Unfortunately, I can remember very little about my time with this team. In 1971, I was still living in Cheltenham, which is only about 7 miles from Tewkesbury and no doubt I got involved due to it being so close. I do remember that no one else from the Cheltenham Spa team went over there with me. The Tewkesbury team was based at Ashchurch Army Camp with the personnel there organising the team and taking part. My memories of the initial It’s A Knockout heat are very hazy indeed. The competition was played out on home turf at Tewkesbury and we beat the Hereford team we were pitched against. However, I can’t remember what games I took part in, or how I got on. By winning, we qualified for the Jeux Sans Frontières heat in Rotterdam, and my memories of that are much clearer.

The Dutch international heat took place in the Ahoy Stadium, Rotterdam, which was a fantastic new arena at the time. I remember Barney Colehan coming up to me after the match, to tell me that he thought I was a very cool competitor as I was managing to sleep up until about half an hour before my game. My game in Rotterdam consisted of being on a big inflatable mat with a volleyball net strung across it. The idea was that the people from other teams would throw inflatable dolls over the net and we had to throw them back. I think we had two guys and two girls on each side. The team that won was the one with the fewest number of dolls on their side when the game ended - and the dolls were heavy! I figured a way to throw them back that was good for me (remember strength was not my forté), and that was to have my back to the net and throw the things back over my head. My partner, on the other hand, was a big strong guy who would grab a doll in each hand and throw them back!

The Dutch heat was won jointly by the Dutch and French teams. I’m not sure where we finished, though I do remember that we were the top British team at that date. Unfortunately, just as when I was with Cheltenham Spa, we got pipped at the end and did not go to the International Final.

My memories of the Tewkesbury team are probably not so clear as the other years I participated in It’s A Knockout as I was in the process of moving house at the time. In the Summer of 1971, I moved to Cambridge... which is about 12 miles from Ely and that is the start of another story...

Click here to read Ian's memories of Ely, 1973

by Ian Rodger