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Where are they now? Kevin Francis

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:40:43 +0100

I attended the Waverley School reunion last weekend as the school is moving from its Hob Moor Road site in Small Heath. During the event they looked back at Old Waverlians. Apparently Big Kev was a pupil, although probably a few years after me!

Kevin is now 42 and works in Calgary, Canada working as a Police Constable - let's face it he'd be a pretty imposing figure.

Rob
14 March

BCFC Supporters Meeting - 18th December

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:09:38 +0100

Groups Attended

Blues Trust
Small Heath Alliance
Often Partisan
Disabled Supporters Club
North West
BCFC Official Messageboard
East Mids
South Wales
Mid Wales
Singing the Blues
London
Forza Blues
Redditch
YBS

TOPICS DISCUSSED

I've noted the main points for each topic. Anything highlighted needs our attention.

1 Stadium / Security

There can be no consideration of safe standing at St Andrews until legislation changes.
General comments about the clarity of the PA system. If there are problems in the area you sit please let the steward know at the Burnley match.

2 Marketing

Comments about the quality of our on-pitch announcer - to be fed back.

3 Ticketing
Several comments about the tIcketmaster service i.e. needs to be improved. The club will review its supplier at the end of the season.

4 Catering
Lengthy discussion, but to be honest I can't get excited by pies and sweets.

5 PR & Comms

Everyone, including the club seems unhappy with the website but we are tied to a national agreement with all other Football League clubs until 2017. There are serious discussions taking place to improve the service. In the meantime the Club suggests that if you want to get the latest Club News its best done via the Blues Facebook and Twitter accounts.

6 AV stuff ( thats Audio Visual not the vile)

Issues with Blues World commentaries being sorted with the supplier.
Certain issues with the Video screen at St Andrews being resolved but they are restricted in what action can be shown during a game.

7 AoB (i.e what the f**k is going on!)

There were obviously questions about the potential takeover. The club must observe real confidentiality but they did say that Peter Pannu would be happy to get a view of our questions and concerns and, if possible put together a response. This would be published across all the channels e.g. programme, website, press.
Please send any comments to Rob/David and we will forward a YBS view to Blues before Christmas.

On a lighter note we watched the first team squad playing 5-a-side and also a part of the Academy's game.

YBS Golf Day 2012

Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:03:58 +0100

The event took place on Friday 29th June and a second visit to Forest Park Golf Club. Despite the daunting weather we'd experienced in this so-called summer the day went well with only a brief soaking - must have been down to Pete's organisational skills.

The morning Bluesomes was won by Roy Smitten, Neil Edwards and Rob Smitten.

The afternoon stableford event was as competitive as ever;

3rd place was shared by David Edwards, Steve Turner and Peter Meade on 32 points
2nd place was Rob Smitten on 33 points
1st place and this season's YBS champion is Andrew Smitten who was the clear winner with 42 points.

Photos can be found elsewhere on the website.

Braga Recollections

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:17:32 +0100

Soaring into the sky on Easyjet from Gatwick with other Bluenoses the next adventure in Europe began. Two hours later and we were in Porto, and after a 1 hour car ride we arrived in Braga.We stayed in Basic Braga by Axis and I feared the wrath of my wife as it was "over the railway station" but it was modern clean and the staff were fabulous. Braga was a large town and has many old churches and baroque style buildings but with a very modern trendy area as well.

The Wednesday arrived and once again the Bluenoses decorated the main square with flags and had a good sing and chat together. A short taxi drive and we arrived outside the ground. An amazing view with the one end a hill with trees on it and the other a steep rock face. The two large stands are held together by metal strands across the pitch. It looked good and there was a huge buzz of building excitement as kick off approached. All the noise seemed to waft away in the air but the Bluenoses did their best to sing and the Blues played well and were not outplayed as at St Andrews. If only............Zigic penalty miss.......deflection for goal.........we did not go for a drink after the game!!

We had our wives with us and after a taxi ride where we were all scared for our lives we went for a lovely meal. We went up to the main square for a drink and the highlight was the white wine bought for Sue was undrinkable so we gave it to a bag lady who smelt it and promptly gave it back! It did cost 99 cents so no great financial loss. Robin wanted to see the boys in Murphy's bar so I went with him. Good relaxed atmosphere with a chance to go over the game and remember happy days being a Blues fan. Quite quiet by Brugge standard but still special.

Little recovery time on Thursday and a gentle day was rounded off by drinking Port all together as a nightcap(David insisted on hoovering up the table when he spilt his). Friday saw us all in Porto sitting in a cafe on the side of the river Douro in glorious sunshine, then visiting a Port house to hear how it is made. A lovely way to end the european tour......or is it over?

P.S. Look at the photos to see what it was like!

In Bruges

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:54:26 +0100

Through the silent, deserted streets of Chiswick,London at 4:10 am trudged two bleary eyed people with holdalls full of food, some beer and clothes as well as tickets for the Eurostar to Brugge.

Tube to St Pancreas we passed through security and were waiting for the train.

First big decision. Robin called for a coffee but seeing the prices his wise father called for 2 pints of Guinness which tasted like nectar at 6:00 am! A smooth transfer to Brussels and onwards to Brugge(when booking Eurostar do not forget to tick the box which says and all stations in Belguim or you pay extra) found us booking in to our hotel along with other Bluenoses.

Off to the main square and what a sight to see all the flags and blues fans, singing and having a great time with no trouble at all. After eating and drinking we set off to the ground and courtesy of a friendly police man who flagged down a coach for us we arrived with much excitement and optimism. The “horse" was there and bemused the police who smiled good humouredly!

A stark hard seated stadium could not stem the great sense of belonging to BCFC and the 5,500 fans were in full voice. The atmosphere was electric and an early goal for Brugge only stoked up the noise from all round the ground. The 23^rd minute applause for their player who died bonded the two sets of fans and the equaliser duly came. Half time and everyone thought we had done well. Brugge should have come out with their own ball second half as Blues passed the match one so well it was just like watching a dream. The singing at the end was reaching new highs when Marlon King turned and ran down the line, looked up and crossed for Chris Wood to smash it in the roof of the net. Cue unbounded joy, final whistle and classic “You tube videos”!

Trudging back through streets lined by houses more like Solihul than Small Heath we again had luck in picking up a lift in a coach towards Brugge only to find the Bars were shutting but we had a tip a bar 100 m round the back was going to be open. Blues scarf over the bar and Mr Moon blaring out seemed to indicate we had found the place! A superb atmosphere with local fans joining us as well meant “a few drinks later” at 3:45 am we trudged back to our hotel glad we had not booked breakfast!

A fabulous time almost rivalling Wembley as it was more intense and it had to be experienced to almost touch the joy and pleasure of the shared time abroad with Bluenoses!!

Hope you enjoyed my memories of our European tour!

By Derek Bradley also featuring Robin Bradley, Gary and Matt Parton, The Edwards(Sue, David, Neil and Adam). The next day in Brussels was another story!

YBS Golf Day

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:18:58 +0100

Often referred to as "the 5th Major" this year's contest took place on the 1st July at Forest Park Golf Club near York.
http://www.forestparkgolfclub.co.uk/

The morning consisted of 9 hole "bluesomes". The teams were;

David Edwards, Pete Meade, Ben Smitten ** WINNERS**
Roy Smitten, Steve Turner, Steve Killeen

Paul Killeen, Neil Edwards, Andrew Smitten

The afternoon was an individual stableford competition

Prize Winners

YBS Champion 2011 - Steve Turner

Longest Drive Neil Edwards
Nearest the Pin Roy Smitten

Pictures from the event can be found in the YBS Pictures page.

Thanks to Pete Meade for organising YBS2011.