Simply Sims, by Steve Sims
A SAD story has a slightly happier ending thanks to the power of the press and the funny little article I ran last week about the football manager and his wonky white lines.
If you recall Crawley Green Ladies manager Bill McGarry helped his team overcome a mini-crisis when he turned up for their home match with Sherrardswood only to find out that the pitch hadn’t been marked out. To avoid the game being called off, Bill dived in and quickly painted white lines across the field as the kick-off time grew ever closer.
That publicity resulted in a reader getting in touch with me asking to make contact with the club as they felt they wanted to help boost their coffers.
Cath Phipps, explained that her cousin, Vicky Jolly, had died of cancer on April 13, but instead of flowers at the funeral her wish was for money to be donated to local ladies football. Cath said: “She has always both played and supported girls and women’s football and wanted family members to donate money to a local team rather than spend a fortune on flowers for her funeral. As Vicky has friends and family in a number of areas it was felt that instead of all monies going to her local club Winchester we could spread out the cash around the country.”
Crawley Green Ladies is set to receive £250 and will be purchasing a new kit which will bear Vicky’s name on the sleeve.
ANOTHER worthy fundraising cause is Help For Heroes, a charity which my sister-in-law Lorraine Webb, pictured, will be supporting when she takes place in the Milton Keynes Marathon on Sunday.
Having tried and failed to get in the London Marathon for five years, the 40-year-old, of Marsom Grove, Luton, is delighted to have secured a place for the 26.2-mile challenge in MK.
But she’s had numerous problems to overcome to be shipshape for the big test of endurance. Firstly, her fear of dogs when she’s been out training means her fellow Stopsley Striders have had to form a cocoon of runners around her whenever they had to jog past a dog on the streets. Unfortunately, a lot of the training has been on the Parkway-Harpenden cycleway which is popular with dog walkers.
Secondly, she’s had to deal with her tendency, according to a fellow runner, to sound like a heavy-breathing weirdo phone caller when she’s out running. But now she’s fitter she’s not panting as much!
Finally, she’s needed physio concerning her tight IT bands caused by over stretching and over training.
To get her body to behave she’s had to perform banana stretches and a foam roller exercise.
To boost her fundraising Lorraine has been selling cakes at work for the past seven weeks. It’s obviously a very good cause because the burnt cakes my wife made even sold for £1 apiece!
If you want to support Lorraine in supporting Help For Heroes go to www.bmycharity.com/LorraineWebb.
The Independent on Sunday released its Happy List at the weekend.
It’s the fifth year the paper has named 100 outstanding people who make a real difference. They’ve also produced a Top Ten Celebrity Happy List in a spin-off (pun intended) to the main list which features Luton’s England bowler Monty Panesar.
What’s Monty got to be happy about?, I hear you ask.
1. He’s from Luton, which was voted one of unhappiest places in the UK a couple of months ago.
2. He’s a passionate Luton Town fan (enough said).
3. OK, he played a couple of Tests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but then he was left out again
Also in the top ten list are Rebecca Adlington and Victoria Wood.
Monty’s citation reads: “One of the very few world-class cricketers to look as if he is actually enjoying himself, this bowler – born to Punjabi Sikh parents in Luton – is probably the most popular player in the country.”
> Don’t forget, if you have anything unusual, outrageous or downright daft to pass on, you can give me a call on 01582 798510, email steve.sims@jpress.co.uk or drop me a line, see page 2 for details or get in touch via Twitter to @simschat