Minigolf Report – BMGA British Championships in Margate

Richard Gottfried 13th and Emily Gottfried 24th in national Miniature Golf tournament. 

Luton Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried competed in the BMGA British Minigolf Championships tournament that took place at the 18-hole Strokes Adventure Golf course on Westbrook Promenade in Margate, Kent on the 10th and 11th May.

In the nine-round, 162-hole tournament Richard finished in 13th place overall in the 30-player field, and was 6th of 14 players in the men's general class. Emily finished in 24th place and was third in the BMGA British Women’s Minigolf Championships contested by five players.

Richard scored a nine-round total of 354(+30) after rounds of 41, 43, 39, 40, 37, 43, 34, 34 and 43.

Richard Gottfried playing the 17th hole at Strokes Adventure Golf during the BMGA Hole-In-One Charity Challenge shootout

In the tournament's Hole-In-One Charity Challenge Richard was the only player of 28 that managed to score an Ace on the 17th hole to win the shootout.

Emily scored a total of 405(+81) with rounds of 41, 46, 44, 48, 46, 46, 46, 49 and 39.

Emily Gottfried playing hole 1 at Strokes Adventure Golf in Margate during the BMGA British Minigolf Championships

Richard said “My two rounds of 34 were really good, but I’m pretty disappointed with the other rounds. Strokes Adventure Golf has some real killer holes and I tripped up on a few of them this year. On the bright side I’m really pleased to be the first winner of a BMGA Hole-In-One Challenge shootout this season.”

Emily said “I am really pleased to have won the Bronze Medal at the British Championships during a really windy weekend on the seafront at Margate. The weather did make a few of the holes more challenging than usual so I didn’t score as well as I’d hoped, but I am happy with third place. I’m also pleased that I scored one sub-40 round at the Strokes course, which is renowned for a few really tricky holes and difficult greens.” 

The winner of the 2014 BMGA British Championship was Adam Kelly from Linton, Cambridgeshire.

Happy National Miniature Golf Day 2014!

Today is National Miniature Golf Day!

Where will you be playing Minigolf today? And on what type of course?

Playing 'Heartbreak Ridge' at Strokes Adventure Golf in 2012

Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour page here on the Ham & Egger Files, the course lists pages on MiniatureGolfer.com and the Minigolf review sites The Putting Penguin and A Couple of Putts for some inspiration on where to play.

A view of the 18-hole Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent

Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent is hosting the BMGA British Minigolf Championships this weekend! Check out the online results live on the British Minigolf Association website.

If you don't get a chance to play any Minigolf today then don't worry, as Miniature Golf Day is on Sunday 21st of September.

Happy Putting!

Links:

- Mini Golf Days in 2014

- #MinigolfMonday

The British Jigsaw Puzzle Championship 2014

Second annual British Jigsaw Championship to take place in Newmarket, Suffolk.

While reading the latest issue of the Official UK Puzzle Club's newsletter my eye was taken by the news of the British Jigsaw Championship!

The tournament is taking place as part of the St Mary's Church Newmarket Jigsaw Festival on Sunday 13th of July.

Last year saw the first edition of the British Jigsaw Championship held at the festival and the winner was Emma Jenkinson of Gloucestershire.

This year will see the return of the individual tournament (with contestants tasked with completing a 1,000 piece puzzle against the clock), plus a new Pairs competition (with the duos taking on a 1,500 piece jigsaw puzzle against the clock)!

Competition puzzles are provided by British Jigsaw Championship sponsors Coiledspring Games.

More information and entry details can be found on the St Mary's Jigsaw Festival website.

The festival itself runs from Saturday 12th until Thursday 17th July and is open from 10am to 4pm daily, with entry priced at £2 for adults (children free), including a tea/coffee. Other light refreshments will be available.

Emily and I are going to get some practice in by tag-teaming the Jan Van Haasteren Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle by Jumbo we finally found on a recent visit to Derby!

