Jim Kendall ~ Greetings from Australia
Jim Kendall, 'Star Full Back' and 1957 Captain sends best wishes to all friends and rugby forwards!
He left the area in 1967 to live in Sydney and has now woken up to realising that we have a web site, his details are in the members area. He is on 'Our History' page with the 1957 team. If you remember him, drop him an e-mail - his details are in the Members' Area
Dave Westwater
Bar Price Increase ~ January 2010
With effect from 1st January 2010 bar prices will be increased.
The justification for the level of increase is as follows:
- Prices have been held since October 2008
- VAT is increased to 17.5% from 1st January 2010
- Cost increases from suppliers have been absorbed throughout 2009
- Prices were not increased when alcohol duty was raised in the Budget
On a brighter note our product range will be broadened next week to include San Miguel, a popular premium lager.
Chairman's Notes on 2009, from Dave Westwater
Another excellent year with more positives than negatives.
Lots of progress in all areas of the club keeping up the momentum of 2008.
The 1st team pitch is holding up very well, the new areas have coped extremely well with the recent 30 days rain out of 35.
The outcome of all our efforts has been a great atmosphere at Holm Lane leading to increased usage which has kept us on an even keel financially in these recession hit days.
Many people doing something for the club are to be congratulated for their continued support. No prizes for project of 2009, there are too many, but on a practical note the ‘Steve Williams Team’ flagged path from the rugby viewing path to the car park is a big plus.
Let’s look forward to 2010 with great optimism and hopefully good news on Mike Beckett’s sterling work regarding the new development.
Support the Old Parkonians in every way you can, sign up to the monthly development scheme and pledge a minimum of £5.
Any ideas, gripes or items to be added to our jobs register are welcome, contact me at the club or call 07894 543729 or mail me at
Season’s greetings from Joyce and myself, we are off to Italy but will be back for Boxing Day.
Dave Westwater
Chairman
The Jobs List
The Association maintains a jobs list that tracks items of work that are needed to maintain the facilities around the ground and clubhouse.
Were money no object we would simply pay for this work to be carried out, but the reality of a club like ours is that we rely largely on volunteers to maintain what we have.
Click here for the current jobs list which is in PDF format.
If there are any items that you are willing and able to help with, please contact Dave Westwater on 07894 543729 or by email at
Remember, the Club relys on volunteers and if members are willing to spend just a little time on helping with maintenence it will help keep our facilities in good order.
Avoiding expenditure on getting work done will also help keep the subs down!
Ted Chamberlain
Sadly another great Old Parkonian legendary figure, Ted(Teddy) Chamberlain, passed away on the 7th September 2009 at Haslingden, Lancashire aged 74.
Ted was the the only person to have the honour of captaining the Old Parkonians Rugby Club 1st XV (1958-59, 1959-60) and the Old Parkonians Cricket Club (seasons 1966 and 1967).
He was a fine all round sportsman especially at rugby where he was the first team full back for many, many years. When he could no longer command a first team place he converted himself into no mean tight head prop playing many games in the second and third teams with occasional first team games also in his new found position.
He captained the third team as well in the early seventies. When he felt he could no longer play he turned his hand to refereeing firstly the club's lower teams and then, along with Geoff Davies, as a member of the Liverpool and District Referee's Society where he became well respected on the circuit. Even when he moved away from the Wirral he came back to referee a couple of the early Brothers/Veterans Boxing Day games in the 1980s.
I well remember on joining the rugby club as a teenager in the early 1970's how scary Teddy was. He was 'the boss' of touch rugby before the proper training started and heaven help any young or not so young lad who dropped or gave a bad pass!! Along with his cohorts Alan Muir and Brian 'Gus' Cusick he certainly let you know about it!!
He 'refereed' these games and was a terrible cheat in favour of the side he was playing on of course. He had a wonderful, dry sense of humour and as a youngster you didn't really know for sure whether he was being serious or just winding you up. Teddy was a wonderful character who will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
Richie Beckett. September 2009.
Donny Hawker ~ 18/08/1939 - 23/07/2009
Memoirs by Richie Beckett
Donny Hawker joined Old Parkonians on leaving school, in the mid 1950's,along with contemporaries and life long friends Dave Westwater and Brian 'Gus' Cusick and incredibly played adult rugby for over 50 years with his last game being the Brothers/Veterans game on Boxing Day 2008.
