Noon Image: 19 Mar 2015

All Fitted

The big clean-up is under way. All of the fitting is complete and the lads are now working their way round and checking everything and making sure everything is spotless.

We are delighted with their work and indeed commented that we would miss them being around. They are so cheerful and polite, and work so incredibly hard. They are a real credit to the company.

We still have some efflorescence from the brickwork, but that should settle and then all blend down to the colour of the main brickwork. The electrician is due on Friday for the first fix. We just need to work out exactly what we need!

Noon Image: 18 Mar 2015

Watertight

All the glass is now fitted and we are watertight. The fitters have a few internal tasks to complete, then all they have to do is the final clean-up.

That's all good, but better still is that Jasper has started to use the cat tunnel in the wall.

Walking about

GF was back at Worthing for the Walking Football, this morning. Not playing on Sunday had left GF feeling a little stiff, but after a long and gentle warm up, he was feeling fine by kick-off. Three 15-minute games today - a 0-0 draw and 1-1 draw and 1-2 loss. Overall, not too bad as we were expecting to get trounced in the last two games.

The warm spring weather made the game very hot and some of the lads were wilting. Heaven's knows how they will cope during the summer. Meanwhile, the registration forms have arrived for the Sussex FA's Walking Football tournament. We will have to decide how we narrow down the selection to 10 players, but we will discuss that tomorrow.

Noon Image: 17 Mar 2015

Building Sites

The Silver Vixen had a friend come to visit today. The Gorse Fox was able to tuck himself away in the study and finish the conversion / update of the wider family website. He still has to start on the close family, but the main site is done and he's very happy with the look and feel.

GF also took the opportunity to go and see the lady from the developers who handles request to change the houses. (She was the one who gave us permission to build the Orangery). After seeing the success that Barney Rubble has had with his solar panels, GF wondered if it might be a sensible investment - and whether the developers would even allow it. She was a bit non-committal, but didn't rule it out. Clearly we would be the first people on the development to go ahead with an installation, if permission was forthcoming. Two previous requests came to nothing as they were from people with semi-detached houses and their neighbours objected. This should not be a problem for us. It's time now for GF to do a bit of research and to come up with a proposal.

No photos of the Orangery today - it was dark by the time the fitters left.

Noon Image: 16 Mar 2015

Mothers' Day

Mothers' Day should be special.  So it was that no football had been arranged and the Gorse Fox was at home with the Silver Vixen, discussing lighting options for the "south wing" when it is finished. Urban-cub and Pistol Pete would be turning up later, but we had some time to debate the various aspects of down-lights, up-lights, wall lights, and ribbon lights. In the end, no definitive decisions were made.

We managed to get through to Cousteau-cub on the phone. The Silver Vixen had a long chat with her. Clearly, she is very positive and at peace within herself, despite the latest flare-up of her rheumatoid arthritis. It was good to hear that, despite the pain, she is feeling so positive. The Gorse Fox must admit that he does miss her and hopes that we can get out to see her before too long.

Urban-cub and Pistol-Pete arrived just after we hung up form C-c. She had brought all of the ingredients with her and set to work cooking a roast dinner for us all. It was delicious, and made more so by the fact we didn't have to cook it.

Overall - a lovely day.

Noon Image: 15 Mar 2015

Excellent afternoon

We met up with Sue and Trevor, and after a coffee we headed out to Stanmer - on the outskirts of Brighton. It was a lovely day, though a chilly wind blasted in from the east.

The idea was to have a short walk, and visit the nurseries, then stop for a tea. It didn't quite work out as the nurseries were closed. Apparently Council cuts have limited weekend opening during the winter months.

We conducted an about-face and headed back the other way, stopping briefly at the museum (which was just closing) where the Silver Vixem managed to purchase a oval bowl with a silver finish. This should look really good on the coffee table in the lounge.

We carried on through the village, then doubled back to Stanmer House where we had a cream tea and discussed the upcoming family wedding.

Leaving later than expected, we headed straight across to Hove and found a table at Sue & Trevor's favourite Indian restaurant. For the next three hours we sat and chatted whilst consuming the finest cuisine emanating from the sub-continent.

Excellent day... though we were very late getting home. This would normally have been a concern as Jasper the Cat needs feeding. We have, however, now got an automatic feeder that pops open after a pre-determined time. This allowed us to set his dinner, and time the feeder to open at the right time. This has also proved a godsend for the morning. His breakfast has popped open at 0630 and that way he has left us alone. Result!