Finding the Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle in Derby

Back in March 2012 we visited JigFest in Abbots Langley.

Emily perusing a puzzle at JigFest 2012

Links:

- The Official UK Puzzle Club

- British Jigsaw Championship

- St Mary's Jigsaw Festival

- St. Mary's and St. Agnes' Church of England churches, Newmarket

- Jigsaw Festival on Twitter

- Jigsaw Puzzle-related blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files

Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2014 and the Gluten-free guarantee

Coeliac UK's annual Awareness Week is taking place from the 12th to the 18th of May and this year the focus is on the Gluten-free guarantee.

The Awareness Week 'Gluten-free guarantee' is aiming to ensure that key items are available in stores around the UK, so that Coeliacs are able to easily shop for food and drink items that are an essential part of a safe and healthy diet.

The core items of the gluten-free guarantee shopping basket are:

- fresh white bread

- fresh brown bread

- bread rolls

- breakfast cereals

- pasta

- flour

- crackers

- cereal bars

Coeliac Disease is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten and while there is no cure (yet!) the only treatment is to adhere (endure) a strict lifelong gluten free diet - which can be harder than you think when you factor in the risks and hazards of cross-contamination!

Check out the Coeliac UK website for more information and you can order an Awareness Week 2014 Toolkit here.

May is also Celiac Awareness Month in the US and Canada.

Links:

- Coeliac UK

- Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2014

- Coeliac Beds and Mid Herts Facebook Page

- Coeliac-related Blog Posts

Funny things about being a Coeliac #5

Restaurants that attempt to offer gluten free options. But fail. Massively.

 

Links:
- Funny things about being a Coeliac #1

- Funny things about being a Coeliac #2

- Funny things about being a Coeliac #3

- Funny things about being a Coeliac #4
- Coeliac-related blog posts
- Gluten Free-related blog posts
- A bizarre 'Gluten Free' Restaurant Menu spotted in Birmingham

Indoor Adventure Golf at Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe

My friend, sometime Minigolfer, and fan of ludicrous photos Paul 'Flip Flops' O'Conner recently sent me some photos with the message "Spotted this mysterious crazy golf course at the back of an odd amusement arcade in Felixstowe."

The course is the Magical Golf at Mannings Amusements in the seaside town.

Hole 1 of the Magical Golf indoor Adventure Golf course at Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe, Suffolk (photo by Paul O'Conner, 2014)

A view of a tricky uphill hole the indoor course at Mannings Amusements (photo by Paul O'Conner, 2014)

The lucky last hole and the course behind it at Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe (photo by Paul O'Conner, 2014)

Thanks to Paul for sending the pics through. The indoor minigolf course is worth a visit if you're in Felixstowe.

Golf FX (as it was then known) was the fifth course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour way back in November 2006. Emily and I have visited and played the course on numerous occasions since.

Links:

- Mannings Amusements

- Felixstowe-related blog posts

- Indoor Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf courses

Funny things about being a Coeliac #4

The look of sheer horror and disgust in the faces of waiting staff when you use the word 'disease'.

Why call your condition an "intolerance" or "allergy", when the word "disease" makes a much better impression and helps put you more at ease on the already terrifying experience of dining out.

For added effect, I've started to ring a bell as I enter a restaurant to signify that I have Coeliac Disease - and I say the D-word in my most stentorian voice.

Links:

- Funny things about being a Coeliac #1

- Funny things about being a Coeliac #2

- Funny things about being a Coeliac #3

- Coeliac-related blog posts

- Gluten Free-related blog posts

Luton Town's Victory Parade - Skrill Premier Champions for 2013/14

Congratulations to Luton Town FC on their BIG sporting win in the Skrill Premier Division and promotion back to the football league.

There was a great atmosphere in Luton town centre today as an estimated 12,000 Lutonians headed to St George's Square for the Hatters' Victory Parade.

Luton Town FC - "Worlds Football Champions" according to the man doing the announcing at the event!

