County Club Secretary's Report 2009
Consolidated Annual Report
32 Sectional Sports
Sectional Sports Reports - Received during 2009 and conclude January 2010
The County Club now has 32 defined sports sections that include a varied range of sporting activities geared toward competitive sport playing against other police forces and organisations.
These sports are generally governed by the pre-existing annual activities organised Police Sport UK. Notwithstanding this, many sports sections also participate in other non-Police Sport UK events either against other police forces or other organisations such as in county and local leagues.
Athletics and Running Sports Section
By Secretary SC Steve Broadbent
January - March - Northern Police Cross Country League
The full season starts in October through to March and has been continually well turned out.
February - Inter-Divisional Cross-Country
The section organises two annual Inter-Divisional events - a cross-country in February and a 10k road race in July. The Cross Country event returned to Witton Park, Blackburn. An excellent turn-out from Lancashire with 35 runners and a further 30 runners attending from other police northern league police forces.
March - Police Sport UK - National Cross Country
The event took place at Lowther Park in Cumbria in March featuring a challenging course through wooded fell land with some hills that were more like a fell race than a cross country.
May - British Police Fell Race
The event took place in May in Cleveland.
July - Police Sport UK - Track & Field Athletics
Was hosted by the South Yorkshire Police at Doncaster.
July - Inter-Divisional 10K Road Race
The 20th annual championships took place at Lancaster was another successful event with 58 runners on the day.
September - Police Sport UK - 10 Mile Road Race
This event was hosted by north Wales Police in Llandudno.
October - Police Sport UK – Marathon
This took place in Leicester with five members of the force taking part.
SC Steve Broadbent who is now the Police Sport UK Marathon coordinator took a back seat from marathon running and was officiating at the event.
Badminton Sports Section
By Secretary PC Paul Hope
This year has without doubt been the most successful year for the Lancashire Constabulary Badminton Section.
This started at the regional championships that were held in February at Ribby Hall in Lancashire and involved players from Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cumbria.
The men’s singles was again won by Tim Cope from Cheshire who beat Lancashire’s Simon Taylor in the final. However with Tim being the National Title holder both he and Simon qualified for the National finals.
The ladies singles was won by last years National runner up Anna Wilson from Merseyside. Anna later suffered an injury that caused her to pull out of the National finals in this event allowing new comer Amy Ashrafi to qualify to represent the North West forces in this event.
The ladies doubles was won by Anna Wilson and Becky Hutt from Merseyside but as National title holders our second ladies pair of Amy Ashrafi and Amanda Gibson also qualified.
The men’s doubles was won by Paul Hope and Ashley Gibson and Ashley also went on to win the mixed title with his wife Amanda.
In the veteran categories Paul Hope and Keith Ashton won the men’s doubles and Paul Hope and Maxine Watson won the mixed. Dave Sherrington and Peter Wright also qualified for the Nationals as Paul and Keith were the national title holders.
In the senior veteran categories Peter Wright and Keith Ashton won the men’s doubles, and Maxine Watson and Michelle Boggis won the Ladies doubles. Keith and Maxine then joined forces to win the mixed doubles event.
These results meant that the Lancashire badminton section had 10 players qualified for the national finals.
Apart from the tournament the PSUK Badminton section has a British team and this year players from Lancashire have also been selected to play for this team. Paul Hope and Ashley Gibson were both selected to play in the European Championships in Denmark were their team lost in the semi finals to the Danish who went on to win the event. Paul and Ashley also played for PSUK against the England youth team, and Paul also played the remaining matches against British Universities and the Scottish National select team.
The National Finals this year were hosted by Thames Valley police and were held at the National Badminton Centre at Milton Keynes. At this point all the regional qualifiers form the North West regional team. The National are all individual events but there is a team trophy which is decided on points. You receive 1 point for losing in a semi final, 2 points for losing in a final and 3 points for winning an event.
Bowling - Crown Green Sports Section
By Secretary PC Howard Kershaw
No report received this year..
Bowling - Flat Green Sports Section
By Secretary DC Mark Riley
No report received this year..
Clay Shooting Sports Section
By Secretary DC John Ormerod
2009 followed on from last years individual’s successes and again saw individual members achieving personal bests with John Ormerod picking up his highest individual achievement in police competition coming in 3rd place in the PSUK North West regional Sporting finals held at Catton Hall, Frodsham.
Keith Whitwell followed on from his previous successes and won an individual 2nd in the Down the Line North West regional finals. No mean feet when the North West region is blessed with several Great Britain Shooters from other forces.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the team, which at times, was missing some vital serving members (including the Secretary hee hee) who due to work commitments meant they were unable to attend some of the shoot this year. As such the team were unable to reclaim their Down the Line Title and the team finished in 3rd place in North West Regional, Sporting, Down the Line and Skeet competitions.