Meet up

It has been a while since we have met up with Sue and Trev (Rick Wakeman). Today seems like the ideal opportunity. We'll be heading out to Brighton for chinwag and then a meal at their favoured local Indian Restaurant. Should be fun - we always have a good time when we meet up.

Noon Image: 14 Mar 2015

Cornice

The work continues. The cornice has now been fitted and roof capping completed. The guys have worked their socks off again today so that next week they can do the windows and doors and then finally the bi-fold doors.

With luck, they should be finished on Tuesday, but the Gorse Fox would not be surprised if it runs on into Wednesday.

Meanwhile we have had a garden designer in to see us. We gave him a brief, and now will await his ideas and designs.

Noon Image: 13 Mar 2015

Workshop

It's about three hours drive to get to Barney's. The Gorse Fox arrived in time for a coffee a tour of his new house and to get stuck in to the workshop build. First order of the day was to get the stud walls up and square, and get the whole fabric bolted down to the under frame. This went without a hitch. In celebration we headed into town to see the Samosa Lady who made us some lovely lamb samosas and vegetable samosas which we took back to eat with a cup of tea.

Afternoon began with the insertion of the ridge beam and then the measuring and cutting of the rafters (with the bird's mouth cut-outs). We formed a successful production line for this and made full use of the various power tools available to us. By half past four the roof structure was complete and the cross-brace in place. We had achieved what we set out to complete. As if to signal the end, the rain started as we were clearing away.

During the evening we went to The Greyhound Inn in Fenny Bridges for a pint and very fine meal. Perfect end to the day.

Super structure

The construct at home continues. First some thermally reflective blinds are put in place at the lower edge of the roof

Then, that area around the periphery of the roof is boxed in with this lightweight caging. Eventually this cage will be covered in plasterboard and become part of the ceiling and create the illusion of a roof lantern.

Noon Image: 12 Mar 2015

Heping hand

The Gorse Fox is leaving the Silver Vixen and Jasper the Cat in charge. He is off to Devon to visit Barney Rubble. Barney is building a new workshop in his garden and the Gorse Fox offered to help. (Somethings you just can't do single-handed). It should be fun, and as it's about 3 hours drive, the Gorse Fox will stay overnight. (Which may prove to be an excuse for a beer in some nearby hostelry).

Successful Fit

Again, a very successful day from the fitters. All of the fixed glass panels are in place and the cappings are on most of the mullions.

They are still working, but it has just started to spit with rain, so they are moving sensitive components into the orangery.

They aim to fit the four roof-lights (opening panels) before they leave tonight.

Another win

Good game of football this morning. A solid 25 minutes each way, and narrow 6-4 victory for the Gorse Fox's side.

Because we had a good turn out, we ended with 7-a-side, which was less than ideal on the small pitch - but Captain Jack is worried that some of the less regular players wouldn't cope on the larger pitches we use on Tuesdays.

Noon Image: 11 Mar 2015

Going Up

Well the roof framework has been erected whilst the Gorse Fox was away at football, and since he has returned and had some lunch, the first glass panels have been slotted into place

It is early evening (or late afternoon) now. The lads are still at it as the Gorse Fox writes, and slowly but surely further panels are framed and the glazed units fixed into their rightful place.

The bi-fold doors have also been delivered today, though they won't be fitted for a few days, yet.

We are both very pleased so far. The glass has a self clean coating that gives the glass a slight blue tint. This will be a huge bonus as even the grey days will seem brighter!

Balmy

A lovely balmy day. Too warm for a sweatshirt when playing football - nice to think it's down to t-shirts in early March. (But then there is talk of El Nino this year - so watch for all of the Climate Change  adherents telling us this years weather is proof of global warming - when actually most anomalous weather this year will be directly attributable to El Nino).

Three games today - won one, drew one, lost won. Enjoyed them all.

Noon Image: 10 Mar 2015

Fit

The fitters have been here all day. There isn't too much to see as most of the day was spent measuring, cutting, preparing, and squaring things off. Th Gorse Fox is assured that all is now ready, the ring beam is in place, and the box gutter is installed; first thing tomorrow the roof frame will be erected and then the glass will start to be installed.

