A DAY WITH THE BARMY ARMY AT THE EDGBASTON TEST MATCH

Friday,18 th August, was spent as a guest of SPORTNATION?BET, one of the sponsors of the England Cricket team’s most famous group of supporters – The Barmy  Army. This came about at the invitation of a close friend of mine, whose son-in-law, is a leading light in that company. The programme for the day looked a little daunting, with hospitality taking place in the Tally Ho Banquting Centre, which is based in the police sports’ ground, five minutes from the stadium….beginning at 11 am! Bearing in mind that play,at  the test match, the second day of the first day-night test match to take place in England, did not commence until 2pm. The programme for the morning was as follows:-

This prestigious event will take place at the Tally Ho Conference and Banqueting Centre, just five minutes down the road from Edgbaston. Please bring a copy of this email with you on the day, as it will double up as an e-ticket. 

 The proposed running order for the morning is as follows:

11.00am Doors open at Tally Ho 

11.30am Comedian 

12.00pm Seated buffet brunch served 

12.30pm Awards ceremony 

1.15pm End of awards and warm up for matches

We’re really excited to welcome Monty Panesar to host this year’s awards, alongside Billy the Trumpeter. As we all know, Monty is a legend in his own right, and we’re looking forward to hearing his cricketing tales of old, and his hopes for a comeback to first class cricket. Pictured are my amigo, Mick and in his left, Warren, another director of SPORTNATION?BET. And, Monty Panesar, ex-England spinbowler, being interviewed by equally legendary , BarmyArmy member, Billy the Trumpeter.

 Your ticket will also give you access to the post-match entertainment back at the Tally Ho from 9pm, where we will have a live band The Everly Pregnant Brothers, an eight piece Ukulele band from Sheffield. Their previous hit ‘Chip Pan’ stormed up the charts last Christmas, and flung the boys into a new stardom. If you’d like to check them out visit their Facebook account @EverlyPregnantBrothers  

 The bar will close at midnight.

There was no possible way,that we would last the pace, till midnight, even though we were almost abstemious in the taking of refreshment! The Barmy Army’s members follow the England cricket team, all over the world; I last encountered them at Gracelands, Cape Town, when we went to watch England versus South Africa. Instantly recognisable, either by their T-shirts and/or singing . Our first taste of the singing , and there was to be a lot of it as the day went on, was prior to lunch, when we were asked to stand ( Thank Goodness , not God Save the Queen ) and sing ” Jerusalem,”as a form of Grace, accompanied by Billy the Trumpeter.

There was a raffle, a quiz and an interview with the aforesaid Mony Panesar, who also presented the “Awards”, which ranged from Joe Root, England captain,by video- link, that gives an idea of the Army’s standing, to best female cricketer of the year .

I got a close up of one of these prestigious awards, on our table, an uncanny resemblance to one of the seven dwarfs….?

After a very enjoyable lunch, we were given a brief taste of the highlight of the post- match entertainment – “The Everly Pregnant Brothers”- some of you may be of an age, where you recognise the ” play” on the ” Everly Brothers”, a wonderful duo of thecesrly sixties – the EPBs were far from wonderful, enthusiastic, yes, politically incorrect, yes, entertaining….no; that reinforced our avowed intention not to return for the evening bash!

Ominously, during the above, thankfully short Set, a thunderstorm rolled over the Tally Ho sports ground at about 12.36.

Years ago, this would have put the start of the match back by a couple of hours; not, today,though, the Warwickshire ground staff were well prepared and play began, promptly, with the majestic and imperturbable Alistaire  Cook looking for a double century and his greenhorn of a partner, Milan, looking for his first, international, half- century, both of which were achieved, quite comfortably against a somewhat tepid West Indian, fast bowling attack.

We were in Edgbaston’s famous Eric Hollies’ , Stand, Row E, with a great side -on   view of the wicket, surrounded by a good natured group of supporters, drinking beer in copious amounts, which only encouraged them to join in even more loudly, with Billy the Trumpeter, who was ( thanfully ), a few rows behind. The fancy dress was  a great part of the entertainment; the range was endless.

The weather forecast for the day had not beeen good, but play continued, without interruption until about 7.3o pm, under the flood lights, until heavy rain brought proceedings to a premature close. 
It had been a great day’ s sporting entertainment and although I had misgivings about the Barmy Army scenario, they were proved to be unfounded…their avowed intention is to support England, with song and cheer…was just that. Not for the faint hearted, possibly , and I won’t be joining any time soon, but an enjoyable experience, nevertheless.