Lancashire Constabulary Sports & Social Club

I am pleased to have received reports from nearly every sports section that highlighted the successes and achievements during the past year. Once again, the club committee are impressed by the continued high standard of sporting talent and the countless number of first, second and third placings at PSUK Regional and National levels as well as many ‘sectional sport’ event successes.

Some of these reports are detailed, some brief. Either way, they give an excellent reflection of the talented sports men and women that we have representing the force.

May this continue and may I stress at this point that it is important that Sectional secretaries report back in as much detail as possible through the year on the achievements and activities of their members. This way we can market our success in other publications such as “Off-Duty”, “Context” and Weekly Orders. This will enable us to fully justify the funding support that we get.

Finally, may I thank all sports secretaries for their hard work in organising their respective sports section activities. Your time and hard work is as always, fully appreciated.

Running seems to go from strength to strength in terms of popularity. This is probably because it is one of the key 'keep fit' sports and playing costs are minimum. Also, there is much scope to encourage all skill levels of runners who can participate at both county and national events.

Again, continually well turned out with Lancashire achieving a best season for many years. The men scored 3rd place in the team event and the ladies scored 2nd place team and the men's veteran team were 3rd.

The section organises two annual Inter-Divisional events - a cross-country in February and a 10k road race in July. The Cross Country event was held at Wilson's Field, Clayton-Le-Moors. An excellent turn-out from Lancashire with 40 runners and a further 35 runners attending from other police northern league police forces. Despite cold conditions everyone had an enjoyable race.

The event took place in Cromer, Norfolk. A challenging course along sandy beaches and sand dunes made for a challenging four mile course for the ladies and seven miles for the men. We never imagined there were many hills in Norfolk but we were proved wrong.

The event took place in Wednesday 16 May 2007 at Loggerheads, Mold, North Wales. Lancashire attended in force with a team of nine members some of who were attempting their debut fell running challenge.

Pennine Division's Chris Shaw and Ian Pudge did us proud being placed 8th and 9th overall. The course was a deceptively tough 10.5 miler over fairly rugged welsh terrain. The weather was overcast and wet at times adding to the overall challenge and making some navigation on the return leg fairly tricky.

PCSO's Andy Beckett and Martin Dandy gave good performances with veteran runners Phil Corris and Steve Broadbent putting in their usual stalwart effort.

Debut fell runners, Neil Edwards, Bill Murray and, Jade Leeson ran and navigated well for their first race and did not get lost, though some runners chose to descend to the finish the longer route down!

A hot meal was had in the Loggerheads pub and overall Lancashire Constabulary had a successful day and scored 5th team overall.

The 18th annual championships was another successful event with 103 entries and 63 runners on the day. The event took place at Lancaster with 'F' Division scooping the Inter-Divisional team prize.

This event was hosted by Essex Police and nine athletes attended from the Lancashire Force. The Lancashire team did well with Dennis Nelson 1:08:14 76th, Rod GRAHAM 1:08:27 78th, Brian PRICE 1:10:12 94th, Andy COOPER 1:13:56 113th.

Took place in Luton with three members of the force taking part. Southern Division's Derek Lodge ran a pb in 3.28 with Central Divisions Neil running his pb in 3.42.

Another good turnout for the first four fixtures of the season averaging between eight and twelve runners per fixture.

The PSUK National Championships were hosted by Lancashire and were held at Ribby Hall Blackpool this year. Over 100 competitors from all regions of the UK took part.

The Lancashire players had qualified by winning the North West regional tournament in their respective events. The team are Paul Hope, Keith Ashton, Ashley Gibson, Maxine Watson, Amanda Hawron, Dave Sherrington and Peter Wright. Once at the National finals they then became the North West regional team and were joined by Anna Wilson and Rebecca Hutt from Merseyside and Tim Cope from Cheshire.

The first days play on the Saturday went as seeded with all of the North West entries making it through to the Semi-finals stage.

The semi finals were played on the Sunday morning. The Lancashire players had a great morning with nearly all our entries making it through to the national championship finals. Tim Cope from Cheshire also reached his final. The only losses were for Peter Wright and Maxine Watson of Lancashire who lost to Scottish pair Mitchell and Smith 21:19,21:19. Mitchell and Smith went on to win the final, 21:9, 21:7 which shows just how well Peter, and Maxine played. The other loss was for Anna Wilson and Rebecca Hutt of Merseyside who lost in their ladies doubles semi final to the holders of the title who went on to win the event later in the day. These Semi final appearance however secured the North West team a vital 2 points in the team event.

The Sunday afternoon finals began with Tim Cope (Cheshire) playing last years champion James Teale (Metropolitan). Tim who is currently ranked 19 in the country showed his class and won the singles 21:11, 21:18. Another 3 points for the North West team.

