Handbags were born out of a casual chat last Century, between the Llama’s Dalai, Tim Brooking; John Wilmott; Razor, Tina and me during a Hockey Tour somewhere!
Tim said we needed another Vets Team; John W wisely agreed but looked at Razor, who nodded sagely at Tina, who picked up her Handbag and hit yours truly with it – thus the Handbags were born and we’ve never looked forward since then.
The 1998 Utrecht World Cup Vets Tourney was a turning point in ‘Baggies fortunes, linking Hendon, Warlocks, Wanderers (SA) to a youthful ‘Baggies team.
International Tours soon followed, (the IOW in consecutive years), along with the Warlocks (George, Stuart, etc); a smattering of Horsham Hobblers (Tom, Steff, Doug, Ann) & always with a strong Hendon showing (Phatti, Upkar, Abdul, Lindsay); and the Dalai himself.
The early 2000’s saw the creation of the EG and Brighton mid-week leagues and the ‘baggies made their mark, with initially Peter Klein and then son Andrew creating a formidable team (Jes, Steve Newts, Seb) and slowly the ‘baggies morphed into Young and Not So Young (NSY) teams, the Young playing mid-week games in the South and the NSY playing weekend friendlies, increasingly at Lord Wandsworth College (LWC) near Basingstoke against Warlocks, Puritans, Etc.
Covid caused chaos during 2020, but the ‘Baggies were able to stage a couple of Vets Tourneys at Guildford in between Lockdown 1 & 2 with great help from Nick Cane, Mark Lenel, GHC, amongst others.
The ‘Baggies Club House is the 4 Horseshoes Pub in Long Sutton, next to LWC, where Tony and Sheila provide hot meals and cold beers every Sunday.