Friends of the Blues

[Howard Travis]

It's Friday, it's a home league match and so we have had a draw.
This weeks winners are.
Steve Matthews- who becomes match ball sponsor and who will receive a signed ball. He has chosen Mark Atkinson.
Jackie Markham- International tickets x2 and chooses James Stephenson
Chris Kettler- yet speak to Chris but he too has a choice of prizes and a player.
Jim Beaumont- second win for Jim. No prize this time, but he is already booked into Nos's Nosh for a table of four as his last prize. He gets a player choice.
Andy Brimley who has chosen James Stephenson and is also now in receipt of tokens for 8 pints of Brians bitter in The Cricketers. Andy has told me he is going to the beer festival already! Enjoy Andy.

I am pleased to say that this week, I got my grubby mits on 4 tickets for England v. South Africa on 24th November.
Jackie Markham has taken two as her prize. That still leaves me with 2 more for that game, and two for England v. Italy.
I will update with the final player choices as soon as I have them.
If you haven't joined FoB and you wish to, please pick up a form from the Followers Hut, Shop or Office tomorrow. Alternatively down load from this site.
There are lots of prizes left, the Monarch trip to be awarded, and the end of season soiree with the £1,000 draw. Lots of fun lots of prizes. Besides that we are raising valuable funds for the club.

[Howard Travis]

Andy Brimley asked me to mention that on Friday 26th October his band Pistonz are having a gig in the Scrum Hall, Goldington Rd. The bar will be open and entry is £10, with all funds going to the Floodlight Appeal. Pistonz are a rock band.
Well done to Andy. He deserves support.

[Howard Travis]

I have the final choices for the Plymouth match, and they are, as follows

Steve Matthews- Mark Atkinson
Jackie Markham- James Stephenson
Chris Kettler- Mark Atkinson
Jim Beaumont- Neil Cochrane
Andy Brimley- James Stephenson.

There are ten FoBs through to the £1,000 draw so far, from the first three draws. Good luck to those above.

The Christmas draw is just round the corner, and those European flights with Monarch are there to be won. It could be you. You have to be in it to win it, so why not join this weekend.

[Howard Travis]

Even with the number of tries Bedford score, it can be difficult to successfully choose a player to earn you a chance of £1,000. On Saturday only two FoBs were correct, Jackie Markham & Andy Brimley with James Stephenson. After four home league games we now have twelve in the draw.
Jackie also has two tickets to watch England v South Africa, whilst Andy is clutching his eight beer tokens for Brains bitter ale in The Cricketers.
You've got to be in it to win it and it is not too late to join.

[Howard Travis]

Thanks to some very generous Friends of the Blues I have received some highly valuable sporting memorabilia, which will be to the advantage of the fund.
Bob Fuller & his partner Irenie run The Silver Tennis Collection and through Bob's brother David Fuller, we have been given this year's Wimbledon poster. This was autographed for them by Roger Federer and Andy Murray prior to the final. This is being framed by the Fullers and will shortly become available for the FoBs to capitalise on. It is pretty unique.
Club physio of many years, Simon Jones is also Ian Poulter's physiotherapist and travels widely with him. Simon has returned from the Ryder Cup in Medinah, Chicago with an absolute jem of golfing history for the fund. A pin flag signed by the team. This can be viewed on the website twitter account @BedfordBluesRFC or on my account @howardtravis. The alert amongst you will spot one autograph is missing, but I will be tracking down Mr Francesco Molinari to complete the object for posterity. As it is, it is very valuable. If you are into your golf, this is as good as it gets in terms of a bit of history for your collection. It appears to be very valuable from research I have completed.
Thirdly Paul Bowker is making available a photo of three of the greatest fly halves to play the game. Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathon Davies. It is signed by all three. A holy gathering indeed.
I have already had expressions of interest in all three objects, and will not sell any of them without going back to those persons. I have not decided when or where they will be sold, but most probably it will be at a dinner later in the season. All those interested will be notified. If you are interested in buying any of these items let me know please.
A big thank you goes to the donors, who have all given these gifts, so as to benefit our club.

[Howard Travis]

By way of clarification. There is no Friends of the Blues draw today for the Stirling match as the scheme is built around the 11 home league matches. The next draw will be for the home league match against Newcastle. By that time I will have news of a new prize, a hotel break in Newcastle for the return fixture.
Membership forms can be down loaded from this site if you wish to join.

[Howard Travis]

After a brief a B&I cup interlude, and one away match, we are back into FoB draws. The draw was completed by our auditors Rawlinson Pryde, and I am pleased to announce the winners as follows.

First out of the hat were Bedford Followers Association supremos Geoff & Margaret Appleton who become the match ball sponsors and win a signed Bedford Blues match ball.
Second was Steve Parrott who has been in the fund since 2003-4 when it started. Steve played for the club before moving to Guernsey in the 1970s. He played in the Siam Cup against Jersey for many years. When I met him at the Jersey match he was finding it very easy to cheer for Bedford. He brought quite a party over from Guernsey for that game but has told me he is pleased Jersey have now found winning ways. Steve has chosen lunch for two in the Marquee and two tickets to the next match he can attend. It might be Jersey.
Third up is proud Yorksireman Bernard Henry who is a great benefactor of the club, and a leading light in the Gentlemen of Biddenham branch of Blues supporters. Bernard has chosen two tickets to England v. South Africa on 24th November.
The fourth winners are former President of Bedford RUFC John Saunders and his wonderful wife Margaret. Two of the greatest servants of the club
The fifth winners were Pete & Ronne Beard, now of Weymouth. They are both up for the match on Saturday. Coming that far means they are truly deserving of the award of eight pints of Brains in the Cricketers PH and Pete has happily accepted.
All the above get to choose a player to score a try on Saturday. If he does they go into the £1,000 draw.
If you still haven't won please look forward to the approaching winter draws for The Monarch Flights and the hotel break in Scotland.
We now await the team selection so that winners can choose their man.
If you not in the fund, it is open ended, continuing and a bit of fun that does some good.Consider joining.. many are.

