David from Hampshire.

Hello all, I'm David from Hampshire England, I'm fiftysomething and a maintenance Engineer. I'm not sure how I came across this forum (probably search-engine) but I liked it immediately because it seemed friendly and no one seemed easily offended (like you see on some other forums) and I do "dabble" in photography. Other interests are motorcycling and supporting my wife's Stoolball team (you can see I'm following the "introduce yourself guide" here). 

Welcome David. I'm glad you found us, we are pretty friendly on the whole, not always without a fuss or two, but they pass quickly enough.

I hope you have a super time checking out the pictures, and look forward to seeing you here on the forum. 

Welcome, David:)

Am I the only one who doesn't know what stoolball is about?  

No, Maria, you're not, I haven't a clue either.

Hi David and a warm welcome from me too.  Yes, this is a great forum with great people.  Hope you love it here.  I'm looking forward to Hampshire pictures.

You'll fill us in about stoolball?

Thanks for the friendly welcome, well I try and explain Stoolball as best as I can. The game originates from the 15 century and is the game that Cricket developed from (although most Cricketers won't accept this), it was originally played by milkmaids using their milking stool as a wicket and their hand as a bat. The game is predominantly played in Sussex (where it orignated) but is also played in Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and Dorset and possibly further north. The rules are very much like Cricket today, 11 players in each team (8 in the  indoor game which is played in the winter season), 8 balls to an over, the "wicket is a square plate mounted on a post about 5 foot high and the bat is an "ovalish" shaped and one-handed, bowling is underarm.

These links will give hopefully give you a better insight into the game:

http://www.stoolball.co.uk/rules/article.php?item=4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoolball

This is a website I've done for the wife's club, needs updating but I haven't had the summer fixtures yet:

http://harleydonski.googlepages.com/lodsworthstoolballclub

Any questions, let me know.

Regards.