Tour photo gallery 2006

Thursday 6th July	Friday 7th July	Saturday 8th July

Sunday 9th July

 

Tour photo gallery 2005

Friday 8th July	Saturday 9th July	Sunday 10th July

Ploughmans Tours have become the stuff of legend and the annual pilgrimage in mid-season to Fairford in Gloucestershire is the highlight of the season.  Below you can read of the touring exploits of Ploughmen old and new.  For a perspective on last year’s event click on John O'Hara's account A Virgin’s Tale - 2006.  And other previous tour virgins, Spencer 'Psycho' Follows, Bruce ‘Bonus’ Clark, Christine “call me Liz” Horton and Tim “Wideboy” Pring reveal all in A Virgin’s Tale - 2005,  A Virgin’s Tale, A Tour Diary and A Tour Tale respectively.  Or for a brief history of PCC tours across the years read on . .

The first Ploughmans Cricket Club Tour was made to Cheltenham in 1991, thereafter we have visited Brighton twice, Norfolk (once was enough), The New Forest and The Forest of Dean. In 1997 we made our first visit to The Bull Hotel at Fairford and we have returned there every year since.

It seems that we had found our spiritual home at last, at successive Annual General Meetings we have had unanimous votes in favour of returning to the Bull. Tour matters have not always been so straightforward and we have enjoyed one or two "experiences" on the way.

The first tour was notable for the introduction of the "Champagne Moment", Mr John Meade walking off with the prize for his efforts in some gravel whilst spectating at one of the two matches. The hotelier, a man christened "Eugene" by the assembled Ploughmen was delighted to have people who would stay up drinking with him, he closed the bar when he had to set the tables for breakfast. The other highlight was Mick Keay's toilet activity being advertised to everyone else in the hotel via the "thunderbox" which masqueraded as his WC.

There have been two tours to Brighton, the first in 1992 was notable for Harry Willden's famous card trick, Huw Williams' debut as a stand-up comic and a bizarre obstacle race around the bar of the Excelsior Hotel at 3am. The cricket was confined to two matches against Portslade and Steyning, the PCC side which played against Portslade is shown left; back row: Joss Wall, John Farndon, Derek Davies, Phil Lewis, Ian Berry, Harry Willden (yes that is a pint of lager in his hand), front row: Nasser Khan, Paul Peters, Huw Williams, Alan Tolhurst and John Meade.

In 1993 we made our first attempt at "do it yourself", we visited the Forest of Dean, won two matches against pretty poor opposition on very poor pitches and stayed in what can only be described as a youth hostel. This accommodation featured a licensee who operated a "one for you, one for me" drinks service, Robert Cox is probably one of only a few with any lasting memory of the weekend!

1994 was the infamous Norfolk Tour organised for us by 3-D Cricket, the Riverside Hotel appeared to be in the red light district of Norwich as rooms were let on hourly rates. The rooms were appalling and the annex in which some of our party had to stay, became known unaffectionately as 11 Rillington Place. The crowning glory was the barman/manager a Dutchman who slept in the bar and left his socks and underwear under the furniture. The only cricket I remember was an absolute thrashing by Thetford CC in a dust bowl on a blazing hot Sunday afternoon.

Having lost faith in 3-D, we set about arranging our own tour again for 1995, we visited the New Forest and stayed at a nice pub/hotel in the village of Sway. Whilst the accommodation was fine, we encountered the other problem associated with organising your own tour, we were let down by our opposition and only played one game.

That tour saw us play more boules than cricket (see picture right, les amis sont Khan, Williams, Davies and Pilavachi) though apparently we gave a good account of ourselves at a local fete. The weekend might be remembered for Dyll's unfortunate quote; "It's not easy being a hero"- he was duly reported by his wife Cathy and was of course summarily fined.

In 1996 determined to ensure some fixtures we put ourselves in the hands of the Mike Burton Group and returned to Brighton. The cricket that year featured a thrashing by Portslade CC which had strangely mirrored our effort against Steyning CC in 1992. The two other tour matches in 1996 were against Colemans Hatch CC (Above left) and St Johns CC (above right).

The ill-fated 1996 PCC XI (above) before the match with Portslade; back row: Nasser Khan, Joss Wall, Tahir Mahmood, Con Pilavachi, Matt Wells, front row: Dyll Davies, Paul Peters, Ian Berry, Simon Wilkinson, Robert Cox and Arvind Kumar. It would seem that young Amy Wilkinson (very front) might have had a premonition of the cricket that followed. The second photo (right) shows what she may have foreseen; the scoreboard shows we were bowled out for 42 with the five batsmen pictured all failing to trouble the scorer. Standing; Ian Berry, Robert Cox (with bow tie!), Nasser Khan, crouching; Dyll Davies and Simon Wilkinson. Don't those ducks look nice?

Then in 1997 the Mike Burton Group introduced us to the Bull Hotel in Fairford and the rest as they say, is history.

Over the years we have introduced individual awards for the best batman, bowler and overall player on the Tour. The 1998 recipients Cox (bowler) Peters (player) and Berry (batsman) are pictured right. Con Pilavachi now sponsors the Champagne Moment, though much to his chagrin, Coxy seems to win the bottle of Moet; Chandon every year. Robert and Harry now run a reasonably successful bookmaking business on the Tour, though both acknowledge that the comittee will swallow up any excessive profit.

Last year we returned to the Bull Hotel for the seventh consecutive year. Our visits have provided some vivid memories; our Host Mrs Dudley standing on a table in the bar and leading the singing at 2am on our first visit and Robert's unfortunate "gaffe" towards a table of diners immediately behind him, to name but two. The traditional End of Tour Dinner on the Sunday (1998 version shown left) is an opportunity to reflect on the cricket (tell lies), pay up your fines (not too savage) and generally relax before returning to the real world on the Monday;..or Tuesday sometimes.