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IPA News

The Folk Meet Up: Norfolk & Suffolk Branch Lunch Pat Bailey , Norfolk & Suffolk Branch Our Branch has not had an opportunity to get together since March, due to COVID 19 restrictions. So, it was with pleasurable anticipation that we met at our usual watering hole, Park Farm Hotel near Norwich in August. Due to restrictions imposed by the hotel, only 12 members and guest could attend. So we took bookings on a first come first served basis. After a few drinks and a good catch up, we took our places in our own dining room next door, for an excellent lunch. We also enjoyed a good chat, sharing Covid stories of near misses getting back from abroad. We are a resilient bunch and seemed to have come through these six months with fortitude. It’s not been easy, but living where we do, it may have been easier on our physical and mental health than for those who do not have countryside and beaches on their doorstep. We all left happy, refreshed and pleased that we had a chance to see our friends in a near normal way. Looking forward to a Christmas lunch. Hopefully with a few more members, if the restrictions are lifted by then.

The World’s Largest Scrum Tony Granger , Birmingham Branch

I played rugby for over 50 years as man and boy. My school team at Sinoia High in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) taught me the basics, and we were largely unbeaten. My usual position was lock, because I was 6’6’’ tall, but I sometimes played number 8 or flank. Rugby has taken me to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, USA, France, Japan, Argentina, Ireland, the UK and a host of other nations. Latterly I was manager / player for a UK Oldies teams, fondly known as The Full Monteys. In 2016 I found myself as a player at the World Golden Oldies rugby festival in Cardiff, playing for the Budgies, in what was to be my last game at the age of 65. The Budgies comprised mostly of Australians from Brisbane, but had six different nationalities playing for it. We were from: the USA, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Samoa and Australia. Ably led by dentist and hard man Geoff Phillips, AKA ‘Gull’, we played four matches in five days, culminating in a final game on the famous Cardiff Arms Park ground. We were refereed by Welshman Nigel Owens, thought to be the best referee in the world. We won all of our matches, which were hard-fought but enjoyable. Cardiff was extra special because it was where I was part of the Guinness Book of Records, world record for the largest rugby scrum. Our record, achieved on 24th August 2016 was for a scrum of 1,297 players. The previous record of 1,198 was set at Twickenham, during the Rugby World Cup. (Our record has since been beaten with 2,586 people taking part at an event organised by Young Entrepreneurs Group Toyota (Japan) in Toyota, Aichi, Japan, on 23rd September 2018).

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POLICE WORLD Vol 65 No.4, 2020