Once again, Christmas has crept up on us without most of us really noticing; one of the first signs that we are closing in on the big day is an event that has become a regular in our December calendar, the Blue Diamond Christmas Lunch.
This year’s event was held at the Seat Unique Stadium, better known as the County Ground, home of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
As you drive through the gates into the car park, you are greeted by an oasis of green, hemmed in by a residential development mainly of apartments, with some terraced houses at one end. The 10th of December, though, wasn’t a day for standing around in a field waiting for someone to lob a hard spherical ball your way and everyone waiting for you to catch it - or fall flat on your face while attempting to!
A cold wind greeted the hardy souls of the Blue Diamond Club as they made their way past silly mid-off to the main pavilion and the entrance to the banqueting suite. A bust of WG Grace waits to greet everyone who dares to enter; a rather fearsome-looking effigy it is, too, and if it’s anything like the man it represents, then WG must have had quite an intimidating presence on the cricket pitch.
Of course, he played for Gloucestershire Cricket Club for many years in the 19th century, and his first-class career lasted an astonishing 44 years, though one biography I found suggested that he had become a rather corpulent figure by the time of his 50th birthday, in July 1898. Mind you, some Blue Diamond guests would say they became corpulent during a lunch hour, given the quality, not to mention the quantity, of the Christmas lunch on offer!
There is also a WG Grace link to Rovers, as it’s reported that he refereed some Eastville Rovers reserve team games in 1886 – at least according to an early 20th-century publication ‘The Book of Football.’
Given a bust of the great man sitting outside the entrance, the least we could expect, surely, was a mention of him before we sat down to feast ourselves. After all, isn’t it common to say grace before partaking of food? Not on this occasion, though, as our skipper for the day, one Tony Mills, never even mentioned WG, let alone Grace!
However, the skipper did the formal introductions before we ate and outlined the events of the afternoon which seemed to comprise of buying raffle tickets and singing Christmas carols after listening to our esteemed guests for the day, namely Ritchie Bates, Adam Tutton and Costa Chard, our main speaker.
And so, in cricket-speak, it was going to be LBC (Lunch before Costa) as opposed to LBW, and everyone tucked into their Christmas Dinner with several of our guests being careful not to spill gravy down the Christmas jumpers that were making their first appearance of the festive season.
The ample three-course lunch was a delight and, once the last mouthful had been devoured, the skipper sprung a surprise on his audience when he put Ritchie and Adam forward as his openers when everyone had thought that Costa was the main man.
New man Ritchie, the Football Club’s Commercial and Revenue Director, made a promising Blue Diamond debut and briefly outlined his role at the club and suggested that things would change on his watch. He acknowledged the part played by the club’s supporters, whilst recognising that the relationship between the fans and the club has not been the best of late. He spoke with refreshing honesty and all those present will have been heartened by his approach and relieved that an officer of the club not only attended the lunch but seems willing to work with all supporters for the good of the club.
His opening partner Adam, the Community Trust’s Chief Executive Officer, is no stranger to Blue Diamond audiences. He was next up to the crease and his job was a very pleasant one, as he explained that the Trust is able to cost the value of its work and that he had been notified just that morning that in the last year that work had saved the NHS £6.1m. Obviously, the work of the Trust knows no boundaries!
In at number three was Costa (no connection to a well-known chain of coffee houses, it should be stressed). Making his second appearance at a Blue Diamond function, his task was to explain the scheme known as Rebound with Rovers (RWR).
Established in October 2021, the scheme uses football to offer support to those suffering from mental health problems and Costa leads the Rovers team providing that support.
He said: "Anyone is welcome to our sessions, and essentially, it’s for people suffering from anxiety or depression or who are just struggling.
"It’s an opportunity for them to express themselves and also gives an opportunity for them to speak to one another and express how they are feeling in a safe, confidential environment."
Costa did explain that for the first three months of its life, RWR had just one member, a lady by the name of Helen Cox, who first learned about the group through a therapist who encouraged her to join. Since then, she has progressed to become a coach with the group, and the number of people attending is on the increase.
Naturally, running the group costs money, and our raffle for the day raised £540 pounds (as counted by vice-captain Mo Bell) to assist the work of RWR. Costa and his colleagues were completely taken aback at this figure, and all three guest speakers earned themselves a round of applause for their efforts at the wicket.
With that, they were off to deliver presents to children at Children’s Hospice South West and a local hospital.
As for our members, it never ceases to amaze us that a regular turnout of 70-80 people, all of whom support Bristol Rovers, with a few cricket fans amongst them, regularly manage to raise in excess of £500 for whatever charity we support on the day.
That wasn’t the end of our day, though, far from it! Next on our agenda was the highlight, for many, the singing of Christmas carols or, to be more specific, one carol in particular. After a warm-up of Jingle Bells (who knew there was more than one verse to this jolly little number?!), it was on to the main number.
As I’m sure you know, there are, as the carol implies, twelve days of Christmas and in an ideal world, there would be twelve tables of Blue Diamond guests who could all sing one day each. Unfortunately, we only had eight tables, so, it could have got rather messy!
Not to worry, though, as our esteemed veteran umpire, Roger Brinsford, was well-prepared. Four tables, he decided, would sing two verses, and he had already nominated said tables before skipper Tony operated the computer to show the words on the screen. Good job we’d had a warm-up is all I can say, as the skipper proved he’s no technician; we could have had another warm-up carol before he managed to get the words up – as if we didn’t know them anyway!
Umpire Roger has one rule when it comes to this carol. The people singing their verse have to stand – easier to project the voice, apparently. So, there was lots of standing and sitting and people bobbing up and down all over the place, but we did manage to complete the Twelve Days without any major mishaps.
As we made our way back to our cars after thanking our hosts for their magnificent hospitality, we again passed WG at the entrance, and as he watched us depart his spiritual home, we vowed to be back again in the Spring, when our guest will be ‘Top Man’ Geoff Twentyman.
If anyone reading this would like to join us at our next dinner, then please keep an eye out for an announcement on social media, on our website and those of the Football and Supporters Club. If we are back at Gloucestershire Cricket HQ in the spring, we declare that there will be no more cricketing terms used in our report. We definitely won’t spin you another yarn. Honestly! Words by Keith Brookman.
