Did you hear the one about the postman, the fishmonger and the bank manager?

Three years later, business bank manager Dave Owens opened his account.

In 1993, the team reeled in retired fishmonger Peter Callaway and in 1996, Peter’s nephew Sam Callaway, another business bank manager, firmed up his interest.

Lee Upson, a sales manager for Countrywide Forklift Trucks, raised the standard of the team 11 years ago.

In 2002, lorry driver Martin Vickery pulled in. Five years later, Bitterne Cons safely landed former air traffic controller Jim Grove and sold the idea of playing for the C side to Fran Lane, a retail manager.

Boom, boom.

Wooden spoon

TEAM captain Dave ‘Statto’ Owens has been compiling statistics on his players for 22 years.

At the end of each season, the player with the biggest percentage of wins receives an award. The player with the least collects a wooden spoon.

Owens said: “Dave Roper is the sort of guy who’s not interested in statistics – although he knows his own personal statistics. He’ll tell you straight way how many he’s won and lost.

“He tries to work it out but I know all the answers.”

“The season before last we went to Salterns and nobody knew who was going to get the wooden spoon and who was going to get the trophy, it was that close. We won that game 5-0.

“Poor old Lee (Upson) didn’t turn up because he had work commitments. He got the wooden spoon.”

Balls

TEAM veteran Jim Grove reckons the biggest change he has seen since his league debut in 1951 is the balls.

Grove said: “In my days it was almost the old ivory balls. To put side and screw and top (spin) on those you really had to play the ball hard.

“(And) years ago the cloths were so heavy that if there was a bit of dew on them you could run the ball up the table and almost see the water coming from behind it.”

A retired tool-maker, Grove worked on parts for Concorde and, in a slight diversion, once delivered the Daily Echo by van from the old Above Bar offices.

He reckons beating docker Lenny Lyons in a final in Shirley “was the best game I’ve ever played in my life”.

Ray Reardon and The Silver Fox

PETER Callaway played six-time world champion Ray Reardon, twice, and fellow professional David Taylor in exhibition frames at Pontin’s, Selsey Bill, in the 1970s.

“I wasn’t a good snooker player,” he pointed out. “I was just a good potter.

“(Ray) was ever such a nice fellow. So was David Taylor, the old ‘Silver Fox’. I potted a few balls - but not many.”

The 69-year-old, who used to own a fresh fish shop, Callaway & Son, in Bitterne Triangle, added: “I enjoy my snooker and I’m enjoying my retirement.”

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