It is fairly certain that he was the oldest player to feature in a game for the Parkonians club at the age of 69 - some achievement!!!
You only had to look at Donny to see that he was born and built to play his beloved position of scrum half(No. 9) and this is where he played almost all of his games, although he had the occasional foray into the back row.
By his own modest admittance he was not an outstanding player but he was a very brave, gritty, consistent and reliable team man. Mostly he played in the second team but he also had spells in the first team too. Later in his career, when he had turned 40 he dropped down to play in the third and fourth teams but never lost his cheery enthusiasm for the game.
Around 1980 son, Mike, joined the club and they would often play in the same team something they were both very proud of!!
Donny played regularly until the age of 60 but never retired from the game and played each Boxing Day and other occasional matches too.For so many of these years he would drive down from Manchester to play whatever the weather was and wherever the game was, home or away, although of course it was always away to him!! He was a very, very reliable team member and hated the idea of crying off; he always had a smile on his face, never a bad word to say about anyone, never moaned at even the poorest referee, just got on with it and was very popular with team mates and opponents equally.
Donny was one of the 'founders' in 1980 of the Annual Brothers/Veterans Boxing Day Challenge match. There have been 29 consecutive matches so far up to and including 2008 and it is probable that he played in all of them including the most recent one.
This was an annual occasion he dearly loved sponsoring the half time and after match whisky. In 1996 when the club was struggling for funds he paid for the infamous blue and white Bexley RFC shirts(these were obviously not club colours) tor the third/veterans teams - I can tell you that this was not an insufficient sum of money even now!!
Helen would often have to drive him home to Manchester after these Boxing Day games and Donny admitted that on a couple of occasions he had had such a good time that he fell asleep and had no recollection of the journey at all!
A favourite day for Donny, Mike and others of us who were lucky enough to be there was the last time the Parkonians club played at Eccles RUFC(Manchester) the Saturday before Christmas 1998. The firsts travelled by car but not us third teamers. We had the legendary 'Gus Bus'; the Wallasey School minibus driven by Brian 'Gus' Cusick - the team was basically a veterans squad but it also included Donny's son, Mike, and two then teenagers in Martyn Sharkey and Chris Stott. Helen drove Donny down to Eccles and he played the full game at scrum half at the age of 59. It was 0-0 at half time, then 5-0 to Eccles before most fittingly of all son, Mike, playing at full back, stepped up to score the equalising try converted by Mark Pearson to win us the narrowest of victories(7-5); how sweet the beer tasted afterwards in the very sociable Eccles clubhouse.
The 'Gus Bus' gave Donny a lift home but when we arrived at his house he invited all sixteen others of us in; he and Helen had laid on a buffet and drinks and what a great time we all had. This was so typical of the generosity of both Donny and Helen and this day is surely etched in the memory of all who were there.
Saturday 19th. December 1998. 3rd/Veterans v. Eccles(Away). Won 7-5. Try: Mike Hawker. Conversion:Mark Pearson.
Team: Mike Hawker, Dominic Verheijen, Billy Lloyd, Mike Henry, Chris Stott, Mark Pearson, Donny Hawker, Martyn Sharkey, Richie Beckett(captain), Steve Lowndes(Gus Cusick 40), Pete Browne, Carl Jones(Gary Phillips 40), Kenny Owen, Dave Holdsworth(Carl Jones 70), Kenny Cooke.
Donny was also very heavily involved in the building of the new clubhouse and its extension in 1980 giving up so much of his time, professional advice and working so very hard himself! I will have missed out many other stories such as the rugby tour he went on with the club in 1972 to Vanersburg, Sweden and trying to get in touch with him on his home phone via the dreaded fax machine for example.
Donny was a true gentleman always with a smile on his face and a tale to tell. He was kind generous, reliable and will of course be dearly missed by his loving family and friends but also by all Old Parkonian members both past and present. The world is a much poorer place for his passing.
Richie Beckett. September 2009.
Ground Works ~ May 2009
Thanks to all those volunteers who spread 50 tons of top soil on the 6 very bad areas of the 1st team pitch last Saturday/Sunday, 16/17th May.
