A model of Halley V and Hungarian Cricket

by Dave Brown

What is the connection?

The connection being is ex-winterer Dave Brown. Dave wintered at Halley in 1993 and was also instrumental in the erection of the successful mobile garage. After leaving Halley he travelled and in his words "generally bummed about".

A changing point came when Dave met Emma, now his Hungarian wife . She could stand his eccentricities and they hit it off from day one! One thing led to another and after living in a glorified phone-box in London (purely for capitalistic reasons! Dave now confesses), they both decided to blow all their hard earned cash and move out to Hungary. Purchasing a plot of land on the Danube edge seemed a good idea at the time, but after 6 years of Hungarian paperwork, paralytic Hungarian builders and such un-foreseen problems as actually finding a Bronze Age burial ground when digging the foundations! Things are now sorted! Dave comments, "The burial ground sort of worried me, having seen The Amityville Horror, but I have spent hours here in the basement of the house and as yet seen no blood oozing from the walls!"

The house is now finished and things are running smoothly. "Never again!" is often heard being shouted at the dead of night! The project became 4 times over budget and Dave and Emma have the grey hairs to prove it, but also a great little 2 year old boy and another little son on the way in three weeks!

After sitting back and starting to enjoy life a little, Dave noticed on the Z-Fids bulletin board that Andy Smith was looking for a home for the Halley V model. Late at night and after 2 bottles of very good Hungarian wine, Dave wrote the email and zapped it over to Andy. The following morning his offer was accepted and the model was Hungary bound! Dave broke the news to Emma gently, "a little model of Halley V has been donated to me, and can we find a place for it please?" On arriving in Cambridge to collect it Emma was pretty well speechless, 400kg and around 8 x 2 metres! "Sorry forgot to mention it's a bit big". After an eventful but safe trip to Hungary, the model now safely resides in a basement next to the Danube.

The model has created great interest amongst the locals; many have called in to see it, it has even been used as a drinks table at Dave's and Emma's wedding! All is safe though as, recent visitor Andy Smith will verify.

OK - on to Cricket. After the struggle of building the house and the surprisingly easy task of finding of a job in Eastern Europe, Dave started to miss one of his passions from blighty, CRICKET! Why not introduce the Hungarians to the noble sport of cricket? The first meeting was held at an Irish pub in Budapest, and just a handful showed up. From this first meeting, around 20 months ago, things have rapidly moved forward. There are now over 280 cricketers in Hungary, 40% of these being Hungarian. There is a league structure in place and a national team. Earlier this year, in January, Dave was invited to Lords Cricket Ground to discuss the development of the sport in Hungary. Cricket has just been introduced to the largest university in Budapest and has now the potential to increase its Hungarian participants ten-fold!! In the latest and probably most exciting development, Dave has been invited to the Hungarian parliament to discuss the sport of cricket being recognised officially by the powers that be. If this happens, then affiliation to the European Cricket Council is a definite possibility.

Well that's the story and the connection to the above. I will finish with a comment to keep in mind:

"Ever since I was a kid, if somebody said you will never do that! then I went ahead and did it anyway!".

Cheers to all

Dave Brown (aka Howling Dave Brown in some quarters!).