The Hatters on stage with the prestigious Skrill Premier Division Championship Trophy and the Mayor of Luton, Councillor Sheila Roden

Quite the crowd in Luton's St George's Square

The Skrill Premier Division Championship Trophy 2013/14

The ticker tape after it had been fired out of the ticker tape cannon

Luton's Art Deco Town Hall (rebuilt in the 1930's following the infamous Peace Day Riot of 1919) decked out with banners for the triumphant Hatters.

In the midst of the crowd - can you spot me?

Video: Luton Town - 2013/14 Skrill Premier Champions - on their open top bus victory parade through Luton on the 4th of May 2014. The bus on the roundabout on Hatters Way.

Now that Luton Town are back in the football league they'll be playing games against my other hometown team - Oxford United. Hopefully things continue to improve for both teams and its not like the 2000-01 season of the second division (the year I moved to Luton) when both teams were relegated to Division Three!

Link:

- Luton Town FC

Happy Minigolf Tag 2014!

Today is Austria's National Minigolf Day!

Today's Minigolf Tag (Minigolf Day) is the fifth edition of the event organised by the Austrian Minigolf Federation (Österreichischer Bahnengolf-Verband - OBGV).

Every year around 550,000 Austrians (some 15% of the country's population) play Minigolf and today is a celebration of the great game.

Back in March 2010 I visited the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Vienna, Austria where I played one of the toughest (and longest) Swedish Felt Minigolf courses in Europe. It was the 163rd Miniature Golf course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was also the first place I spotted a Pit-Pat course (a cross between Billiards and Minigolf!).

There are two more 'Minigolf Days' coming up in 2014, with National Miniature Golf Day on Saturday 10th of May, and Miniature Golf Day on Sunday 21st of September.

And don't forget - on Twitter every Monday there's #MinigolfMonday!

Links:

- Minigolf Tag website

- Austrian Minigolf Federation (Österreichischer Bahnengolf-Verband - OBGV)

- Minigolf Tag 2014 video

- Mini Golf Days in 2014

Funny things about being a Coeliac #3

Howard the Celeriac comic strips.

A little bit of gallows humour. But hey, sometimes its good to have a laugh about your serious medical condition.

Check out the 'Special Steak' incident comic strip on the Howard the Celeriac website.

Links:
- Funny things about being a Coeliac #1
- Funny things about being a Coeliac #2
- Howard the Celeriac
- Coeliac-related blog posts
- Gluten Free-related blog posts

Minigolf and Crazy Golf in Barnard Castle - Then and Now

Details of the 9-hole Mini Golf course at Scar Top in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

Last July we visited Barnard Castle in County Durham to launch the new Minigolf course in the redeveloped park at Scar Top.

The 2013 edition of Scar Top's Mini Golf course in Barnard Castle

The new Mini Golf course, designed and built by UrbanCrazy with 'A Journey Through Teesdale' theme, replaced an old Crazy Golf layout that had become tired.

Check out the photos of 'Then' and 'Now' below, with the old course photos provided by our friend in the north John 'Man of a Thousand Nicknames' Moore.

Hole 1 in May 2012 by John 'Thighs' Moore

Hole 1 in July 2013

Hole 2 in May 2012 by John 'YI' Moore

Hole 2 in July 2013

Hole 3 in May 2012 by John 'Big Al' Moore

Hole 3 in July 2013

Hole 4 in May 2012 by John 'Johnny Waffles' Moore

Hole 4 in July 2013

Hole 5 in May 2012 by John 'Wye Aye' Moore

Hole 5 in July 2013

Hole 6 in May 2012 by 'Alexander' John Moore

Hole 6 in July 2013

The Green on hole 6 in July 2013

Hole 7 in May 2012 by John 'The Legionnaire' Moore

Hole 7 in July 2013

Hole 8 in May 2012 by John 'Kepi' Moore

Hole 8 in July 2013

Hole 8 - middle and green - in July 2013

Hole 9 in May 2012 by John 'The Man of a Thousand Nicknames' Moore

The Green of hole 9 in May 2012

Hole 9 in July 2013

The new course at Barnard Castle was the 532nd visited and 319th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since 2006.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf Report – Gottfried’s Tee-Off at New Minigolf Course in Barnard Castle
- Playing the new Barnard Castle Mini Golf course – A Journey Through Teesdale
- New Mini Golf course open in Barnard Castle
- UrbanCrazy-related blog posts

Links:
- John Moore's website
- UrbanCrazy Miniature Golf
- Barnard Castle Town Council
- UrbanCrazy – “A Journey Through Teesdale”

Missing Letters sign - Be Fre

It's no 'Broke' Ladbrokes...

Funny things about being a Coeliac #2

I live in Luton, but I can't eat Gluten.

Gluton (sic) Free menu at the Chicago Rib Shack in London (October 2010)

Gluton (sic) Free sausages at the Arcade Butchers in Hastings (October 2010)

Not the funniest of puns, but the amount of times I've heard the line! If I had a pound...

Links:
- Funny things about being a Coeliac #1
- Coeliac-related blog posts
- Gluten Free-related blog posts
- Luton, Gluten and Gluton - 'typo' signs
- Gluten Free Finds in London (and beyond) - October 2010

Ghost Signs U.K.

Old and intriguing 'ghost signs' advertising long-gone shops, businesses, products and services.  

My friend and fellow Minigolfer Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd (retired) has been telling me to have a look at the Ghost Signs U.K. Facebook page and the intriguing and interesting collection of advertising signs from long-gone shops.

As the Ghost Signs U.K. Twitter page says the aim of the project is "nothing to do with the paranormal but everything to do with social history."

After attending the Celia Time event back in February 2013 we spotted a great ghost sign of a very old and long out-of-business Dispensing Chemist shop on Cloudesley Road in north London.

Toilet Requisites! Photo by Emily of me and Brad next to the old Ghost Sign advertising on a wall on Cloudesley Road in London

Ghost signs are another thing for me to keep an eye out for in addition to Minigolf & Crazy Golf courses, brown signs, milestones, Bar Billiards tables, plaques, abandoned shoes, funny signs and whatnot!

Links:

- Ghost Signs U.K. on Facebook

- Ghost Signs U.K. on Twitter

'Riedenburger Gluten Frei' beer

John Mittler, a friend of mine and fellow Minigolfer in Finland, kindly let me know about a gluten free beer he found in a supermarket with a 70% discount! What a bargain. 

The bottle of Riedenburger Gluten Frei beer - and the early stages of the BBQ. Photo by John Mittler

It's not a gluten free beer I'd heard of before!

He gave the 'Riedenburger Gluten Frei' beer a try, and while it wasn't too his taste he did enjoy the first sip! He commented that he was very glad he doesn't have to consume only gluten free beer.

I'm looking forward to giving the Riedenburger Gluten Frei beer a try.

Links:

- Riedenburger Brauhaus Gluten Frei

- Gluten Free Ales, Beers and Lagers - Details of Gluten Free Ale, Beer and Lager that I've 'sampled' since being diagnosed as a Coeliac *hic*

Bompas & Parr - Building a National Treasure with the British Menu Archive

The latest project from Bompas & Parr - The British Menu Archive.

Crazy Food Architects, Culinary Maestros and Jelly Mongers Extraordinaire Bompas & Parr have launched their latest project and it's going to be massive!

The team are calling on people around the UK to contribute to help them build a National Treasure in the form of the British Menu Archive.

No menu is too old, too new, too small, or two large to be included and Bompas & Parr want to see any menus that people have spotted to help paint a picture of the changing landscape of British food and drink over the decades. Contributions can be physical or in the form of photos.

The archive will be launches at Andaz Liverpool Street on the 28th of May 2014 and one of the features will be a feast consisting of a selection of courses from the submitted menus!

