On Friday 6th February, a select bunch of people arrived at the function room at the back of The White Bear at the request of Tony Lowes, the Chairman of Shipston Excelsior Football Club, for his dinner.
With guest speaker, Ron 'Chopper' Harris, and Steak and Ale Pie on offer, there was a definite buzz in the air as the protagonists got down to the serious business of eating and drinking.
After an excellent meal and a ridiculous amount of cheese had been consumed, the Chairman rose to announce the start of the traditional Port drinking competition - the bottle was not to touch the table as it was passed around to the left and the first table to finish it received another bottle. Our table was half way through pouring the second glass when an empty bottle was held aloft from another table. Our main mistake had been to use the small port glasses that we thought were there for the purpose, rather than large wine glasses or indeed pint pots. The other reason we failed to make an impact was that we didn't have any crusty old timers on our table who were as fortified as the port.
With our bottle still three quarters full, the Chairman rose once more to introduce the guest speaker. Chopper Harris was not the most natural of speakers, but he certainly held your attention especially after you got the hang of the colourful language. 'Enormous Hampton' 'J Arthur' and 'Bunny' were all expressions used liberally in the dressing room the next day. Chopper spoke for over half an hour on his career, including the various great players he had played with, taken out at the knees or famously missed (George Best). He even had time to put Teeth in his place and shake Neville's hand every five minutes.
Barry Connor, who is actually a Chelsea fan - he hardly ever mentions it, so you may not have known, was sat next to one of his heros and hardly uttered a word all night, and for that reason alone it would certainly be worth getting Chopper back to Shipston sometime in the future.
As the evening stretched into the early hours, the party moved into the bar area where a few interesting drinks were purchased and the Chairman's health was toasted.
The next day, both teams went on to record wins against local rivals, Ilmington, so the new training regime is obviously paying off.
To see a selection of pictures from the evening please click here.