Good progress. (and the fitters are are nice chaps who work incredibly hard).

Almost done

The rework of the web site is nearly done. All pages have now been moved to their new homes, and one by one the Gorse Fox has been cleaning them up. There are about half a dozen pages left to clean up. GF cannot get over the amount of html-coding detritus that the Microsoft we tool placed in these pages. He must have edited thousands (quite literally) of lines over the past few days.

Noon Image: 9 Mar 2015

Close

The Silver Vixen is out at an all-day workshop, learning some new techniques for making art quilts. Meanwhile, the Gorse Fox has been to football. It was a very intense game today. Neither side gave any quarter, and at the end of the hour it was a draw and we were all completely exhausted. Having said all that, it was great fun and despite the apparent unevenness of the sides, we did well. The Gorse Fox was expecting a complete caning, so the eventual draw was evidence of how hard we worked. Very satisfactory.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, GF continues to edit the web site. So far he has completed 33 pages, but still has quite a few to go. Despite that, he is very pleased with the results.

Noon Image: 8 Mar 2015

Webbed

The Silver Vixen is out at a sewing event in Chichester. The Gorse Fox is scratching a metaphorical itch that has been growing for a few months. The web site he runs on behalf of people from across the world with the same surname as he has been looking a bit jaded. It could do with an update and a bit of a face lift.

This itch, has been combined with a wish to find out more about the Joomla Content Management System. The result is that GF is now working through the old web site, page by page, and copying them into Joomla. It is a lengthy process. Not because Joomla is difficult, but because a) there are a lot of pages to convert, and b) the Microsoft tool he used to build the existing site generated dreadful html-tags which now need cleaning up.

GF is several hours into it, and suspects it may be a further day or two before it is finished and ready for public consumption. (Then it will be time to start on his own family web site).

Noon Image: 7 Mar 2015

Deliveries

Ahem. The components that form the roof, windows, doors, and manage the flow of rainwater have arrived - this included 47 double-glazed made-to-measure glass panels. The chaps turned up with a huge van and started the delivery. An hour later they knocked to say they were going back to the depot to load up with the second van-load. That has now arrived, and the components are spread all down the side of the house, across the extension and around the garden.

The fitters, Albert and Connor, are due first thing on Monday. They estimate they will be with us for a week or two. It seems daunting at first, but then you think about how much it is costing and you conclude that it good to see so much stuff and so much labour - it gives a feeling of value for money!

Noon Image: 6 Mar 2015

Exploring

After the domestic responsibilities were complete and we had had a bite to eat, we went out exploring. We had heard of a Farm Shop out towards Runcton and thought it was time to find it and give it the once-over. It only took 5 minutes to get there and this Tardis-like shop proved to be a great find. It was far larger inside than it had appeared from the outside and had a huge selection of provender: vegetables, cheeses, dairy goods, cakes, biscuits, jams, jellies, sauces, and even a butchers. This deserves a return visit, particularly if we wish to pick up something out of the ordinary.

From there, we crossed the road to a garden centre. This was serendipitous. It had a wide range of plants, toys, furniture, gifts, and heaven knows what else. We wandered round for ages looking at the various displays. Another excellent little find.

Noon Image: 5 Mar 2015

Decking

In preparation for sorting out the garden, the Gorse Fox contacted a couple of suppliers of composite decking materials. This is like traditional decking, but rather than use normal woods, the boards are made up of a composite material. As such, they are maintenance-free, and importantly, non-slip. The first couple of samples arrived this morning, along with a brochure. We are both very impressed with the material and the ideas shown in brochure.

Warmer

It was noticeably warmer today and this somehow made the football more fun. Maybe it loosened up a few of the older limbs among us. We deliberately picked two very evenly matched teams in an effort to ensure we got a good hard work-out. At half time, it was honours-equal at 3-3. The Gorse Fox relinquished the goal-keeping gloves for the second half and slowly but surely we inched ahead of the opposition - eventually winning by 2 goals. The GF was pleased to score a couple and was generally happy with his play.

After the game, there was a lot of discussion regarding the variations on the rules that seem to be adopted by different teams. We are trying to focus on the rule-set used by the biggest conglomeration of WF teams across the country (indeed, the rules that will be used in the 2015 National Tournament).