The veteran men’s doubles final was next. Paul Hope and Keith Ashton of Lancashire played Steve Brown and Martin Haddon of Metropolitan. Keith had previously won this event with other partners but this year played with his former open partner Paul who had just turned 40. Paul and Keith were in fine form as they showed why they had reached the previous 3 open men’s doubles finals winning the title 21:16, 21:13. This was 3 more points for the North West and the first national title for Paul after 18 years of trying.

The open mixed doubles final was a repeat of last year with Amanda Hawron and Ashley Gibson of Lancashire trying to go one better than last year and beat the holders Brian Lockie and Helen Skeggs of Metropolitan. This was an exiting final but in the end the Met pair were just too strong for Ashley and Amanda and went on to beat the Lancashire pair 21:15, 21:17. This is only their second year in the event and they will surely be future champions. Two more points for the North West.

Next was the Senior Veteran Men’s Doubles. Peter Wright and Dave Sherrington were the holders in this event having played so well in London last year. They took on the Scottish pair of Stevie Mitchell and David Steel. Mitchell and Steel had just moved up into this category having reached 45yrs. Peter and Dave were up in the first game and looked like taking it but the Scots came back at them to take it 23:21 This gave the Scots the confidence they needed and they went on to win the title 21:14 in the second game. Another 2 point for the North West.

The Veteran Mixed Doubles was next on court and saw Lancashire pair Maxine Watson and Keith Ashton take on Julian Rawthore and Lisa Chapman who had won the event the previous 2 years. Unfortunately for Keith and Maxine the Yorkshire pair were too strong from the outset and despite a fight back in the second game they eventually lost 21:8, 21:16. This got the team another 2 points though.

The last event of the day was the final of the open Men’s doubles. At this point having completed a number of events not involving north west players the team standings had Scotland, Metropolitan and North West all on 16 points. This meant that whichever pair won this last final would also secure the team trophy.

The final was between 18 times former champions from the Metropolitan James Teale and Martin Haddon against Lancashire’s pairing of Ashley Gibson and Paul Hope. Ashley had never been in the men’s competition before but Paul had been in the event for the last 18 years and had lost in the final for the last 3 years.

The first game was a nervous one with the former holders from the Met having the experience to take the first game 21:19. The Lancashire lads then got the bit between their teeth and played some great power badminton to take the second 21:11. It was all down to the last game. The met got a good start and led the Lancs pair by 10:4 but the Ashley and Paul refused to be beaten and gave everything to win the title 21:18.

This was a superb win for Ashley on his first attempt and also for Paul who despite his 38 regional titles in open events has never managed to lift the National title. This year he won two.

PC Jason Moore and PS Adrian Adams, both from Preston and PC Howard Kershaw, from Skelmersdale, represented Lancashire at the North-West regional qualifier at Weaverham Bowls Club in June. There were a total of 48 competitors, with Merseyside, GMP, Cheshire and Cumbria sending players. The standard was very high and Adrian won several games through to the final. He narrowly lost a close final, losing to a GMP officer. Both Jason and Adrian qualified for the national finals in Barnsley, but both unfortunately lost out in the early rounds.

Jason, Adrian and Howard have once again represented the British Police team for 2008 in the British Parks League. The team played four fixtures during the course of the summer as far a field as Angelsey and Doncaster. Another solid season consolidated the Police Team in a very popular event.

The Cricket Section again competed in the Police Sport UK Knockout Trophy and was drawn ‘at home’ in the first round, to play against the Metropolitan Police. This game took place at St Annes Cricket Club on 10 May, with Lancashire winning a close and low-scoring game by 4 runs. Lancashire batted first and after a very promising start (70 for 1; Gareth Evans 28, Leo Cook 32) lost regular wickets and struggled to 136 all out. We felt that this score was probably not going to be enough to defend, particularly when the Met charged to 50 for no wicket after 8 overs. However, particularly tight spells of bowling from captain Richard McCutcheon (9 overs, 3 for 14) and Andy Sidgreaves (9 overs, 3 for 19) completely changed the game and put the lower order Met batsmen under pressure. Gareth Evans and Mark Emery then supported well at the end and the pressure was too much for the Met, with the last wicket falling at 132. A very satisfying win.

The second round saw us drawn ‘away’ again to the current champions, Dyfed-Powys, in a repeat of the fixture the previous season which had seen us watch it pour down all day at Ammanford, Swansea, before the dreaded ‘bowl out’ – which we had lost. Again we had the long drive down through Wales, to arrive at Ammanford in the pouring rain and the ground waterlogged. Another ‘bowl-out’ loomed as the main ground was declared unfit, however both sides agreed it preferable, when the rain finally stopped, to play a 15-over game on an artificial wicket on a nearby playing field. Lancashire batted first and made 106 for 8, with Mark Emery top-scoring with 29. Dyfed just got home in the final over with 107 for 4, the main difference between the sides being their one batsman who ‘batted through’ for 54 not out. Ben Dowling bowled well with 2 for 15 from his 3 overs. So again we had to return from South Wales disappointed.

