University Notes

On Monday I was at the University of Glamorgan for the official opening of the new, shiny Students Union building. Well, actually Olympian Darren Campbell did the opening, I just stood around and watched.

Darren manfully launched the champagne bottle at the new building, but the bottle failed to break and instead left a dent in the wall. I see a gap in the market for structurally unsound champagne bottles for such occassions. Dragons' Den?

There are more photos at http://www.glamsu.com/news/index.php?page=article&news_id=175193

Rugby Notes

Ebbw Vale saw off league leaders Blackwood 20-16 on Saturday, despite the best endevours of Ebbw coaches (bad decisions) and the ref (13 mnutes of injury time - his watch stopped! - in which time we got a red and a yellow card).

After a storming 14-0 start Ebbw failed to capitalise and turned down a string of kickable penalties for territory which was then lost through handling errors. What should have been a very comfortable win turned into yet another nail-biter at the death.

Shouldn't complain though. That's three wins from four, against what on paper are the four strongest teams in the division.

(Ed: But as SirAlan [LordAlan?] says 'you lok good on paper, but then again so does fish and chips')

Lots more stuff on twitter (twitter.com/evrfc), photos on Graham's excellent website (ebbwplayers.com) and EyeJay's blog (steeldaffodil.blogspot.com).

St Fagan's Notes

Spent a top Sunday at St Fagans natural history museum.

We had a nice surprise when the cafe had a display of classic cafe photos which included a set by our friend Mo Wilson who died recently. It was a lovely reminder. This is one of hers.

The afternoon was taken up with watching the ducks, chickens and turkeys on the farm (the turkeys are starting to look nervous!), a ride around the site on a train (OK, tractor actually but Ava didn't seem to mind) and a wander around the old houses and shops. Ava then enjoyed playing at the playground before having a well deserved snooze on the way home.

Cricket Notes

Didn't have a ticket for today's Twenty20 game between England and Pakistan in Cardiff. A bit expensive, and anyway, its rugby season now.

But Matt Greenough, a mate of mine has written a top article on the match fixing and the subsequent fallout here:

waleshome.org

Rugby Notes

As good a start as possible to the new season for Ebbw Vale with a win over Llanharen, 23-13. Given that they were runners-up in this division last year, it’s a really encouraging start to the year.

Good crowd, good pitch, undoubtedly the best facilities in the division, all was set for a good day. And Ebbw didn’t disappoint. The pack didn’t look big, but ‘fronted up’ well and made up in attitude what they lacked in size. Damien Hudd led from the front, and was in the thick of everything that Ebbw did. The halfbacks looked lively, and Gary Wilkes and Wes Cunliffe looked sharp. Even the ref had a good game.

Lots of pics (including the one I’ve borrowed here) on Graham’s website www.ebbwplayers.com and another report and more pics on The Steel Daffodil.