Aunt Sally at The Bell at Aldworth

The evening of the 10th of July saw the annual meeting of the Aunt Sally 'grudge match' between West Berks CAMRA and our neighbouring branch, Vale of White Horse.

The location of this epic struggle was The Bell at Aldworth, a charming and time forgotten pub in the north of our branch area. It's no wonder that this fine establishment is not only a GBG regular, but has also been branch Pub of the Year several times over and even claimed the top prize of CAMRA National Pub of the Year back in 1990.

For those not in 'the know', Aunt Sally is a traditional pub game and is still played regularly in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The teams prepared themselves in the best CAMRA traditions with some fine ales from the bar. West Berkshire Brewery was well represented with Maggs' Magnificent Mild, Tyler's Ale (which is the better known Good Old Boy renamed especially for The Bell) and July's monthly special beer, The Crabtree Effect. There was also 3B from Arkells of Swindon.

Limbering up before the big event.

 The rules of the game are pretty simple, a point is scored every time the 'dolly' is knocked from its perch and apart from having to throw underarm that's pretty much it. The first couple of legs were fairly close until Roy 'dead eye' Bailey scored a hat-trick of strikes in one single leg, and led West Berks out to a commanding lead. The final leg saw scores from chairman Adrian Bean, secretary Mike Avery and yours truly clinch the match so even the duck scored by Ben Smith didn't count against us!

Roy (left) and Mike keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Even though West Berks gave VoWH a good spanking there was no hard feelings and the picnic buffet and jugs of ales that The Bell provided ensured the evening was enjoyed by all.

There was just time to return back to the pub for a last drink or two and to reflect on a great evening out.

Chairman Adrian Bean gloats over the winning scorecard.