On a positive note 5 of the members did qualified for the National Championships held in September 2009 and although there were no prizes given to individual Lancashire members (Including the raffle) or collectively as a team all members shot well and finished in the top 25% of the leader boards.
Unfortunately the shooting year finished off on a sad note, with the sad lost of GMP Shooter Bill Scott.
Bill had originally joined the Lancashire Constabulary and served at Middleton and Rochdale which later became part of the newly formed Greater Manchester Police. Bill had always been proud of the fact that he was originally a “County man” first and he was presented many years ago with a Lancashire Constabulary Police tie which he treasured. His family inform me that as a fitting tribute to his “first force” they had placed the tie in his coffin.
Bill had attended every National Championship for the last 30 years, winning his only ever team trophy this year for GMP who came second in the National Sporting competition.
He was a familiar face in all shooting circles, a gent in every word and will be sadly missed.
The club continues to get enquires from sports and socials members wishing to shoot for the “County” and the Secretary John Ormerod would like to invite anybody who has previously shot “clay’s” or is interested in starting to get in touch. The club has plenty of experienced members willing to freely give advice on the sport and there are always opportunities to compete for the Police team.
Coarse Angling Sports Section
By Secretary Mr Ian Bateson
The last year has been a modest one for the section in terms of match achievements. Yet it has been a promising one in terms of membership. Our section, normally 8 members, has been increased by 50%. More importantly of these 4 new members, 3 are serving officers, hopefully ensuring the future of this section.
In tears of success in the field we have faired less well than in recent years but are still a formidable force within the north west region. In he northwest championships held by Merseyside ewe were joint winners on points but lost out to Cheshire on a weight count-back. in the national championships, which was held in Norfolk and gave us no opportunity to practice on the waters, we came in 13th place out of 30 competing teams. This was a very hard match resulting in a very close finish where only 3 more points would have seen us on the podium. in the same event Mr Carr took an individual section prize.
on the local scene we took place in 4 red rose individual Competitions where Mr. Thompson had a win and Mr Bateson 2nd & 3rd place. We also took part in the GMP fire open team event where we were placed equal 3rd. We then finished the season in style in the GMP fire individual event at Bolton where Insp Fearn had a very creditable win with 43lb of carp, doubling the weight of anyone else and in the same match Mr Livesey finished 3rd. Overall the season must be seen as a positive one as 3 of the new members qualified for our national team.
Cricket Sports Section
By Detective Ch Insp Neil Gregson
Cycling Sports Section
By Secretary Mr Frank Smith
The Lancashire Constabulary is affiliated to the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) and British Cycling Federation.
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 (Crit races) 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. Usually they last for 1hr + 5 laps depending on the light and weather. You can also get the chance to watch before you try by paying a visit a week before to get a feel of what is required.
Another season long event concentrates on locally organised open road race events sponsored by a local company (CDNW league). These are normally split into two groups one for 3rd and 4th (beginners) category riders and one for 1st and 2nd? These events for the 3 and 4 category only riders are generally not as hard as those on the open road for all Category riders. Road races for the 3rd and 4th cat riders are usually of a shorter distance of 40 to 50 miles some times even shorter for 4th Cat only races.
Locally from April to August there are 2 local 10 TT one on the A59 lay-by near to the mini roundabout near Tarleton, which is held on a Thursday and the other on the A6 Barton on a Tuesday entry on the night is £2.00. You may find this a good way to start cycling as it’s a race against the clock and you?
POLICE SPORT UK NATIONAL TIME TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP 2009
13th and 14th June 2010 held on the A59 Rainford by pass, Merseyside
Saturday June 13th 10 mile Time Trial
Total riders 70
Being on a local course the lads had made the extra effort to peak on the day to give it there best shot. The Saturday was a dry sunny day with light winds and first off for LANCON was PC Duncan Park who gave it his all and recorded an excellent time of 21:56. This time was a great effort considering Duncan had to slow down at one of the roundabouts on the route. Later on that day it was the turn of PCSO Higgins, Neil did a big effort towards the end of the 10 mile route to record a career PB on the day of 22:01.Overall winner’s time 20:52
· PC. Duncan Park was 9th overall and winning his age group with a time of 21:56
· PCSO Neil Higgins was 10th overall and 3rd in his age group with a time of 22;01
Sunday June 14th 25 mile Time Trial
Total riders 50
Come Sunday the weather had changed to strong winds and the possibility of rain later on, also over night road works had appeared on the course delaying the start. PCSO Higgins was unlucky in that by the time he was on the course light rain was falling making the roads abit on the slippery side, but he still managed a time of 58:14.PC Park did a fine job of recording a 58:57.
Overall winning time 54:12
· PCSO Neil Higgins was 11th overall with a time of 58:14
· PC. Duncan Park time of 58:57
Road Race Championships August 16th
This year’s road race was held in Gloucester over an 11 mile lumpy circuit ridden 6 times which was a hard test for PCSO Higgins competing on his own. Neil attempted to put the hammer down early on and formed a small break with a hand full of riders. This break contained the eventual winner from Glasgow Police? The lumpy course proved to be abit of a killer to the small break which towards the end was dragged back by the bunch. Neil attempted to go with a final break on the last hill for the line, but his efforts from the earlier break had took too much out of his legs for the sprint. Neil ended up 25th in the bunch sprint
At a local level a number of members competed in local road race, sportive and time trials for the club. There was a team of three regularly entered for the criterium series at the Sports Arena at Cottam, Preston and local road races. Also there has been an interest in members competing at local 10 mile time trials and sportives.
PSUK Events for 2010 - TBA
Fly Fishing Sports Section
By Secretary PC Andrew Baldwin
Football Sports Section
By Assistant Secretary Alan Martin
Golf Sports Section
By Secretary PC Chris Walsh
Hockey Sports Section
By Secretary DC Helen Knaggs
Indoor Games Sports Section
By PC Andy Taylor
Motor Club Sports Section
By Sports Secretary Mr Keith Shuck
Netball Sports Section
By Secretary DC Lisa Walker
Rowing Sports Section
By Secretary DC Sue Palmer
Rugby League Sports Section
By Secretary Stuart Haigh
Rugby Union Sports Section
By Chairman Richard Spedding
Sailing Sports Section
By Secretary Inspector David Old
Sea Angling Sports Section
By DC Dave Stainton
Shooting Sports Section
By Secretary Inspector David Hodson
Snowsports Sports Section
By Secretary PC Damian Whittle
Squash Sports Section
By Secretary Inspector Peter Upton
Swimming Sports Section
By Secretary Chief Inspector Karen Simister
Table Tennis Sports Section
By Secretary PC Jeanette Wilson
Tennis Sports Section
By Secretary PS Neil Gibson
Ten-Pin Bowling Sports Section
By Secretary Mrs Carol Barter
Police Sport UK National Event - May 2009
As I came second last year after winning the title in the two previous years, I was determined not to let my concentration slip this time.
We, that is my husband John and myself, left Blackpool at 08.00 on the morning of Tuesday 5th May and headed for Norfolk. The sat-nav took us on what it ‘thought’ was the quickest route, via the M62 and the A1. It took us about seven and a half hours due to all the traffic jams and the inevitable road works. I then discovered I was due to bowl at five, so we checked into our room and I grabbed a quick shower.
I managed a 200 for the first game, following it with a 176 and a 215 and the resulting total put me 107 pins ahead of my nearest competitor. This was no reason to relax as Jo Green, the 2008 champion was watching me like a hawk and seemed to be quite determined to retain her title.
Dinner was up to the usual high Potters standard, then we headed for an early night as the long drive had taken it’s toll.
After a light breakfast, I was back on the lanes for the second session at 09.00 and this time I opened with a 220 and managed to push my lead over the pack to 210 pins.
As there was nothing planned for the afternoon, we wandered downstairs and went in for a general knowledge quiz, winning a bottle of bubbly for our efforts. (It went down well with a litre of fresh orange juice)
The third round was on Thursday morning and I managed to hold my position at the top of the table. Jo green had hurt her middle finger, but it didn’t stop her bowling. Gutsy woman that one.
The step-ladder final commenced at 14.00 hrs so I was confined to the role of spectator as the right to play in the final was contested by those in positions 2 to 5.
The actual final was between Donna Stundon from the Cambridgeshire force and myself and although it was not a particularly high scoring game, it was quite even until the last frame where I managed to put in a strike whilst Donna ‘pulled’ the shot and left a very awkward split that she failed to convert, so I won by a score of 162 to 132, taking the trophy for the third time in four years. (Phew!)
The presentation was held before dinner that evening and the trophy was presented to me by Norfolk’s Chief Constable Ian McPherson.
Once again a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I would like to thank Steve Broadbent for all his help, and also the Sports and Social Club at Hutton for their generous assistance with my chosen sport.
We are looking for new competitors from the Club to take part in the 2010 Championships held in early May. Please contact me if you are interested.
Volleyball Sports Section
By Assistant Secretary Ms Sue Harrison
Walking Sports Section
By Secretary Mr Bill Murray
Weightlifting and Powerlifting Sports Section
By Secretary Kevin Kavanagh
Wresting, Judo and Jitsu Sports Section
By Secretary PC Lister Worthington
British Police Rugby League Tour - Australia
By Secretary Stuart Haigh
Conclusion to Sports Section Reports
There must be something here to suit everyone’s sporting interest and ability.
Every Sports Section is looking to recruit new players into their team. Provided you have some ability to play the sport, no matter how little, the team will be happy to have you on board and give you the appropriate training advice and coaching to compete for the Constabulary Club.
To learn more about each activity and find out who to contact go to the Club website – www.policesport.net
