When the ref called
the player “Sir”
by David Skentelbery
SCHOOLBOY Ben Stanier, 17, has become one the youngest ever assistant referees qualified to officiate in a professional soccer match.
But he’s already cleared an unexpected hurdle which he found even more daunting – refereeing a game in which one of the players was his headteacher.
When he saw Christopher Hunt, head of Culcheth College, Warrington, run onto the pitch, Ben’s automatic greeting was: “Hello Sir.”
Mr Hunt, who was turning out for Penketh and Sankey Eagles in the Mid-Cheshire League, tactfully took him to one side and said: “I think you’d better call me Chris today.”
Afterwards he said: “I’m very proud of Ben’s achievement – apart from three dodgy off-side decisions.
“I hope he goes on to referee at the highest level of the game. He has worked very hard to get this far.”
Ben, from Glazebury, has been refereeing senior football for two years after deciding after one season of playing for Culcheth Athletic that he’d sooner be a match official.
He’s now become one of the youngest ever to be accepted by the FA to join their national list of “contributing league match officials” as an assistant referee.
This qualifies him to be a linesman in professional games.
He said: “I enjoy watching soccer close-up and soon realised I would sooner be an official than a player.
“It can be pretty scary and I have no doubt it will be in a professional game. But it can’t be any worse than finding your head teacher is one of the players!”
For the record, “Sir’s” team lost 4-2 – but no-one is saying if the off-side decisions influenced the result.
Photograph shows Ben showing “Sir” the Red Card.
City gig for town’s
music talent
by staff reporter
WARRINGTON’S emerging musical talent is to be showcased at Liverpool’s Barfly music venue on May 8…thanks to the promotion efforts of local University students!
The event is being staged by a group at the University of Chester, Padgate Campus, specialising in commercial music production.
Spokesman Russell Poore, who is studying for a BA(Hons) in media and leisure, said: “Our task has been to recruit a band or artist, record a demo CD in December using the college’s studios and a four-song CD for May.
“Each of the acts we have produced are to perform at the Barfly, which we have hired for the event”.
The university would be helping Warrington musicians with free-recording time and also promotion for gigs.
“Rustic” garage
plan thrown out
by David Skentelbery
TOWN Hall planners refused permission for a five-car garage block at Culcheth – after deciding a new residential development had an oversupply of parking provision.
The borough council’s development control committee turned down an applicant for the additional garages at the Culcheth Hall Farm development in Withington Avenue.
Members decided the development already had more parking provision than required by the council’s guidelines and that the scheme would involve the loss of “green” land.
Officers had recommended the scheme be approved and pointed out that planning consent already existed for a new house on the site. They said the single-storey garage block would have less impact on the area than a two-storey dwelling.
Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council and Culcheth and Glazebury Action Group both objected to the scheme.
They objected to the loss of a green field site, part of which might be in the green belt.
The proposals had involved building the garages in the same brick as dwelling on the site and with wooden doors to maintain a “rustic, rural feel”.
Performing arts
coup for school
by Terry Johnson
LYMM High School, Warrington has achieved a performing arts coup.
The Oughtrington Lane school has forged links with the German music academy Musikchule Hagerhof, near Bonn.
And The British Council has promised a funding grant to the new arts exchange.
A group of 16 Lymm pupils visited the German music school to rehearse for a concert of music, drama and dance.
They visited cultural top-spots, including the house where composer Beethoven was born and Cologne Cathedral. The pupils were also given a civic reception by the Mayor of Bad Honnef.
Pupils of the German school visited Lymm for a ‘friendship through the arts’ concert which involved 160 students, including those on Lymm’s BTEC performing arts course.
The exchange was overseen by Lymm’s language and arts teacher, Michael Scott, who worked at Hagerhof in 2001.
New moves to end
village flooding
by John Hendon
WORRIED residents have attended a public meeting to discuss recent incidents of flooding at Croft, near Warrington.
The meeting, called by Croft Parish Council chairman Les Hoyle, was attended by experts from the borough council.
Coun Hoyle said: “About 30 people attended, which shows how much concern there is in the village.
“We have had a number of flooding incidents in Croft. There have been problems in Lord Street, Smithy Brow, New Lane and Betsyfield Drive.
“Some residents believed the problem has been caused because drainage ditches have been filled in.
“But the borough council have had cameras down some of the drains and have removed tree roots which may have caused blockages. The work is continuing and they have promised to report back to us in about three months.”
During one incident last December, a number of residents had to be evacuated from Kingsmead Court elderly person’s home in Lord Street when part of the ground floor was inundated when floodwater overflowed from a nearby field.
Lord Street itself was flooded, although remained open to traffic.
Fire crews from Birchwood went to the scene to pump the water away.
There was also flooding at a property in Mustard Lane, about half-a-mile away, at the same time.
A borough council spokesman said at the time that flooding in Croft was not due to any blockage of drains but simply because of the sheer volume of rain which fell in one day.
