So I've set-up a Just Giving site with the aim of raising money for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. My aim is to reach £500 during the year for this worthy cause. Please if you enjoy reading my blogs consider donating a small amount. The Air Ambulance is one of a number of charities I like to support. The East Anglian Children's Hospice, the Samaritans and Star Throwers are a few others.
So my pledge for 2022 for which I'm asking for donations will be 1/ to walk 1,500 miles and 2/ to write 365 blogs (one for every day of the year).
Last year we celebrated Anne's 70th birthday with an at home event to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society and MacMillan Cancer Research
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Where over a lunchtime can you talk about a one armed football referee, Tony Blair's knighthood and a glorious award entitled the Rusty Radiator?
Yes it was the latest lunch of the Hethersett Old Farts Group which I have mentioned before. We do cover some weird and wonderful topics that this time around also included music banned by the BBC. I have also mentioned this before and if you find yourself unable to sleep you can pop along to www.peterowensteward.weebly.com/banned.html.
At first I thought the idea of a one armed referee was a wind up. A one armed bandit yes but a one armed referee? How would he write in his notebook or record a goal at the same time as blowing his whistle.
But it wasn't a wind up. Alf Bond refereed the 1956 FA Cup Final. He lost his right arm at the age of 19 in an industrial accident. He had to learn to write and perform other tasks with his left hand (presumably he had been right handed). He worked his way up the refereeing ladder after giving up playing due to finding that his balance had been affected. He also owned a newsagents' business in Fulham. He refereed a number of international matches. If that was strange then the Rusty Radiator award was even stranger. According to our club Old Fart member, it's awarded to the person who blubs the most on television during the year. I guess it's usually awarded to somebody making an award speech. Bring on the tears.
We then had a discussion about Monty Python humour most of which we reckon would be banned in today's woke society. Personally I think the word woke should be banned. It's an awful word.
We were largely in agreement that Tony Blair should not have been given a Knighthood. In fact some of the language on this was quite colourful and one person even said "it's enough to make a pacifist turn to violence!"
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As one of my readers pointed out following my piece about Hillsborough, the death count has now reached 97 which provides a piece of poignant irony for me. That is also the number of soldiers who died in Le Paradis Massacre in Northern France during the Second World War.