10th Annual Sports Day and Opening of Refurbished Pavilion

Saturday, 9th September, 2006
This years annual Bourn Sports Day was a double celebration, being the 10th anniversary of the current Sports Club and the official opening of the long awaited refurbished Pavilion. To conduct the latter we were extremely fortunate to have Sport England's Sporting Champion Dr Alison Mowbray who won a silver medal in rowing at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

To kick off the ceremony Jim Hansford, a former Parish Clerk, began by giving a potted history of Bourn's sporting heritage, the recreation ground (opened in 1977) and the original pavilion funded and built by residents. Graham Smith, Chair of the Parish Council thanked Peter Catt and Paul Garrison from Thackrays the builders and Robin Worsnip and Peter Haddock from Cambridge Projects who managed the project. Peter who is also a cricket coach with the Sports Club ran a beat the bowler competition during the day. Graham than thanked South Cambridgeshire District Council for funding the refurbishment and made a special mention of the current parish clerk Gail Stoehr for coordinating the funding applications (SCDC Councilor Ted Pateman and County Councilor Lister Wilson were in attendance). Alison Mowbray gave a great inspirational speech about the importance of sports and included a number anecdotes about her own sporting career which culminated in her Olympic medal. Alison then cut the ribbon, formally opening the pavilion which is another great asset to Bourn and will provide a focus for sports and recreation in the village for years to come.

Alison was fantastic; a former teacher, she spent the day talking with residents, young and old, taking part in all the activties and together with Rob Bourne coordinated a rowing challenge on Concept II rowing machines. Racing against another Parish Councilor Alan Ward, Alison set a challenge for the furthest distance rowed in 2 minutes. Throughout the day over 50 villagers received personal coaching from Alison and attempted to better her distance. The eventual winner of the senior competiion was Ollie Smith with a staggering 639 metres. Richard Tanburn won the Junior competition with 516 metres and Alison made a special mention of Kate Lyster who aged only 7 rowed an impressive 368 metres.

The corner stone of the sports day was the 7-a-side football competition run by Eddie Blair, which in complete contrast to last years monsoon was played out in glorious sunshine. This years winners were Gravely, with Bourn Sports Club All Stars runners-up. Both teams were presented their trophies and medals by Alison who compared them with her own silver medal. Many thanks to managers, parents and our two referees Mark Vaudin & Les Hills. The other BIG attraction of the day was the 10 metre high Climbing Wall. After donning harnesses and helmets, climbers were able to try routes of varying degress of difficulty to the top, including a testing overhang. For many the fast abseil decent was just as exhilarating. Even chairman Graham Smith took the opportunity to survey the Parish from the top of the wall.

Another highlight of the day was the final of the mixed doubles tennis tournament which ran over the whole summer. This year finalists were Neil & Linda Jeffrey and Victoria Lewis and Henry Ball and after some exciting rally's in very warm weather, Neil and Linda won in straights sets (6:0 - 6:2), and were presented with the trophy by Alison Mowbray.

Bourn Club Secretary Jill Lewis oversaw races for all ages, including egg-spoon for the U5, sack race for U7 and running races for all age groups. The field for Round-the-Village race was the biggest ever, presumably as everyone wanted to say that they had raced against an Olympic athlete. The race was won by Miles Lewis who won the mens trophy, Hannah Pleasance the womens trophy and the Junior trophy went to the rowing star Kate Lyster. The event is a warm up for the Chariots of Fire Charity relay race on the 24th September in Cambridge, so watch out for the runners in the 3 veterans teams that the Sports Club has entered.

Other winners throughout the day were Winifred Taylor & Owen Bourne (primary), Heather Blair & Dan O'Brien (secondary) and Vicky Lewis & Henry Ball (senior) in the fastest tennis serve competition (Henry clocking 95mph). Neil Short and Charles Taylor won the senior and junior titles in the welly throwing, resepectively. The final event of the day was the egg throwing competition, which was a big hit with everyone and ended in a messy tie between Thomas Blair & Tom Vaudin and Victoria Lewis & Henry Ball (who had a wonderful Barnes Wallis bouncing egg). During the day Jonathan Cronk ran a second hand book stall and raised nearly £50 for his Orienteering Club at Bourn School.

I would like to thank the entire Sports Club committee (and partners) for all their efforts, Wendy Blair, Deborah Vaudin and Alison Bourne for dealing with the tempremental BBQs, to Helen Taylor and Jennifer Taylor for proving the refreshments and to Chris Taylor and Len Taylor for manning the welly throwing and providing trailers, cones etc. etc. I'd also like to acknowledge the support of Dan Birch at Comberton Leisure for use of the Concept II rowing machines, to John Crowther of Knibbs MeatSafe (Burwash) for the delicous burgers and saugages, Derek Saunders of Inflatable Fun (Longstowe) for the Bouncy Castle and Nick Algar of Algar Signcraft for publicity. Finally, to all the kids and residents who supported the event and made the day such a success, my sincere thanks.

Steve Pleasance, Chair of Sports Club

Steve Pleasance and Alison Mowbray	Bourn All Stars
Village Race winners Kate Lyster, Alison Mowbray, Miles Lewis and Hannah Pleasance Kate has Alsion's silver medal round her neck	Egg and Spoon Race: Harry Fordham, Callum Yeneralski and Gabriella Wilson
Alison coaching sisters Hattie & Verity Algar	Mixed doubles winners Victoria Lewis Neil Jeffrey Alison Mowbray Linda Jeffrey Henry Ball
Alison races Parish Councilor Alan Ward	The great Egg Event
Parish Council Chair Graham Smith _ Sports Club Chair Steve Pleasance on climbing wall