There is a great prize up for grabs, with the very best menu submitted winning a table for six at the launch event! Everyone else will be rewarded with eternal glory and immortality with all menus held in the archive for the nation.

Find out more on the British Menu Archive website.

Menus can be sent to the address below, with everyone who submits one successfully getting fully credited.

British Menu Archive

Bompas & Parr

17 Rushworth Street

London SE1 0RB

Alternatively, scans of menus can be emailed to:

britishmenuarchive@bompasandparr.com

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any gluten free menus on my travels to add to the archive.

The deadline for menu submissions is the 20th of May 2014.

Back in the summer of 2012 Bompas & Parr created a brilliant 'London Landmark in Cake Creations' Crazy Golf course on the roof of Selfridges on Oxford Street! The course harked back to the early 1930's when the department store had a Miniature Golf course as part of the rooftop garden.

The 2012 edition was a brilliant idea and a tricky, but fun 9-hole layout. We played a number of tournaments up there and I became the Crazy Golf with Bompas & Parr Champion in August 2012.

The prizes - in addition to the MASSIVE minigolf trophy - I received for my June play-off win included two Bompas & Parr recipe books. One for Cocktails and one for Jelly! The cocktail book has a very good recipe for making your own pork crackling snacks.

With my winnings of a BIG minigolf trophy and two of the Bompas & Parr books for victory in the June Crazy Golf play-off at Selfridges London in 2012

Links:

- Bompas & Parr

- British Menu Archive website

- Bomas & Parr-related blog posts

- Bompas & Parr on Twitter

- Bompas & Parr on Facebook

Funny things about being a Coeliac #1

As someone diagnosed with Coeliac Disease I find the labels you get on your gluten free prescriptions quite funny. Not only do they have instructions that you should eat the gluten free food "as directed by your doctor", but also that you should "Keep all medicines out of children's reach."

The pharmacy guidelines and doctor's orders stuck on my prescribed packet of medicine (Glutafin Mini Crackers)

The Savoury Shorts from a prescription with the big guidelines sticker from the pharmacy

On a more serious note you can check out the guidelines for Coeliacs to receive gluten free food on prescription on the Coeliac UK website. The only treatment coeliacs currently have is to adhere to a STRICT gluten free diet - this can be very restrictive indeed - so it's great that some staple products are available on prescription. However, in the dozens of prescription orders I've ever done, I've only had one be correctly prescribed!?

Luckily I followed the doctors orders and didn't overdose by eating too much long-life bread, or too many crackers and pizza bases.

Links:

- Coeliac-related blog posts

- Gluten Free-related blog posts

- Coeliac UK

- Glutafin

"Minigolf, an international sport" - New WMF Video Now Online

The World Minigolf Sport Federation has published a new promotional video from the WMF World Minigolf Championships. The video shows the passion, concentration, intensity and skill on display in an elite Minigolf sport event.

Check it out on the WMF's YouTube Channel at "Minigolf, an international sport."

   

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organisation of Minigolf sports association's worldwide and continental associations in Asia, Europe and America. Please visit the WMF website for more information about the sport of Minigolf.

Links:

- World Minigolf Sport Federation

- WMF YoutTube Channel

Love Worthing Photo Competition #useitorloseit

While in sunny Worthing for the recent BMGA British Masters miniature golf tournament at Splash Point Mini Golf course I spotted an advert for a Worthing Photo Competition in the Worthing Herald.

The competition is being run by Worthing Borough Council for its #useitorloseit campaign to make Worthing even more attractive for local residents and visitors to the town.

Here's our entry.

My favourite thing about Worthing is the excellent Splash Point Mini Golf course in Denton Gardens. Photo by Emily Gottfried

For further details of the competition check out the #useitorloseit page on Worthing Borough Council's website and the competition advert here.

Links:

- Splash Point Mini Golf

- Worthing Borough Council

- Worthing Herald

- #useitorloseit campaign

- #useitorloseit on Twitter

- Cobb Digital