[Howard Travis]

I am very pleased to be able to confirm that the FoB have another splendid prize to add to the others in the approaching Christmas & winter draws.
For the return fixture at Newcastle on Friday 8th March we have two nights bed & breakfast for two persons at Jurys Inn, Newcastle. This is an excellent city centre hotel, handy for exploring and for the Metro service to the ground. The booking is for Friday & Saturday night.
This will be drawn around Christmas, as will the Monarch flights and the Scottish Hotel trip.
You've got to be in it to win it.

[Howard Travis]

The winner's choices of a player to score a try for yesterday were as follows.
Two went for Ben Ransom, two for Neil Cochrane and one for Josh Bassett. For the first time no one was successful and therefore the total through to the £1,000 cash draw remains on ten people with six games remaining.

[Howard Travis]

Friends of the Blues are pleased to announce backing from Melbourne, Australia based business man & Blues fan John Powell of JDR sports. They are suppliers of sportswear, and in particular base layers for men and women for a variety of sporting purposes. Their products can be viewed at www.jdrsports.co.uk. and John himself can be contacted at john_jdrsports@yahoo.co.uk
As well as backing the scheme,John, through his local agents, Mike Howard (our popular 2nd row) & Kelly McKenzie (Strictly Come Dancing fame), will be providing vouchers for base layers to coincide with every FoB draw. We are hoping that, subject to discussion, these will go to our academy players.Thanks John for your support.

[Howard Travis]

With the Cornish Pirates match approaching, Rawlinson Pryde Accountants have conducted our home match draw and our winners are as follows.

Denis Odell from Hartland in Devon was first out of the hat and becomes the match ball sponsor on Friday night.
Jackie Markham wins the for the 2nd time this season! I hear you groan. From her first win, she has tickets for the South Africa match at Twickenham on Saturday.She also successfully selected James Stephenson to score a try and is in the £1,000 draw as a result. This time she is going to take a Nigel Rudgard (frontrow.photium.com) A3 framed signed photo of a player, as her prize. She deserves her luck if only for all her work selling tickets for the Followers draw on match days.
Bex Howe was third out of the hat and is yet to make her mind up about her prize. Choices, choices. Well done Bex.
David Edwards is pleased to be receiving 8 beer tokens for Brains Beer in The Cricketers.
Lastly long term supporter Jill Dainton receives a choice of a player.

We have also drawn the winner of the three night stay in Argyllshire Scotland.
Our winner is Steve Nixon. Well done Steve. He can take that break for two, any time up until August 2013. I hope you have a lovely trip.

All of the above and all other members have further draws to look forward to all season. Next up will be the Neath & Rotherham draws.

On Boxing Day at half time, we will draw the winner of the Monarch flights. So you could be flying to anywhere in Europe; or to Egypt, Turkey or The Canaries with a pal or your partner............ if you are a member.

If you are not a member it's not to late. Download a form and get it to Debbie Rayer in the office, for your chance of this and the other prizes.£7 a month is the entry level

Two nights at Jurys Hotel in Newcastle, to coincide with our visit to Kingston Park, will be our New Year prize.

[Howard Travis]

The selections for tonight's match against Cornish Pirates are as follows.
Denis Odell- Brendan Burke
Jackie Markham- Luke Baldwin
Bex Howe- Neil Cochrane
David Edwards- Mark Kohler
Jill Dainton- Neil Cochrane

Ten persons are in the £1,000 draw so far.
Good Luck to all.

[Howard Travis]

Last night I experienced for the first time the highs and lows, the despair and joy of sitting next to an FoB wanting a man to score a try for them. Quite fun!
Well done Denis Odell down in Devon with your inspired choice of fellow FoB Brendan Burke.
David Edwards must be gutted this morning as Mark Kohler who played so well, got so very close to scoring.
So far two FoBs have been drawn twice. Jim Beaumont & Jackie Markham. Both chose correctly first time, but neither succeeded on the 2nd occasion. Jackie's Luke Baldwin didn't score.
Neil Cochrane is fast becoming one of the most popular choices, and didn't let Jill Dainton and Bex Howe down last night. Bex is really pleased with him, as Neil as hooker, is sponsored by Mark Howe Farms. Good chap!

So that is three more through to the £1,000 draw making 13 in total.It looks like it could be around 20 by the end of the season which is not bad odds.
20-1 for a grand!

The "guess the average crowd" for home league matches is getting to the interesting part of the season with another cash prize. Can anyone tell me what the average now stands at.

FoBs Bernard Henry & Jacjie Markham both won two tickets to watch the South Africa match at Twickenham today. Have a great day

[Howard Travis]

The guess the crowd competition has a cash prize. We have just passed half way on the home league matches
I hope you can remember your guess. Last season the average for home league matches was 2641. According to Stat Bunker the 2012-13 average stands at 2,694.
So at this stage, much the same as last year.

[Alan Connington]

Well at least it keeps you busy and off the streets watch out though it can become a bit of an obsession take it from some one who knows.
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