What with the ridiculously unseasonal weather I had to do something to sate my appetite for cricket based things, so I did what any self respecting forumite would do and drove a ridiculous distance to fondle some willow and probably part with some cash. This is bat number 4 of this season which gives you a clue as to how much rain we have had so far this year. If it carries on like this I'm going to have no money and no room left in my house soon. So anyway I took the scenic route to Clee St Margaret (thanks to my satnav) and found myself at the door of Mr. John Newsome.
He's got a very nice set up in a specially converted stable/barn and I spent some time just chatting and looking around, breathing in all the lovely woody smells and salivating at the prospects. I picked up a particularly good looking, unstickered stick and was told it was the one sent to Wisden that earned the tour de force the moniker of The Don's official 'pick', but sadly he was not keen to part with it. He then showed me some of the ready mades and nearly finished bats he had ready to leave the workshop but none of them really tickled my fancy so we delved into the rough part mades until we found something satisfactory. I had my heart set on an off book low middled profile I had seen a Cleobury Mortimer player wielding the previous week (Tidbit: John said that particular profile was almost identical to the one Yuvraj used to ask for from Newbery) and I wasn't disappointed as we found an 8-9 grainer that ticked all the boxes.
John was really helpful and keen to make sure I was happy with what I was getting, he shaped the handle so I could get a proper feel for the bat and we spent a good amount of time testing the pick up, tapping it up with his lignum vitae mallet and bouncing a ball on it until I was satisfied this was going to be the one for me. All in all I was very satisfied with the experience and the service and would recommend Woodstock to anyone based on that. I felt well looked after and he even knocked some money off because I had made the trip, but the proof will of course be in the pudding, I will report back when it has arrived next week with full pictures and details of how it actually performs in action. Here are some pictures of it in its current state, at the moment it weighs just a shade under 2'11.
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Topic: Visit to Woodstock (Read 4484 times)