Extra Time Season Opens in Halesworth

The residents and staff were all ready and waiting when we pitched up at Beech House; within minutes they were creating wonderful patterns as they danced their pens to popular football tunes.

Match of the Day was just that – matching images of items from Halesworth Museum with corresponding statements and working out what they all had in common – which was, of course, football.

During the course of the morning we learned about a resident’s father who worked on a farm – this prompted by reference to a ‘threshing contractor’ in a football fixtures card – and chatted about local shops and early closing, having established that Halesworth Thursday Football Club was so called because the only time they could meet was on Thursday afternoon, when the shops shut at lunch time.

Each resident created a unique Player’s Card, from which we discovered that key skills included baking soda bread and gardening, which could be useful for keeping the pitch perfect.

Then it was over to the Edgar Sewter Primary school, where a team of 12 children awaited us. A brief warm-up exercise of pitch/touchline/stands revealed that they were all eager to take part, and then Match of the Day gave them an insight into football from a local, historical, perspective.

Team skills listed on the Player’s Cards included ‘kindness’, being a ‘good listener’ and ‘planning’ and their reasons for wanting to take part ranged from ‘loving football’ to ‘adoring history’.

With so much energy and passion in the room, it’s hardly surprising that their chosen team name is the Super Sewter Dudes.

I can’t wait to go back this week, I only hope I have the stamina to keep up with them all.