Noon Image: 4 Mar 2015

Afternoon out

After a morning performing a house-sitting relay for Urban-cub - awaiting the delivery of a new bed, Gorse Fox joined up with the Worthing crowd for football (the Silver Vixen having taken over the baton of house-sitting).

Football over and delivery completed both headed home for a bite to eat and an hour of down-time before heading back out. We had tickets for the cinema to see "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".

Surrounded by crumblies, we observed the blatant ageist targeting of the adverts, and indeed this started to irritate. Finally, the film started. Like the first, it was a gentle comedy on the reality of age and the fact that people still want to be useful and fulfilled as they get older. Shutting down and hiding away is not an acceptable option. It was an excellent and uplifting film... and, as far as the Gorse Fox could tell, all of the crumblies in the theatre survived the screening.

We stopped off for dinner before heading home.

Noon Image: 3 Mar 2015

Tournaments and Cousins

Well the Gorse Fox has entered Arun Amblers for two more tournaments. One is the National Walking Football Tournament for 2015, the other is organised by the Sussex FA. This should keep us busy, and get us some more game time.

On another tack entirely, GF got a phone call from a distant cousin yesterday. He is pretty far removed genealogically, but descended from the same bunch of McDonalds as the GF. He was phoning to tell of a death in the family, but on discussion realised that it was way over on his side and absolutely no relation the GF at all. It did provide an opportunity to catch up a bit and to share some details with him - on the proviso that he communicates any required updates.

This got the GF thinking about his family website. It is about due for another overhaul. Question is, what is the best mechanism to support this? A continued use of hand-cranked tools, or some form of modified content management system; the jury is out. There are several good tools for just the family tree side of things, but the website holds so much more than just a tree.

Noon Image: 2 Mar 2015

Jealousy

The Gorse Fox puts it down to jealousy over his boyish good looks. Either that, or his magnetic personality. In fact, if it's the latter, then the strongest part of the magnet seems to be his face.  Twice today he got hit in the face at football - the first time hard enough to break the skin (but so far - no bruise or black eye), the second (with a flailing arm) hard enough to raise an expletive.

Thank goodness for the shatterproof glasses.

Noon Image: 1 Mar 2015

Noon Image: 28 Feb 2015

Designers

With the garden emptied of building detritus, it still looks like the aftermath of a WW1 battlefield. It's primary feature is mud. The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox have turned their attention to what they want to do with this space, once the Orangery is finished. This has meant flicking through garden design books, creating lists of concepts we like, and looking for a good local designer.

As usual the Gorse Fox has resorted to the web. Mr Google has given a list of local designers and GF has wandered through their web-sites. A message here to business owners - if your web-site is well constructed, is easy to navigate, provides examples of your work, and a price tariff, you have a much better chance of attracting business than those that just show contact details, or a gallery of pictures.

GF has selected a designer and made contact. He will get back to us during the week to make an appointment to interview us about our wishes and to measure up the plot. Let's see what he comes up with.

Slab

Well, that's it. The builders returned and laid the slab. At eight o'clock this morning the plate compactor (plate whacker) was thundering across the base, ensuring a level and hard surface.

Then a layer of sand was laid down to smooth out the surface and provide a soft base for the damp-proofing and ensure nothing penetrated the plastic. Then whilst one chap fired up the cement mixer, the others checked and rechecked the required floor levels. Finally, they were ready to begin.

Barrow load followed barrow load as as a 4or 5 inch slab was laid down, levelled and trowelled to smooth finish. Several hours later it was done.

They tidied up, washed down the paths, and packed away. By five, they were clutching a cheque and heading off. Now we just have to wait a week until the framework is delivered and expect the fitters to arrive the following week to close it all in.

In the background, we have now started to give some thought to the garden design... but we are not getting too carried away as yet.

Noon Image: 27 Feb 2015

Admin Thursday

Thursday, so it must be admin. The rain kept the builders away, and Gorse Fox spent the day reviewing bills, tariffs, reports, and specification of engineered lumber. 

The Gorse Fox is very pleased to see that consumption of energy for this house costs less than half as much as our previous house; what's more, if the Gorse Fox changed suppliers he might save a further 25%. He is holding fire on the switch, however, so that he has a larger consumption sample against which to measure.

He also reviewed a draft blog post regarding cloud computing. The Gorse Fox had a number of updates and comments to feed back to the author. This triggered a flurry of email and changes to the draft.

He also spent time reviewing the engineered lumber specs. He wants to beef up the supports in the garage so he can use the loft space for storage. He will have to measure up the space and work out what and how much will be needed. 

Noon Image: 26 Feb 2015

Framework complete

The builders have completed the building phase of the work.

Next they will lay the floor slab, and that will be it for them. We will then get a procession of other trades, starting (one supposes) with the glasswork.

Very satisfied with progress.

Good Win

Today's football was close. We had enough for 6-a-side, and played a solid 25 mins each way. At the end of the first half, we were losing 2-1. In the second half we conceded quickly, but then started to claw our way back into the game. The Gorse Fox started to range forward more often to give us an overlap, and Captain Jack would drop back when GF did. We got to 5-5 with a minute or so to go. The ref declared a "golden goal" i.e. next goal wins, and finishes the match. We survived a couple of scares, and then managed to score the winner ourselves. Very satisfying.

GF would comment that his new shatterproof glasses proved themselves today. GF took a goal clearance square in the face - hard enough to knock him off his feet. Whilst he had to shake himself down, the glasses had survived and he played on, uninjured (except for his pride).

Noon Image: 25 Feb 2015

Pounding

The builder's hammer drill is pounding away at the back of the house - removing the old mortar so that they can fit the gullies and transitions between the old and new. The sound is dreadful, even with the doors closed. Fortunately, both the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox are popping out for various commitments, so hopefully it will be finished by the time we are back.

More Construction

After a false start yesterday, interrupted/terminated by squally weather, the builders returned this morning.

They've been hard at it all day. The east and west walls are complete, and the south wall is finished.

The points where the roof will connect in to the house are cut, and the lead is in place. Everything seems to be taking shape, nicely.

They have tidied up a bit and washed down the roads and pavements. (GF and the SV insist on being neighbourly and causing as little inconvenience as possible).

There was a bit of a panic earlier when the
overall supplier couldn't find our payment - but that was sorted quite quickly. (Their error).

Noon Image: 24 Feb 2015

Taxman

People give the tax authorities a hard time. The Gorse Fox supposes that nobody wants to pay tax. and certainly they have not always been the most approachable of Government departments.

Today, the Gorse Fox received his notice of coding for the new tax year. This did not look right... and there were some significant deductions that GF thought to be wrong. He phoned and spoke to a nice Welsh lady with an unintelligible name. Five minutes later the deductions had been eradicated from the code and GF was back to where he should be.

When he did his self-assessment in January he was concerned that HMRC seemed to owe him money. Whilst on the phone he asked them to check, and so was transferred to the Self Assessment team. He chatted with a chap and he went through the numbers and concluded that the assessment was correct and HMRC did indeed owe GF some money and that sits as a credit on his account at present.

Feeling slightly smug.

Noon Image: 23 Feb 2015

Birthday

Well that was a nice day.

The Gorse Fox started by opening all his Birthday Cards and dealing with online greetings that seemed to be pouring in. Then as things settled down, he had to get ready for football.

The usual crew met up at the Ford ~Football Arena and we had a good 6-a-side game. At first it was pretty even, but free-scoring, with a score of 9-9 at the break (we play 25 minutes each half). In the second half we made a minor change in our team and by the end of the game, were 26-13 victors, with the Gorse Fox scoring from his own half in the final attack of the game. Very satisfying after yesterday.

Back home, Urban-cub and Pistol Pete were awaiting GF's return. After a quick shower, he was ready and we headed off to a local Indian Restaurant that has been advertising their Sunday Feasts with flyers dropped through the letter box. Well, that turned out to be a damp squib as the place was closed. A quick regroup and we headed for Chichester Gate. Frankie & Benny's seemed like a good alternative at short notice.

We had a lovely, leisurely lunch. As time ticked by, U-c and PP wanted to do a bit of shopping before the stores closed, so we went our separate ways.

Lovely day.

Noon Image: 22 Feb 2015

Finest Hour

Well, there we go. Let's just say that this afternoon , in the FA People's Cup, did not turn out to be Arun Amblers' finest hour.

We had fought our way through the traffic to the venue on the outskirts of Croydon. It was a bit basic. The Gorse Fox has a number of observations regarding the venue and the organisation. This may seem like a case of sour grapes, but as we were not unduly affected, we cannot and would not use them as an excuse:

• The pitches, though Astroturf, were on a significant east-west slope. As the games were only a single 10 minute match, there was no levelling of the disadvantage by switching rounds at half time. 
• As the afternoon wore on, the sun dropped lower in the sky, and the team at the east end of the pitch (at the bottom of the slope) were playing directly into the bright sun.
• A clear set of rules was handed out on arrival. Indeed, several were mandatory for even registering, e.g. use of shin pads, only the goalie can wear long trousers, the goalie must wear a different coloured top from the rest of the team. We seemed to be one of two teams that actually complied.
• The referees were unclear of what was a direct  and what was an indirect free-kick. Indeed, against one team, they awarded a penalty for what should only have been an indirect free-kick.
• The standard of refereeing was woeful - because of its inconsistency
• It was walking football - and there was blatant running going on - particularly by the team that actually won the competition.

Despite this, we had good fun, and we played some nice football. Indeed, one of the referees congratulated us on the quality of our football. Unfortunately, our team was really made up of midfielders and defenders, which meant we really had no experienced, predatory goalscorer. The result was that we lost 3-0, then drew 1-1, then lost 3-0, and lost 1-0.

Not our finest hour, but a good learning experience.

Noon Image: 21 Feb 2015

Times of Yore

In the old days, the Gorse Fox was always getting his kit bag together, ready to play in some sporting event or other. It has been a real challenge, this morning, checking and cross-checking that he has everything that he is likely to need. Indeed, it was difficult tracking down the kit bag itself.

Never mind, he thinks he's all set now.

That wasn't in Plan

No detailed plan had been made for Friday, but whatever notion we may have had was somewhat intercepted by the fact Jasper the Cat had (to be delicate about these things) made a mess of our duvet during the night. This meant an attack with Vanish (* other peroxide based cleaners may exist), a thorough wash of the offending parts (of the duvet - not Jasper), and the realisation that it would not dry by tonight. The corollary to this was the need to invade John Lewis and acquire another duvet. Oh well, it could have been worse we could have had a pet elephant instead of a cat.

Noon Image: 20 Feb 2015

Looks like we have a competition

Despite the hassle with the FA, the Gorse Fox seems to have got to a winning position. They haven't given us a bye into the next round, but they have allowed us to play in Croydon rather than Bristol. We have enough people available, so we will confirm tomorrow morning and hopefully play on Saturday.

A Good Morning's Work

Despite the forecast, the builders turned up first thing this morning. The aim was to get the east wall completed before the weather set in. Forecast said that that was likely from 1100 onwards.

Well, they managed to finish the east wall, and were packed away by 1115... and the weather held for them. Looking at the forecast, Gorse Fox is not really expecting to see them again until next week.

Progress has been good, and the three of them work as well integrated team. GF has asked them to quote for some additional work.

Noon Image: 19 Feb 2015

More progress, but still no ears

The builders are cracking on, and making good progress.

The west wall is now up to its planned height. The catnic lintel is in place and a soldier course of bricks laid over the openings to match the brickwork elsewhere on the house.

The blockwork is laid, and the insulation in place. If the weather remains dry (which is unlikely, given the forecast) the east and south walls could be up to the same height by the end of the week. GF suspects it will be next week, in practice.

Go for it

Well the Gorse Fox discussed the changes to the football venue with his team. With their mandate behind him, he then wrote to the FA:

Dear People's Cup

I have now had a chance to meet with my team, Arun Amblers.

We would like to make the following points:

1. We have managed to select a team and get a kit, and invested a lot of time in preparing for this tournament.
2. This is short notice for such a large change
3. This is half term week, when people already have many commitments
4. Moving the venue to Bristol means, as far as we are concerned, a full day's commitment - as opposed to a few hours
5. A three hour journey for ageing players, followed by a few games and a further 3 hour journey home - is not sensible from a health perspective and poses a risk of DVT
6. Given more notice we might have been able to arrange an overnight stay (as we would for Manchester, should we get through)
7. In any other competition, even those run by the FA, a sole entrant such as Arun Amblers, would just get a bye into the next round. It is, after all, not our fault that other teams did not enter.

In conclusion we totally support the concept of the FA People's Cup and are bitterly disappointed at the change, and will NOT be able to put together a team for the Bristol event. However, we insist that we are given a bye into the next round as representative of Southern Region.

Let's see what their response might be.