Long links with EFC celebrated

With all the nation’s attention firmly fixed on the role of women in football this month, it only seems proper to focus on the important role played by a local centurion in the development of the sport in our area.

June Whitehead, aged 101, had a ringside seat at the founding of the club by her late husband Stan Whitehead, back in 1967. Together with fellow locals Des Warman and Ron Weatherhead, Stan was keen to provide local children the chance to indulge in their favourite sport, not least because his son Peter (then aged seven) was very eager to get involved.

A team was entered into the 1967-8 competition, including Peter. Over the years many other members of June’s family have donned the club jersey, including her son-in-law Andrew Cowman. The family tradition continues to the present day, with her great-great nephews Giles and Toby Chinn representing Eastbourne FC, turning out for the 13th grade Lions and 9th grade Panthers respectively.

Football’s not confined to the children either, with her great-nephew Craig Coles regularly leading the line for the Toros in Master’s 6, while Andrew’s son Chris Cowman also featured for the team earlier this season.

June continues to take a keen interest in the fortunes of the club, while her contributions to the country during World War Two are also honoured in the clubroom, which doubles as the local Returned Services Association.

This length of family involvement is consistent with the core values of the community-focused local club, with multiple generations of many other families also regularly turning out for, or supporting, Eastbourne, from first kicks to master’s grades.

This sense of belonging and camaraderie has come a long way from the club’s nascent beginnings, encompassing the complimentary BBQs on match-days, overseen by committeemember Kurt Renner, to after-match debriefing sessions at the ESSC. And it’s at this much-loved venue that the community will no doubt come together again to lend their support to the Football Ferns as they embark on their much anticipated World Cup journey.

- by Ruth and Dave Chinn

Garden Stuff with Sandy Lang

C3, C4 & CAM www.tartinesfrenchcafe.com

July/August: Mid/late-winter. Days longer and warmer. Finish winter jobs. Prune only when dry. WUE: Last month, I talked about plant ‘water use efficiency’. The amount of sugar (energy food) produced by photosynthesis, per the amount of water lost through the stomata. Hydrophytes (plants adapted to wet environments) have lower WUEs than mesophytes (plants adapted to drier environments), than xerophytes (plants adapted to very dry environments). Plants use many tricks to raise their WUEs to cope with dry/very dry environments (Google xerophytes) but two are worth special mention. When plants have applied all the usual tricks but still need more, they mess around with photosynthesis itself.

C3 Plants: About 85% of all plants have so-called C3 photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a complex process (Google photosynthesis). Sufficient to say it involves two sets of reactions: (a) light-independent ones and (b) light-dependent ones. These C3 plants waste some of their light energy due to photorespiration because they carry out these two sets of reactions in the same cells and they also waste water by carrying out these two sets of reactions at the same time. Two strategies improve things: (1) do these in different cells and (2) do them at different times.

C4 Plants (different cells): About 3% of all plants have C4 photosynthesis. (Google C4 photosynthesis). The C4 plants have a special ‘Kranz’ leaf anatomy that lets them reduce energy-wasting photorespiration by carrying out the light-independent reactions in their ‘bundlesheath’ cells and the light-dependent ones in their ‘mesophyll’ cells. This spatial separation makes C4 photosynthesis about 50% more efficient than C3 photosynthesis, especially under harsh conditions – hot, limited water. Some important C4 plants are maize, sugarcane and paspalum.

Tartineseastbourne@gmail.com slang@xtra.co.nz www.mulchpile.org

CAM Plants (different times): And when even C4 photosynthesis is not enough, there’s crassulacean acid metabolism (Google CAM plants). About 8% of all plants have CAM photosynthesis. These have the highest WUEs of all and they inhabit the hottest, driest environments. They achieve this by carrying out the two sets of photosynthetic reactions at different times. They open their stomata at night (cooler, more humid, less water loss), take in CO₂ and store it. Then they close their stomata all day (hot, dry) and photosynthesise their stored CO₂ to make sugars. This way CAM plants have very high WUEs. Some important CAM plants are cacti, succulents, pineapples and 40% of orchids.