St Andrews Berwick Rangers Supporters are pleased to submit a contribution of £50 to the Berwick Charities Cup Competition, which is currently appealing for donations to help maintain the fantastic quantities raised for local charities on an annual basis

The Charities Cup committee is aiming to raise a total of £2000 to help cover the expected shortfall resultant of a reduction in the amount of teams entering in this year’s competition.

Perhaps more affectionately known as ‘The Stanks‘ to locals, the competition raises thousands for good causes each year and has been running continuously since 1948. This year’s competition had been cancelled until a group of volunteers stepped in to help revitalise things this Summer.

well, the title says it all. A 3-0 defeat and conceding another early goal in the fourth minute. I couldn't believe it. We (myself, Dad, Gordon) arrived for 2pm as we had reserved a parking space. We got there, parked and then found out that the ground didn't actually open until 2:30pm. We found the club bar and went in for a Coke. The bar was alright, the West Ham v Spurs game was on and we had a can of Juice. We bought some 50/50 tickets and 3 programs. The programs are not to the standard of the Berwick program i.e. Not a glossy magazine but were decent enough. It also had a section on Berwick Rangers players that had more information on the players than the club website! Previous club, date of birth, first appearance etc. As soon as 2:30pm arrived we made our way around the corner and into the ground.

when we went into the ground we had a bit of a look around as you do. Gordon spotted that a bacon roll was only £1.20 and a cup of tea £1.50....... after a bit of chit chat we took to our seats to watch the game. After 4 minutes Stenhousemuir had scored, I couldn't believe it. McCrorie the keeper is not my cup of tea. People are raving about him, great saves etc but his positioning is awful. I've been watching him and he can stop a shot, some spectacularly but a lot of the spectacular saves are unnecessary. He doesn't close strikers down, I'm quite puzzled as to why Sean Brennan the keeper from last year isn't getting a game but the player on loan is. McCrorie will be away in December too when his loan is up. Still it's early days for the new manager and we'll need to see what Christmas brings. It's tough to get players when you have very little money but perhaps his seasons in junior football will allow him to tap into a few good players from the junior leagues that can step up. Anyway back to the game. 2 goals by the 14th minute and it was pretty much game over, I wasn't expecting the comeback from last week. Still we had 2 cups of tea, 1 bovril and 3 pies for the sum of £9.30 at halftime. The second half started and we lost another goal in the 87th minute and then we went home. That's pretty much all I can be bothered to say about it. It wasn't a good performance but it is what it is.

I'm hopeful for the game, I'm really hoping that we don't concede an early goal. After concedeing a goal within 2 minutes against Edinburgh and 2 against Elgin in each half I'm hoping that the new manager Robbie Horn has asked the boys to tie their laces and pull up their sock before they take to the field. How else would they be conceding goals so early after kick off. It was a good win last week but we were 2-0 down shortly after half time. I'll be off to this game with my dad and Gordon will join us too. Gordon's just back from San Francisco so a trip to Stenhousemuir will be a real treat for him..... My brother was going to come too but he's been offered a ticket for the old firm game so he's off to that instead. I've stuck a fiver on Berwick to win this game, the odds are 7/2. Let's go Berwick let's go!

The barrel is on order and by chance I saw a beer pump on gumtree that was bieng sold in Berwick. There was a traditional hand pull and a Fosters pump, £60 for both. I was not interested in the Fosters one so asked if the hand pull would be sold separately, yes and for £30. Happy days. Arrangements were made to collect it on a Sunday morning at 10am. Pump was collected and cash handed over.

The pump was in need of a clean, but a good going over with brass cleaner and a bit of wood polish soon saw it sparkling like new. I did of course clean it before I tested it......

Time to test. A simple way is to put the hose into a bucket of water and pull the handle! This was not outwith my grasp and a couple of buckets from the cleaners cupboard soon saw the pump in action. It is working perfectly.

Well a few things still to be done, I designed a pump clip. It's a combination of the St Andrews Berwick Rangers Supporters logo and the Bear Claw pump clip. I've adjusted the colours to create the feeling of a Spiralling Mind (the name of the ale). A drip tray has been ordered and a sparkler. A bit of hose has also been ordered with the attachments required to connect it to a barrel. That should be that!

drip tray and sparklerr have arrived along with a bit of pipe. Just need the barrel connector and we are all set.

Well we got stuffed 5-0 but the sun was shining at Shielfield. It was always going o be a difficult game for the new man in charge, Queen of the South are 2 leagues above and Berwick were 6-1 to win.

The decision was made by the representatives of St Andrews Berwick Rangers Supporters after extensive testing. We have settled on a barrel of spiralling mind and it will be collected in December.
The day started out wil a 10 mile walk to work up a thirst and that it did! Poor Pippa didn't manage the full walk but veered off with Ruth in the direction of Ruth's parents house for a stop off. Ther rest of us continued on and Ruth later organised the delivery of the raffle prizes for the Supporters Trust/Club event that evening then met us in the town for some dinner before we headed off to the festival.