Parley’s hidden gem

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Running between the Curlew pub in Christchurch Road and West Parley Memorial Hall is Stocks Lane. At the end is a car park and clubhouse. To the left is a recreation area and new children’s playground and to the right is a beautiful, huge level field edged with mature trees. This is home to Parley Sports Cricket & Football Club.

If you do know Parley Sports, it is probably because a member of your family plays in one of the ten football teams or in one of the club’s twenty-four or so cricket teams. You will also know that it offers much more than a clubhouse, which incidentally was opened by the famous cricket commentator John Arlott.

Parley Sports has excellent football and cricket pitches served by recently refurbished changing facilities; there is a bar with a varied menu offering evening meals plus Saturday morning breakfast; a spacious sports bar, function hall and pool room.

The age range of players is eight to veteran so it almost goes without saying that the club is child and family friendly. There’s a weekly pool league, ladies’ and men’s darts leagues, plus a quiz night every other week and a winter meat draw.

All-in-all Parley Sports Club offers local people an attractive sports and social venue. And you do not have to be an active player to join. Sit with a pint of real ale and a plate of food and soak up the atmosphere of your favourite sport on Sky TV. For the real thing, look out of the window. Cricket cup and league tournaments take place nearly every weekend and mid-week throughout the summer. In the colder months, football – with Parley Sport’s teams vying in the Dorset Premier League, Bournemouth Youth Leagues and Bournemouth Premier League - will get the adrenaline going. Or you may just want to bring the family for a relaxing meal and enjoy the pleasant surroundings.

The hall is available for public hire. Line dancing is held twice a week, but if you want to hire it for a private function it’s useful to know it accommodates 80 people - and if it’s opened out, you can invite 250.

New members are welcome, and you can visit four times without being a member before making up your mind up. Find out what you are missing by calling into Parley Sports Club today and discovering this hidden gem.

All enquiries 01202 573345.

© Janine Pulford 2011

Woofability update plus NEW pups - different breed

Tue, 03 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Following the excitement of our first ever Black Tie Ball, which was a great success, we would like to thank all of our guests for supporting the event which raised enough funds to buy and fully train a new dog for a local disabled person. The evening was organised seamlessly by the staff in Bentleys Restaurant at Dudsbury Golf Club and we are grateful to Dave Gray and “The Word” who kept the dance floor full, Brian Cox our Toastmaster and all of the donors of raffle and auction prizes.

We also had a team of runners in the Brighton Marathon, it was a fine day with lots of sunshine, which was great for the spectators but some of the runners found the conditions to be rather too hot. Fortunately, all of our runners made it to the end and we have great respect for their courage and commitment on the day and the long training programme before the event. We have spaces available for next year so please contact us on 01202 870067 if you would like to join our running team.

We are now focused on getting more puppies to train and have just received two Nova Scotian Toller retrievers from Norfolk. We were approached by their breeder, Christine, who heard of Woofability through a friend and decided that she would like to donate a puppy to us after learning about what we do. We were so impressed by the calm and obedient nature of her dogs that we also bought another, it will be interesting to see how the brother and sister develop over the next few months.

Jenny, Woofability

Date for your diary
Mums Behaving Madly fundraising event featuring Frigid Jones the Musical at Rubyz on 12 June. A riotous evening, £25 including dinner, show and disco. Call 01202 870270 (day), 01202 877968 (evening).

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Parley’s hidden gem

Woofability update plus NEW pups - different breed