Gareth Evans and Ben Dowling were both selected to play for the “British Police Cricket Club” in their annual week of fixtures in June – which is recognition of the strength of our current squad of players. Over the last couple of years a number of talented younger players have been recruited to the Constabulary; and we now probably have potentially the strongest squad in memory, and certainly one capable of winning the national trophy – hopefully before I retire!

The Lancashire Constabulary is affiliated to the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) and British Cycling.

The RTTC oversee time trials and British Cycling oversee Road Racing, Track Racing and Mountain biking.

There are numerous events in the North West of England covering all of the above types of cycling and the purpose of the Cycling Section is to support those that competitively represent the Constabulary in the above disciplines.

From mid April to September there is a weekly event held at the Cottam Sports Arena in Preston on a Thursday evenings. The events can be entered on the night and cater for all categories using the purpose built closed circuit, these are good events for those new to racing to sample the sport as the races are not as hard as those on open roads and you get the chance to watch before you try.

Another season long event concentrates on locally organised events sponsored by a local company and is split into two groups one for 3rd and 4th (beginners) category riders and one for 1st and 2nd. The events for 3 and 4 category riders are generally not as hard as normal open events.

Police Sport UK Time Trials - 30th June &1st July 2007 held at Hampshire

At a local level a number of members competed in local road race and time trials for the club. There was a team of four regularly entered for the criterium series at the Sports Arena at Cottam, Preston. A number of returning and beginner racers used this event to gauge and develop their fitness as well as using it as a taster for competitive racing.

The golf team had another successful season. In September the team went to Duddingston in Edinburgh and successfully defended the British Police Team Championships and in doing so became 6 time champions, and by far the most successful force in the Championships history.

Dave Butler and Kevin Boyce represented the constabulary in the inaugural PSUK National Handicap Championships and came 2^nd, while the Team Captain Mike Hanson won the North West PSUK Championships at Warrington.

The ladies also enjoyed success in August with Christine Fletcher and Joyce Green competing in the women’s PSUK Golf Championships in Lossimouth, Scotland, and play host to the prestigious event at Fairhaven in August 2008 and would appreciate your support.

Lancashire Constabulary made an early exit from the PSUK National Hockey Championships 2006/07 in December 2006.

The Police National Hockey Tournament was held in LEEDS in August 2007 a wet and windy affair. Lancashire Police entered a Ladies Team and won all their group fixtures which then saw them drawn against PSNI in semi finals, this fixture was won and Lancashire then played local rivals GMP in the Final.

This Picture shows Karen NUTTALL from Pennine and Lisa DUNNE from Central ‘enjoying’ the wet weather in LEEDS.

After a tiring weekend Lancashire Ladies were crowned winner of the Ladies Competition this pictures shows PC Lisa DUNNE from Preston and PC Wendy EASTHAM from Blackburn receiving the winner’s trophy

The draw for the Ladies Police Hockey Championships for 2007/08 has been finalised and Lancashire were drawn at Home to local rivals GMP, disappointingly GMP were unable to fulfil this fixture in early November 2007, Lancashire were awarded the game. Lancashire now go into the Second Round.

Any new members of staff wishing to play Ladies Hockey for the Constabulary please contact DC Helen Knaggs x 412435.

Sole Lancashire competitor, Jeanette Wilson from Northern Division attended the national championships held at Potter's Resort, Hopton-on-Sea. She made it through to the quarter final in fought game.

A quiet year for the Motor Club in 2007, due mainly to my year as Captain of Herons Reach Golf Club and all the rigmarole that goes with that and the fact that Ruth's Father, the Revd John Green passed away quite suddenly in October.

I was unable to attend the NW Region AGM in February but I was re-elected as Vice Chairman. The Club Affiliation Fees were again not required for 2007 as long as we registered our Club which was done. I was unable to attend the Region Meeting in October due to the Bereavement.

We did however, manage to field a team in the Cleveland Police Motorcycle Trek held at Stainton Village, Cleveland over the weekend of 27^th to 29^th April 2007.

Unfortunately Ian Marginson had to go into hospital for a new knee joint to be fitted at short notice so Howard Sidery and I went as a two man team. Needless to say we didn't do too well BUT we didn't come last!!

I have enclosed a picture of me intrepidly about to cross over the suspended bridge at Middlesbrough. It didn't break down under the weight!

We thank the Sports Club for their support and look forwards to the 2008 Season.

Lancashire Constabulary netball squad have had a very mixed year with some success but also some frustration and disappointment.

The annual PSUK 2 day tournament took place in Newcastle in September 2007, with Lancashire entering two teams.

The A Team were drawn in the hardest group with three previous winners, which included their nemesis team, GMP. The team played very well but unfortunately ended up being placed third in the group after goal difference was taken into consideration. This consequently meant placement in the silver section for the following day of play.

On the second day the B Team excelled and narrowly missed the Silver Section final, again after goal difference was taken into account. Overall placings were not provided by PSUK but both the A & B Team came in the region of 13-17 out of 32 teams.