On Sunday the weather was atrocious but to their great credit nobody took an early bath, top marks to Matt Prescott and Jess Pryce who worked as hard as anybody, it was a great way to get rid of her hangover.
Our Graeme Bennett, Capenhurst Tractor (the Beast) was invaluable in completing the job.
Due to the conditions the seeding was finally done on Wednesday morning.
Well done to all those involved in the project, we hope it makes a big difference next winter.
Click on a picture for the full sized version
Life Members
We have had visits in the last two weeks from two life members, C.D. Forbes who lives in Norwich and Dave Evans in Cumbria. They are both pictured in the 1956/7 team on the History page.
Colin left the district in 1959 to work abroad and eventually settled in East Anglia. He was well known for his suede shoes, trademark moustache and monocle. It was a pleasure to see him again last week at Holm Lane, shoes and moustache on show, no monocle, but sporting a very dashing cravat! Probably the most cultured second row pairing we have had starred CD and CK Wilson.
Dave Evans was Captain of the 1957/8 season, mainly because he had a 1930s Lanchester which could carry two thirds of the team. He is pictured with our President Geoff Davies who never became Captain as he only had a two seater.
It was a pleasure to see them at the club, they were most complimentary about the grounds and general atmosphere, a tribute to all those involved at the club.
Clubhouse Alterations - Part 1
It is 'time gentlemen please' for the old shutters at the bar.
The 'Heath Robinson' mechanism was probably an idea more suited to a heavy lift in the shipyards and was a difficult job to remove from the loft - ask the Marnick boys!
The taking out and reconstruction of the shutters was done very ably by Dave Galwey. If you want some first class joinery or cabinet making done, contact him by the new shutters any Saturday afternoon.
The new electric units improve the looks, security, insulation and help the bar team hernias at opening and closing times.
Carl Brannan sponsored the removal of the tiles as they reminded him of something he would rather not remember.
New lighting will be installed this week and further work to the rear of the bar will take place shortly.
At the same time we have upholstered the lounge seating and wallpapered the lounge as in the bar area.
Many other small jobs are on the go, if you would like to suggest some other items that would improve your club or would like to offer your services, contact
For example, we would like to put paving stones between the viewing path on the right hand side of the clubhouse and the swing area to provide access for parents and children. WHO WILL TAKE THIS JOB ON?
The old bar shutters
Shutters coming out
The new bar shutters
Clubhouse Alterations - Part 2
After much discussion, a decision was finally made to open up the bar and lounge areas in the Clubhouse. The work was entrusted to Alan Morris & Son who completed the transition in a day.
Early reports indicate that the lounge area of the Clubhouse is now seeing increasing usage!
The specialists commence work...
Halfway there...
Finishing touches...
Job done!
The new layout
The Awards for All Grant
The Association have now received confirmation that the recent application
for National Lottery funding through Awards
for All has been successful.
The £10,000 award includes provides funds for the purchase of the following equipment for both the Cricket and Rugby sections:
- New cricket pitch covers sufficient to protect the cricket wicket
- Two new cricket sightscreens
- A new rugby scrummage practice machine
- Purchase of new waterhog to allow drying of sports pitches
The application to Awards for All outlined the Cricket and Rugby played at Holm Lane as well as the use the Association's ameneties by the local community for both sport and social activities. The Association's Clubmark accreditation was also mentioned in the application to demonstrate our commitment to providing a safe environment in which young people are encouraged to become involved in sport.
We expect the new equipment to be bought soon and will update the web site with information on how these superb new assets will be used to the benefit of both members of the Association and the local community.
Our thanks go to everyone who helped make this application for funding a success.
Membership
To apply for membership of the Old Parkonians Association as either a playing member of the Rugby or Cricket sections or as a Social member requires:
- The completion of an application form.
- Sponsorship by two existing members of at least three years standing.
- Payment of the appropriate subscription.
The application will be considered by the Association Committee and the applicant advised of the outcome.
The application form can be accessed here in PDF format.
If you require the Acrobat Reader to open the PDF file, it can be downloaded from the Adobe Web site.
Association Officials
The Association Officials are: