THEY SAY

phone calls! Whether his book Skittles and Beer will ever be finished I would only like to say a resounding ‘yes’, and I do know the extremely well-informed and articulate person who had been asked to do this onerous task, by Arthur, if he had failed to do so himself. My contribution was little more than provide input on the West Country version of the game, plus proof-reading, but hopefully if I can persuade the other fellow to crack on, he will complete the work that students of the beloved game will treasure. I also recommend Arthurs earlier books as well; Pub Games and The Guinness Book of Pub Games. Yes, I have all three and yes, they are signed and no, I am not going to sell them.

“Life isn't all beer and skittles” is the quote from Tom Brown's schooldays a book set in 1830 and written in the mid 19th century by Thomas Hughes. The wellknown English idiom implies that one cannot spend our entire lives That if your Christmas cards are few and far between this year, it could be due to the current economic climate or it could be due to the bags of undelivered mail left outside sorting offices nationwide. That congratulations go to J Day

Engineering of Henstridge who won the best Independent

Garage Award at the recent

Motor Trader Awards (the motor industry Oscars) - a great achievement! That if Santa gets short of little helpers this festive season, the ladies of the Henhayes Centre in Crewkerne have knitted an army of wonderful elves for sale … all in a good cause. That thanks to the staff that rallied round, the Senior’s

Christmas Lunch at Long

Sutton Golf Club was a huge success - but that ‘naughty table’ was the last to leave, once again. That according to the Ilminster

Pastel Group, Christmas chocolates have no calories …

Ho! Ho! Ho! That whilst loading up in

Crewkerne, Rob Penn of

Shepton Mallet found that the radio he’d purchased to add to his collection was just the ticket - in more ways than one! That due to the current postal strike, The Visitor has not posted any Christmas cards this year, instead a donation has been made to Macmillan

Cancer Support. Merry

Christmas!

having fun! Beer and Skittles is a book by the late Richard Boston, and whilst in itself is more than 50 years old and out of print, it does come up for sale on various book-finding websites and I'd recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the subject.

Last month I mentioned if anyone has some trick-shots that they could share with us, but none have admitted to any so far. Ten-pin bowlers seem to have some crazy ones, and many can be seen on YouTube, unsurprisingly. I'm saving the detail of the only skittle-version that I have been introduced to until next month, but meanwhile, do get your thinking heads on.

Earlier we were talking about Christmas presents. Do you remember the Christmases of your childhood? The warmth of a family, the love of parents, friends and relations, those cold nights when you waited for Santa to call, those lovely roast Christmas dinners? Of course you do! But who remembers all the presents that were given? I can recall but few, but I do have the memories of the crazy games we played and the chocolates being handed around, and what it was to be surrounded by loved ones. This is what matters to us the most, and not the gifts.

So again; the Seasons Greetings and a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all! © P.A. Baxter 2023. skittlealley@hotmail.com

The trio of Arthur Taylor Penned books.

Solution to December Sudoku

ANSWERS TO POP MUSIC QUIZ on page 14

1. Drums 2. Gladys Knight 3. Shania Twain 4. Apple 5. 1975 6. 'Bob Dylan 7. 'Innocence' 8. 'Dexy's Midnight Runners' 9. Elton John 10. 'If I could turn back time' - Cher

Bonus Question: Barry Robin Maurice Andrew. Robin and Maurice were a twin, with Maurice being the younger by 35 minutes!

Extra Bonus Question: Bruce Hornsby

Vinny is always full of good ideas