The A Team has had a severe disappointment, having been knocked out of the competition in the second round.

The B Team were given a very tough first round draw in the form of Derbyshire, who have won this overall competition for over 7 years. The B Team excelled in this match only losing by a very respectable 3 goals. They were then automatically transferred to the Plate Competition where they are progressing well and are now still competing at the quarterfinal stage.

The squad has again expanded; following a recruitment drive we now have over 35 members on the books. We continue to do an annual active recruitment drive, which we have found very successful. Players are training on a fortnightly basis and selections of the teams are made from training.

The A Team has had a very disappointing season both in the 2-day tournament and the Knockout competition. They are now concentrating on training hard and improving fitness with a view to having a much more successful season in 2008.

The B Team are having an excellent season; they have had some superb results this year and are working hard. They are currently striving to progress beyond quarterfinal stage in the Plate Competition.

Though still having lots of enquiries from people interested in training advice and tips on technique, the section is struggling in its aim to achieve more entries in competitions. This year only two members competed in events, Sue Palmer and Andy Green. The results were good. Andy Green is looking to improve on his placing in the Men’s Open event at the British Indoor Rowing Championships held at Birmingham on 18^th November 2007. Andy placed 27^th in his first try at the 2000m event. The top winners and placings were nearly all current Olympic squad or World Class start outdoor rowers. He did extremely well against such high-class competitors.

Sue Palmer competed in three events the first being the English Indoor at Manchester Velodrome in January where she got a bronze medal in the Women’s HWT 40-49 age group for 2000m and silver in the 30+ age group for 500m. Sue then competed in the World Police and Fire Games for the third time. Travelling to Adelaide, Australia the event was as large as ever with competitors from all over the world competing in the 70 different disciplines. Sue achieved Gold medals in the Indoor Rowing 2000m 40-49hwt and in the ladies double race with Deborah Caines of the Prison Service. Sue also placed in the medals for the first time in the British Indoor in November 2007 gaining Silver medal.

The club continues to try and gain new competing members and is hoping to have representatives at the British Indoor again in November and other events if possible during the year.

The season got off to a relatively slow start after a couple of teams, who were due to play, were unable to fulfil their fixtures. The first game saw us come up against a very strong West Yorkshire team and after a thrilling match it ended in high scoring 34 points to 34 draw.

Our next game saw us pitched against a formidable Metropolitan Police team, who at a very cold and wet Shaw ARLFC ground in Oldham, gave us a lesson in how to play rugby league in less than favourable conditions. The MET running out easy winners on this occasion.

Further victories in subsequent matches left us with a tricky semi final trip to the Metropolitan Police, where we were able to over turn the previous defeat at Oldham and earn ourselves a place for the third year running in the National Final.

Unfortunately, we came up against a very in form West Yorkshire team who are riddled with British Police players and who on the day were too strong for the combined Lancashire / GMP team. We were therefore unable to claim the National title for the third year running but finished in the very hard earned runners up spot.

Late October saw the arrival of the New Zealand Police Team who played the Great Britain Police Team in the three test series, played over a demanding period of ten days. The Kiwis ran out two to one winners in the test series, playing some excellent rugby and boasting some ex-full international Kiwi players. They were also coached by the ex-Wigan Widnes and New Zealand national coach, Frank Endacotte.

Seven members of the combined Lancashire / GMP team were involved in the test series, having gained selection for the British Police.

The future of Police rugby in Lancashire remains strong and we are looking forward to a competitive, demanding season next year.

Rugby Union - By Section Secretary - Insp Stuart Noble

No play took place during 2007 but it is hoped to form a new squad for 2008.

2007 has seen members of the Constabulary participating and performing well in both off shore and dingy events.

The 1^st event of the year was the PSUK Off Shore Regatta held in the Solent and south coast between the 21^st and 25^th May 2007. Lancashire finished 14^th overall out of a fleet of 24 Sunfast 37’s and showed significant improvements over the week to finish 5^th and 6^th in the final two races. This was also an improvement on the 2005 and 2006 positions which were both 19^th place in smaller fleets.

The Strathclyde Off Shore event from the 10^th -15^th June 2007 saw the return of two privately owned boats representing Lancashire. Final Fling (a Westerly Oceanquest) skippered by Steve Martell finished 9^th, and Te Lauth (a Najad 331) Skippered by Eric Lange finished 11^th in a fleet of 17 boats.

Dave Hayes and crew returned to the Europol Coppers Cup held in Holland between the 15^th to the 21^st September, and again showed improvement over previous events. They finished 15^th in the Gold Class, and were the 1^st English boat. The fleet consisted of 29 boats with police crews from as far a field as Australia and Croatia.

Lancashire gave the PSUK event a miss this year due to the distance to travel/tow boats, but made up for it in the Cheshire Open at Winsford Flash held on the 3^rd September 2007. Andy Cuddon sailed his Laser to finish 3^rd overall after three races in which he finished 3^rd, 3^rd, and 4^th (best two to count). There were some doubts from our Cheshire colleagues as to whether this event would run, therefore Lancashire were keen to support the event and will look to do so in the future.

