EFA
Ten Year Masochism
A Reptonian on Tour
(Article by Ben Price 2005-06 EFA Annual Report)Ben Price started playing fives at his prep school in 1966 at Foremark Hall in Derbyshire in 1967. The school visited Repton once a week to play. He then moved to Repton.
"If you were sporty you would play games every day of one type or another. I started playing fives on Saturday nights in the winter as the boarders had no TV and we couldn't go home. On leaving Repton I thought no more about Fives.
In the late 80's I took a few people back to Repton to play. Most loved it and couldn't understand why the game was not played more often. Then in 1998 I ran a boys junior football team I became friendly with parents who wanted to to have a sporty day out. I took them to Repton and this has now become a regular event (well it feels that way at least twice a year!)
We now have a squad of 12-14 people who love to play. I am sure we dont get the rules exactly correct, but we are not far off. I have also taken some of the sons to play and have 6-8 of the boys playing regularly. There are plans to organise a fathers and sons day probably next Christmas and hope to get over 20 people to participate (as long as Peter Bradburn lets me borrow some extra gloves.)
The UK Tour
This came about last August when I was preparing for a summer holiday in Norfolk. I like to be organised so I decided to plan some events if it rained. I saw that the Eaton School in Norwich had courts and I decided to email them to ask if we could play. The e-mail was "sexed up" by saying I was considering visiting all the courts in the country hoping this would help the booking. The reply came back saying we were most welcome and would they mind if they got the press involved!When we arrived at Norwich we spent 1/2 an hour posing for photos and received full coverage from the local press. So after this I decided I had better rise to the occasion by putting into action my give away remarks of visiting all Eton courts in the country. To date visits have been made to Repton, Oakham and Lancing."
Further Travels of Ben Price (Old Reptonian)
"We visited Oakham school on 29th December 2005 as part of our quest to play Fives at every venue during the next ten years. As you can see from our pictures we faced "Mallory" type conditions on a freezing day. It became obvious from the state of the courts that the Reverend Aldous has put fire back into Oakham Fives. There are three courts that are situated next to the cricket pitch - there is a plaque to cememorate 100 years of the courts The main differences to the courts to the ones I have played are: 1) Oakham has a much lower roof. It is supported by quite ornate wooden struts.
2) There is no ledge on either side from the buttress to the rear of the court.
3) There is no ledge on the floor at the rear of the court (I think this is to keep any water out).
If one was in a competitive game the slight variation in the courts especially the roof height must be of great advantage to the home side.
The courts are really nice and are painted battleship grey (this appears to be blue on the photographs). This is in stark contrast to the cavernous courts at Repton which feel as if one is in a "U- boat" pen! The courts at Repton are very similar to the the ones at Aldenham maybe the same architect?
I am hoping to take my older group of players to Oakham on our next outing which I think will be in July.
The next venue we play will be in February."
Ben has also dicovered former courts at Nottingham Squash Club and Wallsworth Hall in Gloucestershire. See Former Courts
B.W.P.
Webmaster's Note February 2006
Ben's attempt to play on all UK courts continues - latest picture from Repton.Picture of six of the twelve Courts and Ben and family
A Ten Year Masochism by Ben Price
Created: 28th March 2007 by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk