8 Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, August 4th, 1977


WE HAVE A GOOD SELECTION OF OUR OWN TOP QUAUTY CONTAINER GROWN


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STILL A GOOD SELECTION OF OUR SUPER QUALITY CONTAINER GROWN


ROSE BUSHES 6 0 p EACH


JUST COMING INTO FLOWER ONLY


LARGE SELECTION OFTOP QUAUTY CONTAINER GROWN


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Jovial Joe Is an expert MC


EVERY whist drive needs a good organiser to make it a success — and one of the best liked locally is Thom- ley fanner Joe Moon. Joe has been playing


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whist for almost 40 years and organising drives for the past 17. In an average month Joe will play every Friday at either Knowlc Green or Whitechapel and every other .Tuesday at Bleasdale village institute. In addition he will be


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DAQENITE, SU-BUTEC, HELLA, PMG, RUBBOLITE, SMITHS


“BEAT that’’ thinks Bleas­ dale player Mr George Walker.


’TOTTING up his score is M r B i l l Smi t h , o f Clitheroe.


Master o f Ceremonies at a drive every other Wednes­ day, organised by Chipping Vi l lage Hall Committee. Dur in g winter he also organises drives for Chip­ ping Old People’s Welfare Committee and the Conser­ vative Association, being a member of both. It means a busy life for jovial Joe who runs Bradley Hall Farm with his wife, Lily. But he thoroughly enjoys it. “ I l ike helping other


people to have a good time and when I am MC at a whist and domino drive tha t ’s what I feel I ’m doing,” he said. After marrying in 1945,


Joe and Lily moved to Low Moor and for a time he t o o k up bill iards and snooker at the local club.


Then Joe beeame a part- time driver for Bowland Motor Services and inevit­ ably his work involved driv­ ing parties to whist drives. “ I started becoming


interested again and took part in some of them,” said Joe. The couple moved to


their Thomley farm in 1958 and soon after Joe was 9JC for the first time. “ I don’t


remember just where it was but f know I enjoyed it and everjThing started from there.


“ I love the game of whist


a n d - e n j o y p l a y i n g whenever I can.” The whist bug first bit


young Joe in 1938. As a 14- year- o ld he decided to attend a drive in Bolton-by- Bowland, where he then lived.


. “ I remember I won the first prize — a case of ivory-handed fish knives,” said Joe, “ I thought ‘this is all right’ and next night c y c l ed al l the way to Gisbum to another drive. Needless to say I didn’t end up with a prize and I began to realise it wasn’t as easy as it looked first time.” Watching Joe in action,


as I did at a whist and domino drive in Chaigley, it is easy to see why he is so popular. He has the charm and patience to deal with large numbers of players — often elderly and rather fussy. He also does a great deal


of work — organising the pub and meals beforehand, taking the gate money,


organising the seating and giving the hard-working ladies in the kitchen a hand. At the end he ensures


each winner has received the proper prize and then helps to pack up. After the Chaigley drive, I asked one lady what she thought of J o e . “ Jo e ? Ooh, he ’ s lovely,” she replied.


The fascinatiiig world whist drive


WIN N E R S o f the we e k l y whi s t and domino drive in the village church hall were


Dozens of similar parag­


raphs appear in the Adver­ tiser and Times each week. Yet behind the bare facts


l ies a fascinating world where unlikely gladiators vie for honours on a green baize battlefield, where kings and queens are pitted against each other m a bid for supremacy.


By MIKE WEST The forces are only card­


board, the prize for victory often as little as 50p. But the play IS nearly always serious and the outcome a matter of surprisingly great import­ ance to the combatants. Perhaps to compare local


whist dnves with a battle is a little unfair — people are killed m battle, but at whist drives only if they trump


their partner’s ace! Whist drives, often incor­


porate a domino competi­ tion, are a regular form of entertainment in the Kibble Valley villages.


been to and I received my first shock before I went into the place, for there must have been 70 or 80 cars parked all round the small pub. Inside were about 200 people, mainly in the 50-plus age group, enjoying a couple of drinks before the business of the night began.


When It was time for play


to start, they strolled into the arena, casting a glance at the pnze table as they went. Play started and a hush'


settled on the room, most of the players wearing a frown until the last card on their


Hable was played. There then followed a form of mus ical chairs as the winners stood up and moved to another table, the losers staying put. 'The games continued in


this way until the half-time s tage, when traditional Lancashire fare — pie and peas — was served. There


was a short break for this delightful titillation o f ' the taste buds and then it was


back to business, with the cards being dealt once more. A f t e r the st ipulated


For many of the older


people in these communities the whist drive is the high­ light of the week — a chance to go out of the house, mix with other and indulge in a spot of competition at the same time. Country pubs are often


the venue for drives and there homely atmosphere makes a pleasant setting in which to play cards. PLAY? Well some of the


card fanatics who do the circuit of local whist dnves might disagree. For them the competition is deadly serious and they concentrate on each hand with a fngh- tening intensity. • Try telling them it’s only a game and you will probably


end up with a punch on the nose. Others take it shghtly less


senously, hke the fnendly crowd that descended on the Craven Heifer, Chaigley, for a Chipping Old People’s Welfare Committee drive. It was the first dnve I had


number of hands had been completed came the excite­ ment of the count and the lucky winners stepped up to receive their prizes. At Chaigley these vaned from a watering can to a packet of seeds and from a rather fine glass bowl to a brandy glass. Prizes often consist of


fruit and meat, or maybe household objects. Some­ t imes money prizes are offered and even whole lambs at some of the bigger drives. The next one I attended


was a whist drive in Whalley held in aid of chanty. Nearly all the players were ladies.


A HAPPY group of players at the Craven Heifer Hotel, Chaigley. From the left: Mr Joe Hartley, Miss Helen Bailey, Mr John Birkett, Mrs Bolton, Mr Bill Bailey, Mrs Evelyn Berry, Mrs Mary Ashworth, Miss Josie Wells and Mr Tom Holden.


W a t c h e d b y a f i r s t surprised, then angered and finally outraged partner, I


lost two trumps and played the wrong card on tluee


other occasions, and we fim'shed nine tneks to four down.


My mumbled apologies


didn’t do much good and I felt about two inches high as my partner’s eyes bored into me. “Oh, that’s all right,” she manag ed between clenched teeth.


Tell us


HAVE you a favourite story about a whist drive? I f so, send it to us. We’ll pay £1 for the best and 50p for each additional one published.


The rest of the night “Would It be all nght if 1


joined in?” They didn’t seem too sure at first. “Well, do you know how to play?” asked a grey-haired old lady, obviously worried at the prospect of playing ivith an “amateur.” I convinced her that I did,


sat down opposite my first partner and waited for the dealer to distribute the cards. I had what seemed to be


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“AND I ’ll toke the last trick,” says Brian Breaks, of Newton, watched by his partner Mrs Kathleen Brewer, and Mrs Mabel Hayhurst, both of Chipping, at Chipping Parish rooms. ■


■ VL


quite a good hand, with three trumps. I flashed a reassuring smile at my part­ ner, but she was too busy looking at her cards. What fol lowed was a catalogue of disasters.


didn’t go much better, and I reckon I ended up with more e n emi e s than Raque l Welch’s husband.


Af t e r that disaster I


decided to revert to being a spectator at the next whist drive — in the big Institute Hall at Tosside. As most people had said,


the atmosphere in the Insti­ tute was different to that in a country pub. Things seemed much quieter and the games were played in a much more restrained manner. The Institute is widely


regarded as the Mecca of the local whist drive world,


where all derivatives of the game — including miUtary


and rainbow whist — are played regularly. 'The older players from all


over the Valley and beyond, and some young budding Cincinnati Kids, battle it out for prizes which are well worth winning.


A.


IN a heal cattle trJ 17-year-I died ai l received f


The aJ


a windi l mam All


Gisbum [ Farm cal


In the


youths across t| hedge. apprent| Burnley in-Koss(l multiplel hours afi to Bu r l Hospital.!


I His pi


Burton (| Waterfo(| hospital stomach! condition! The y(|


from a the Lake! rain, anil Gisbum. f


At the end of the struggle


the winners enj'oy the fruits of victory plus a little extra something — their names are preserved for posterity in the columns of the Adver­ tiser and Times! How do the successful


players, who often see their names appear in print week after week, cope with this glaring pubUcity? Said one: “ I rather like having my name in the paper, it gives me quite a kick.” Whist drives are certainly


an integral part of village hfe. In a way they epitomise a rather parochial outlook, yet this is understandable when you consider that in t iny villages — often consisting of only a few houses, a general shop and a church — they are the focal point of the week socially. Many may be sceptical


about their value, sneering at their superficiality. But the answer to this was given with stnking effect by one elderly lady: “ I go as often as I can,” she said. “ It gives me a chance to be with people and enjoy their friendship. Without whist drives there’d be a big gap in my Ufe.” It seems clear that in the


Kibble Valley whist drives are simple in concept, yet meamn^ul to so many.


WHAT to play next — that’s the problem for Chipping farmer Mr Jim Rogerson.


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