Overall the constabularies sailors have performed well this year and hope to build on this during 2008. Planning is underway for the 2008 season and new crew members are welcome to get involved.

In 1902 Lord Roberts of Kandahar (Commander in Chief of the British Army) said ‘It is every man’s duty to learn to shoot’ (His words not mine) and shortly after The Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs evolved from the Shooting Section of The Society of Working Men’s Clubs. Shooting in Britain as come a long long way since those early days and is now a truly diverse sport which does not differentiate between any of the six diversity strands as it does not require a maximum strength but requires concentration and muscle control to succeed. All competitors test their skills side by side with young and old, women and men, and disabled and wheelchair shooters lining up on the same details and shooting against each other. The only way shooters are separated is by their skill level over a set period of time which allows them to attain an average score. This allows shooters of similar ability to compete against each other on equal term (same class). There is of course the ultimate ‘open class’ too which is purely based on a shooters ability on the day and their skill in hitting the middle of the target time after time.

Shooting has been part of police sport since 1932 and Lancashire Constabulary has had a Shooting Section since 1968. Shooters enjoy a variety of target shooting disciples including air pistol (.177), small bore rifle (.22 rim fire) prone competition and ‘Free Rifle’ (Prone, standing, and kneeling.), Light sporting rifle (.22 rim fire) and Full bore rifle (7.62mm). The Shooting Section is keen to hear from anyone who wishes to find out more about what the sport involves and throughout the year we have received many enquires. Unfortunately however the Section does not own a range or any equipment and its shooters are members of other shooting clubs around the County. For obvious reasons strict restrictions are placed on who can and when someone may handle a weapon. For this reason we encourage our members to join a local target shooting club, use their facilities and equipment, and receive expert tuition from their coaches. In return as the shooters skill improves their performance is monitored and when they reach a reasonable standard they may if they wish be entered into competitions such as the many leagues Lancashire members compete in, PSUK (Police Sport UK) such as the Short range Shooting Championship, and the Long Range Championships held at Bisley Camp, Surrey. Our latest recruit to shooting is PC Sarah Anstee from Pennine Division who is showing excellent potential and eagerness to achieve. We believe Sarah has the talent and the right attitude of mind to go a long way in the sport.

Like other Lancashire Shooting Section members such as Paul Hatton and Dave Hodson we may see Sarah being so successful that she is fortunate enough to represent the PSUK in the USPE (European Police Championships). These shooting championships are held every four years and this year they where held in Bordeaux, France. Paul Hatton (Retired Lancashire Officer) was selected to manage the PSUK Rifle Shooting Team and can be seen below with his team (far right).

2007 Achievements

Members also competed in CLSTSA (County of Lancashire Small bore Target Shooting Assoc.) leagues.

Five members of the shooting section represented the Constabulary at Bisley in the PSUK Long Range Shooting Championships and enjoyed competing in a number of different shooting disciplines.

300 yards Full bore rifle shooting in the PSUK Long Range Championship at Bisley.

During the Long Range Championship shooters go as far back as 1000 yards to test their skills

Competitors shoot at a distance of 50 metres but it doesn’t get easier because you are closer. The weapons are more accurate and the bulls eye is a tiny 12.4 mm diameter at 50 metres.

In January 2008 the Lancashire Constabulary participated in the Police Sport UK National Skiing Championships for the first time in 15 years. Keen skiers, DC Steve Hooper (Central Division) and Steve Broadbent (Northern Division) represented the force and returned from the event held in Austria with some interesting experiences and hopefully some inspiration for other members to take part in January 2009…..

Until the early 1990’s the event has taken place in Scotland. However, poor snow forced the event to be held in Europe and more recently in Hinterglemm, Austria. In January 2008 myself and Steve Broadbent travelled to Austria as representatives of the force. Both were competent skiers but have never competed in a serious competition before. The events contested are:

The course was down Red13, a course used for the Austrian World Ski Championships. On event day Steve and I were not seeded and I was racer number 137 and Steve, 159. By the time we departed on our first run the course had become quite fast, furious and icy. We both sped through the 34 gates descending 1053 feet in the process. Steve managed to finish his two runs but I unfortunately lost control on the last three gates and skied off the course. Steve finished his two runs successfully negotiating the 1000 feet in just less than two minutes. He was placed 93 out of 137 male racers.

“Being one of the last racers down the course had become very icy and your turns need to be spot on to negotiate the next gate.”

The course was much shorter and perhaps less steep but there were 44 gates to negotiate over some 600 feet of ascent. Steve went off well but missed gate 37 and was timed out. I managed to complete the 44 gates albeit tentatively. My second run was much faster and I knocked some 50 seconds off my time to finish +++/++

“The Slalom is much quicker than the giant slalom. The gates come up every two seconds and intense concentration is a must - you can’t afford to let your mind wander for a second.”

I had never cross country skied ‘Langlauf’ stile so I decided to opt out of this event. Steve had done some practicing the week before and completed the two lap, 8 kilometre course in 54 minutes placed 37/39.

“Nordic Skiing is very technical and requires more aerobic strength and ability than downhill. I will return next year and put in some practice to hopefully improve on my performance”

Neither Steve nor myself were ‘boarders’ but the various competitions were well represented and very competitive.

There were 201 police competitors representing 21 UK police forces. The camaraderie among the police competitors was fantastic and at no time either of us was made to feel unwelcome being only novice skiers and we were given lots of tips and advice by our fellow colleagues. There were many expert skiers but I would say the majority were there to improve on their previous performance, fitness and ability and simply enjoy the week.

The event was very well organised and each evening there was a team captain’s meeting updating each force on the progress of the competition and a presentation of awards took place on the last night.

Saalbach/Hinterglemm is a great ski resort with lots of good runs to keep any skier or boarder occupied for a couple of weeks. The police competitors know how to party but for those who wanted to ski into the evening there was a floodlit downhill course available to use until 9.30pm each night. Many of the competitors were accompanied by the partners and family and the whole event was geared toward a great week of skiing - but with a difference!

The 2009 date has been fixed for 10 to 17 January. The County Club will fund the entry fee, 7 day lift pass and race insurance for every member who is selected to attend. We are looking to recruit a six person ski and snowboard team and anyone interested should contact the force Snow Sports representative, Ms Alex Rebanks by internal email.

The northwest water polo team won the gold medal beating the Met 11 goals to 7. The following officers playing: -

PC Whalley gained first place in 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and second place in the 50m breast stroke.

CI Howard gained the first place in the 50m backstroke, 2nd place in 50m freestyle, 3^rd place in 50m Butterfly and 5th place in 50m breast stroke.

CI Simister gained Third place in 50m breast stroke, 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, 4th place in the 50m butterfly.

PC Plummer gained 4^th place in the 50m breast stroke, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly and 6th place in the 50m freestyle.

As a result of the success, PC Whalley was chosen to represent the British police swimming team and DC Mounfield, PC Plummer and PC Brooks were chosen to represent the British water polo team.

Again some great successes in the ACPO lifesaving event at Sheffield with the ladies team coming second and the mens team third. In the individual event PC Caroline Plummer and PC Greg Plummer both gained the bronze medal.

The teams consisted of: - (Ladies) Caroline Plummer, Jayne Whalley, Karen Simister, Rachel Carbery and Julie Peter; (Mens) Paul Carbery, Greg Plummer, Andy Spouse, Phil Brooks, Andy Walton and John Pollard.

Roger Ravenscroft represented the constabulary in the North West Regional Championships hosted by Greater Manchester Police at the Markland Hill Tennis Club in Bolton.

He won the men's singles title, defeating Steve Duke from Merseyside police in the final. The National Championships were hosted by Essex this year and Roger again represented the Constabulary in the men”s singles event.

Neil Gibson represented the PS UK team throughout the year culminating in the USPE Tennis Championships in September. The event was held at the prestigious Monte Carlo Country Club in Monaco.

The standard of this four yearly event was again extremely high, with the French and Romanian teams fielding ATP world ranked players in the Men's events.

Partnering Alistair Tiddy from the Metropolitan Police, Neil reached the quarter final of the Men's Doubles.

The section has volunteered to host the National Police Championships in 2008, and the venue will bethe Next Generation Club at Chorley.

For the first tournament of the year was run by the West Midlands Police and was held in Tamworth on March 8th, we entered a full team. This consisted of: Brian Gowrie, George Flanagan, P.S. Brian Stanley and myself, with George and I entering the singles events. Tamworth is only 125 miles away and we all went in the same car. I made it to the semi-final, but that was the best we could do on the day.

The next event we competed in was the Police Sports UK at Potters in Norfolk. This was a three-day event contested between the 8^th and 10^th of May. The venue is in a remote spot and it’s a 552 mile round trip, but we arrived on the Tuesday in good time to compete in the first rounds. We used my car, with my husband doing the driving.

Brian Gowrie and I competed in both the singles and doubles events and I managed to retain the Ladies title for Lancashire, beating Julia Thomas of the Derbyshire Constabulary in the final.

There was a second tournament held in Great Yarmouth on the 11^th of May, only a few miles from Potters, so Brian and I arrived there at 09.15 to compete. This proved to be a reversal of the Potters result, with Julia Thomas beating me to the title by a single pin.

In June there was a tournament in Dunstable, but as no-one else was available to bowl from Lancashire, I entered on my own.

The final contest of the year was in Leeds and PC Ben Porter and I entered in both the doubles and the singles events, but I’m afraid the best we could do was that I came second in the: All Events.

There were several other Police Tournaments during the year, but as all the Lancashire bowlers had other commitments and they were not contested by us.

Sadly, apart from Potters, Lancashire will not be contesting any of the Police tournaments out of the North-West area in 2008, as sponsorship has been withdrawn in order to reduce our ‘Carbon Footprint’.

8^TH-9^TH September 2007 – Glasgow – Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena

This years Championships were hosted by Strathclyde Police and held in the city of Glasgow. 13 Forces took part in what was an excellent tournament.

8 Forces entered a team in the Ladies Competition. Lancashire were in Group 2 together with Grampian, Fife and Northumbria. Group 1 consisted of Metropolitan, Sussex, Essex, and Strathclyde.

Lancashire -v- Fife 25-11 25-3

Our first game was at 9.00am on the Saturday against Fife. After a slow start Lancashire soon took control of the game with excellent serving by Jayne Ashton and Michelle Barras. The first set was won 25-11. Following consistent all round play by the team we played Fife off court by beating them 25-3. This was a comfortable beginning to the day.

Lancashire -v- Grampian 12-25 24-26

Following a 1 hour 45 minute break we then took on Grampian. These were not going to be easy to beat. Despite our blocking attempts and consistent serving we were beaten 25-12 in the 1^st set. The 2^nd set was a battleground, with excellent blocking, good defensive work we kept pace with their play. We took them by surprise, fighting all the way but despite this we could not take the vital 2 point lead and went down 24-26. We had lost the fight.

Lancashire -v- Northumbria 25-12 25-26

We then had a 2 hour wait until our next game when we faced Northumbria. This was yet another excellent game. Julie Peter, Michelle Barras and Jayne Seed serving consistently well, together with good all round play from team we won the set 25-12. The 2^nd set was a hard fought game, with good blocking, precise hitting and consistent serves by all the team. We were eventually beaten 25-26. The 3^rd set began, we were tried, and the score reflected this, we were trailing 2-8, we fought back and took the lead, at 14-13 we were one point away from winning the match, they fought back and levelled the game at 14-14, the next two points were crucial. The pressure told and we lost the game 14-16.

We had finished 3^rd in our group, although Northumbria’s games were null and void due to them not having a full squad of Northumbria police employees, we therefore finished 2^nd and were through to the semi-finals of the championships. This game was played at 12 noon on the Sunday morning, the first time in history that we hadn’t been on court at 9am on the 2^nd day of the tournament.

Lancashire –v- Metropolitan 14-25 23-25

We took to the court at 12 noon on the Sunday, to play the Metropolitan Police. This was one of the strongest teams in the tournament, although they had surprisingly been beaten by a weaker side, Sussex, the day before. This gave us hope but we didn’t start the game too well and lost the first set 25-14. We started the 2^nd set on a stronger note with excellent hitting by Jayne Ashton and Julie Peter. With the team working together both offensively and defensively we matched the Met point for point, unfortunately we were beaten 23-25. Again just two points away from winning. That was the end of our championships.

MEN'S COMPETITION

The Men’s team had been drawn in the group with The Met, Humberside and Essex. They had not played any of these teams in previous year’s tournament, so started off in very high spirits.

Lancashire –v- Metropolitan 13-25 16-25

We arrived at Kelvin Hall and warmed up for our match with The Met. As one of the competition favourites they showed us why with a very organised, and noisy, warm-up. We would have been unrealistic to believe that we could easily beat The Met so we decided just to enjoy ourselves and get into the competition. We had an unbelievable start to the first set and were level pegging at 8-8. Our relaxed attitude had led to some excellent play with our setters, Mick Walkden and Jon Molloy, receiving good quality balls, which always leads to good sets for the hitters. Jamie Lillystone scored some good points against his former team-mates. It was at this point that we started to panic. It was probably the cold, dizzy heights of matching The Met shot for shot that caused us to freeze. We lost the first set 13-25. Unfortunately, the second set started off in the same tight vein and we were down 0-8 before we knew it! It was probably the fact that we knew that we had lost that caused us to relax again and we again matched them for points until the score was 16-24. It was inevitable that we would lose 16-25 but we came off the court on a high. Andy Thornhill, who had come on as a sub in the second set had shown some grit and determination, coming up with some excellent blocks and scoring hits.

Lancashire –v- Humberside 25-21 25-15

We had a short break to gather ourselves before starting our second match against Humberside, who were not so rested having just played Essex the match before. We continued with our relaxed and confident play in the first set. Jason Moore was put in as setter, with Jon Molloy moving out to hitter. This gave us a few more options, which we utilised fully. We won the first set 25-21. We changed ends with an air of irritation at the fact that we had let them score so many points! We were starting to feel like a very different team from the one that only won one set in last year’s competition! The second set was a walk over, 25-15. All of our squad had a part in this set with Mo Amirkhani making his national volleyball debut. Having won a match 2-0 I sensed that this could be our best tournament for some years.

After another rest we played Essex. Essex had come with a team of very young, energetic and keen players. We watched them almost beat The Met with their determination to keep the ball alive. Our tactic was simply to make sure that if we had an opportunity to score, then we would hit the ball hard enough to win the point!

The first set was a classic. It soon became clear that we were very evenly matched. Neither team made many errors resulting in some excellent volleyball. We lost the first set 22-25 and took the second set 26-24. To say we were tired at this point was an understatement, but we knew that our opponents were just as tired. There were only a couple of minutes to go and neither Essex nor Lancashire wanted the game to be decided on the points scored count-back (which Essex would have won 49-48!) so we changed ends without a break and started the third set. We won the first point and then served into the net! The third point seemed to last forever with an excellent rally. I hit the ball as hard as I could towards their back court which caught their backcourt setter by surprise, which, in our opinion, caused him to commit a handling fault, the referee didn’t agree. Our concentration had been snapped and we lost the point, which was quickly followed by the final whistle.

We had finished second in our group with a chance of progressing to the main knockout competition! On inspection of the printed results of the first day it was confirmed that we had finished second in our group but Merseyside had pipped both Sussex and Lancashire to the best second place. Due to the structure of the 2^nd days games we were to play Sussex in the first round of the Plate Competition. This didn’t go down very well with either team and a protest was made to the organiser’s as to why the apparent two best teams in the Plate Competition were not on opposite sides. The organiser’s apologised for not noticing this but the games would not be redrawn.

Lancashire v Sussex 25-23 19-25

As we warmed up on the Sunday morning I sensed that our confidence from the previous day was not quite there. This was going to be the hardest match of the weekend – our Cup Final. We came on court to the cheers of support from our ladies team and started like a steam train. Everything we hit went in, everything they blocked came down on their side of the net and their hitters couldn’t get the ball over the net! We were 23-13 up in no time at all. Remember the vertigo? You guessed it, it came back to haunt us. Lethargy began to weigh heavy on the team and even the introduction of our ace-card Paul Whitehead, made little difference. However, we won the set 25-23. The second set began with a nightmare as our first 5 serves went into the net and we were 8-2 down. Again, being behind somehow helped us to relax and we began to match the points. Despite our best efforts, and some better quality play towards the end of the set, we lost 19-25. Four minutes of time remained for the final set, but the referee decided the set wouldn’t be played due to a compulsory 3 minute break between sets. This was yet another disappointing referee’s decision. We had lost the match on points count back. It was the end of our tournament for this year.

Jayne Ashton and Jamie Lillystone have been selected to attend the England Police training camp in February and take part in the England v Scotland match being held at Ribby Hall in February 2008. Players will be selected from these teams for the British Police Volleyball Squad to play in the Crown Services Tournament in May 2008.

Once again a team played in the LVA league held each Monday evening between October and April. Lancon VC finished 7^th in the league having 3 games out of the 14 played. This was an improvement on the previous year, when they only won 1 game.

PSUK Weightlifting/ Powerlifting and Wrestling Championships Saturday 29^th October 2007

All three Lancs competitors were defending champions of their respective weight groups.

lifting 216kg squat (PB), 151kg bench press (Brit Police record), 262kg deadlift (Brit Police record) for a Brit Police record total of 629kg.

lifting 135kg squat (Brit Police record), 85kg bench press, 180kg deadlift (Brit Police record), for a Brit Police record total of 400kg.

lifting 250kg squat (PB), 140kg bench press, 260kg deadlift, for a Brit Police record total of 650kg.

As a result of the outstanding performances Lancs Powerlifting team won the Brit Police team comp, beating all other forces.

Both Jon and Kevin have had the honour of being part of the British Police Team, with Jon due to take part in a British Police

The year got off to a good start with a recruitment drive which attracted around 30 new members to the mat. The new members were impressed with the relaxed atmosphere and the ease of learning self-defence techniques. To become totally proficient in any sport it takes time and dedication. Due to the nature of our life styles and work commitments many new members were unable prolong membership to the club but took away some potentially life saving techniques.

Some of our new members were proficient enough to take their first grading after just 3 months and went on to compete in the PSUK nationals.

The PSUK judo national championships were hosted by west midland police in September 07. The event saw a large turn out by Team LANCON with 8 on the team and 7 competing.

PS Phil Kenyon, PS James Saddoo, PC Lister Worthington, PC Dave Render, PC Paul Carbery, PC Nicola Jackson and Sue Saddoo all displayed a strong and enthusiastic performance.

In his first National Championships event, PC Carbery came away with two gold Medals which was an outstanding achievement. PC Render (whose martial art Is normally Ju-jitsu) won gold in one of the categories and competed well against

The jitsu club will end the year attending our affiliated body, (the jitsu foundation), national championships in Telford in November.

The club remains strong with 20 regular members. 2007 has been a successful year for the LANCON JITSU AND JUDO CLUB and sure to be a prosperous new year with more gold when mersyside host the 2008 PSUK JUDO NATIONALS

Anyone wishing to join the Lancon Club or just to have a look can contact the club sec James Saddoo PS 3862 via e-mail