they also have a Boom-A-Rang Air Hockey Table!

You can just about see the Boom-A-Rang Crazy Air Squash Table in the background

We met up with ‘The Roller’ who took us on a bit of a mystery tour of the bits of the town centre we’d not yet seen. The undoubted highlight of this was visiting “the third most hated building in Britain” – the town’s Greyfriars Bus Station. While posing for a photo outside it we also got a beep from a passing car!?

Marc and me at the Greyfriars Bus Station in Northampton!

With the Laser Tag closed, a dearth of Miniature Golf in Northampton and the other Laser Maze in the town centre now closed down we headed to the Crown & Anchor pub for the main-event of the day’s contest – Bar Billiards.

We found the table in a corner of the quite spacious Crown & Anchor pub and luckily no one was playing. We did notice that Monday nights were competition nights in the Northants Bar Billiards Association! With league games played between 7.30pm and 10.30pm.

The Bar Billiards table in the Crown & Anchor Pub in Northampton

With Marc having beaten me in the Milton Keynes Winter Sports Challenge, picking up a win in the Pool discipline on his way to ultimate victory (despite having to play half way inside a Hurricane Simulator on a table with an ‘adverse camber’) I was right to be wary of him as an opponent, even if it was his 'debut' playing of the game of Bar Billiards.

Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley has a read of the rules of Bar Billiards

In our first head-to-head match-up, Umpired by Emily, Marc picked up the win with a final score of 190 points. I had notched up a score of 800, but this was lost as I knocked down the dreaded Black Peg on the last ball shoot-out.

I score 100

Almost inevitably in our second game – a triple-threat match including Emily – the balls failed to be released from the table after putting our pound coin in, so we had to get ‘The Man’. However, as this was not a seaside Amusement Arcade (aka 'The Buttons') Emily refused to get #TheMan, so I had to ask at the bar.

The table was promptly fixed and the balls released. As an added bonus we got a chance to see the ‘inner workings’ of a Bar Billiards table as the top section had to be lifted up to get at the ball release mechanism!

In the three-way-dance match I scored a win with a final score of 750 points, with Marc and Emily both knocking down the Black Peg to wipe-out their scores of 400 and 340 respectively.

Marc plays a shot off of a cushion

Emily goes for the 200-hole in the Black Peg Shoot-Out

In the games we seemed to favour the top-left-hand corner of the table and the balls seemed to ‘collect’ here quite often!

One view of 'Jiff Corner'

A nice line of balls 'protecting' the Red ball

Game three was another one-on-one match between me and ‘The Roller’ and was another victory for Marc, this time with a 660 points to zero score-line after I’d wiped-out from 1,050! Marc also picked up his ‘career best’ break with a score of 530 points in one visit to the table, after I had opened with my ‘day best’ of 350 with my first three shots following the start.

Going for a double score with the Red ball

The final game saw Marc pick up his third win on 'home soil' with a score of 1,090 to zero, as I once again knocked down the Black Peg as the ball dropped into the 200-hole. On this occasion the result would not have been affected even if I had potted the last ball cleanly without hitting the peg, as under the watchful eye of the Umpire both players were forced to ‘go for it’ in the last ball shoot-out!

Marc taking on the shot for the 200-hole

Commenting on his Bar Billiards victories Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley said “I’ve still got some way to go before I’m mixing it with the Pros, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon nonetheless.”

After the fun of the Bar Billiards we went for another wander around town and headed to (the) Shipmans pub on (the) Drapery for a drink. Unfortunately there were no pub games on offer in this long, thin pub. We did however discuss the game of "Hood Skittles", which is now on our list of Pub Games to play!

To round off our fun day in Northampton we headed to The Church Bar & Restaurant on Bridge Street as we had spotted they offered a Gluten Free menu. The food and surroundings were excellent.

It, and Northampton as a whole, is worth a visit.

A view of The Church Bar & Restaurant

Links:

- Bar Billiards Blog Posts

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour