Driffield U16 ?

Pocklington U16 ?

On Sunday Driffield entertained Pocklington U16 in a local derby.

The game stated very competitively with both sides tackling hard and competing very strongly at the breakdown.

Driffield took the lead when Will Brigham kicked a penalty in windy conditions.

Shortly afterwards Pocklington scored when the Driffield defence opened in the middle for Charles Taylor to run in under the posts for a try which was converted giving Pocklington a 7-5 lead.

Driffield reduced the deficit with another Will Brigham penalty giving a half time score of 7 -6 to Pocklington.

The second half began with Driffield exerting pressure and they were rewarded when Jack Elmsley scored a try which was not converted, 11-7 to Driffield.

Pocklington exerted pressure winning the ball from their set pieces and driving very well. The pressure resulted in a penalty which brought the score to Driffield 11 Pocklington 15.

The game went into the last 15 minutes with no let up in intensity and following an excellent break by Jack Gosling, only stopped by a good last ditch tackle.

Driffield then camped on the Pocklington line but where held out by desperate defence.

The deadlock was broken when Pocklington played through a knock on advantage only for the hard working Will Burns to charge down the clearance kick allowing Josh Fry to pounce and score under the posts.

This was converted again by Will Brigham, giving Driffield a hard-fought 18-15 victory.

Back row Jack Parker was a well deserved man of the match.

A total of 115 entries have been received for the Crabbie’s Grand National at Aintree on Saturday 5th April -- a significant increase of 31 on the 2013 figure. This is the highest number of Grand National entries since 2009 when 123 horses were put forward.

With a record prize fund of £1 million, the Crabbie’s Grand National is by far the most valuable jump race in Europe and among the richest in the world.

Now excitement is mounting ahead of the release of the weights for the race on Tuesday 11th February.

Ireland’s champion trainer Willie Mullins, victorious with Hedgehunter in 2005, is responsible for eight entries -- the most of any handler. They include the Graham Wylie-owned trio of On His Own (25/1 with Betfred), Prince de Beauchene (33/1), who has missed the last two renewals through injury, and Boston Bob (40/1).

Paddy Power Chase hero Rockyaboya (25/1), the lightly-raced pair of Up The Beat (40/1) and Vesper Bell (50/1), last season’s Irish Grand National runner-up Away We Go (40/1) and Quel Esprit (66/1), who was pulled up in 2013, are also engaged.

Fellow Irish handler Martin Brassil is no stranger to success in the world’s greatest chase, having sent out Numbersixvalverde to an impressive six-length victory in 2006. The County Kildare-based handler could be represented in this year’s showpiece by Double Seven, who was last seen completing a five-timer in a Listed Chase at Wexford on 27th October.

The J P McManus-owned eight-year-old recorded a two-length verdict over Spring Heeled in the Munster National over three miles at Limerick earlier the same month.

Brassil revealed: “Double Seven has got a rating now that means he will be running in either a Crabbie’s Grand National or an Irish Grand National come the spring. It’s an obvious entry to make for a horse rated 146.

“He had a break for about six weeks after Wexford and is back in training now getting ready for a spring campaign. I think the good ground and fine weather we had over the summer helped him. We also put cheekpieces on and they seem to have also made a difference.

“The Grand National is probably not as much as a jumping test now as it was when Numbersixvalverde won, but Double Seven is a grand jumper.

“He has won over two miles, two and a half miles and three miles, always finishing strongly. He will give himself every chance of staying, but it’s about getting around and keeping out of trouble.

“He is in the four-miler at Cheltenham, but I don’t know where he will run next. A bit of good ground might tempt me to run him before Aintree.”

Double Seven is a 33/1 chance with Betfred, the official betting partner of the Crabbie’s Grand National Festival.

Last season’s Welsh Grand National winner Monbeg Dude (Michael Scudamore) and Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup victor Triolo d’Alene are the 20/1 joint-favourites with Betfred, who go 25/1 bar.

Triolo d’Alene, winner of last year’s Topham Chase over the famous fences, is with champion trainer Nicky Henderson, who has yet to win a Crabbie’s Grand National. The Lambourn handler has also entered 2011 Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Long Run (25/1), Hunt Ball (66/1), back from America after being a winner at the Cheltenham Festival in 2012, Shakalakaboomboom (50/1) and Quantitativeeasing (66/1).

Out of the first six home last year, only the third Teaforthree (Rebecca Curtis, 25/1) and sixth Swing Bill (David Pipe, 50/1), owned by Halewood International, parent company of the new Grand National sponsor, Crabbie’s, have entries again.

Sue Smith, who sent out the now-retired 2013 winner Aurora’s Encore at 66/1 for owners Douglas Pryde, Jim Beaumont and David van der Hoeven, relies instead on Mr Moonshine (40/1) in the same ownership and recent Peter Marsh Chase second Vintage Star (33/1), owned by Trevor Hemmings who is seeking his third Grand National winner after Hedgehunter in 2005 and Ballabriggs six years later.

Paul Nicholls secured his first Grand National victory with Neptune Collonges in 2012 -- his 53rd runner in the great Aintree race -- and has made seven entries this year. Enigmatic 13-year-old Tidal Bay (25/1) heads the septet following a fine third under top-weight in the Welsh National won by Mountainous (Richard Lee, 33/1) at Chepstow over Christmas. Nicholls is also responsible for Hawkes Point (25/1), who was second in the Chepstow highlight, London National winner There’s No Panic (40/1), Argento Chase runner-up Rocky Creek (25/1), Kauto Stone (40/1), Mon Parrain (40/1) and Sire Collonges (40/1)

Jonjo O’Neill, successful with Don’t Push It for principal patron J P McManus (who has 11 entries this year) in 2010, has also made seven entries, headed by the same owner’s Sunnyhillboy (33/1), beaten a nose by Neptune Collonges in 2012, Alfie Sherrin (25/1), Merry King (33/1), Burton Port (50/1), Lost Glory (66/1), Storm Survivor (66/1) and Twirling Magnet (50/1).

David Pipe, who sent out Comply Or Die to win in 2008, has six engaged, with Swing Bill joined by Badger Ales Trophy winner Standing Ovation (33/1), lightly-raced eight-year-old Our Father (33/1), Goulanes (40/1), Junior (50/1) and The Package (50/1).

Other notable entries include Scottish Grand National scorer Godsmejudge (Alan King, 25/1) and Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup winner Same Difference (Nigel Twiston-Davies, 25/1).

Leading hunter chaser Mossey Joe (Enda Bolger, 33/1) has been entered after being purchased by Irish owner Barry Connell, while Ted Walsh, successful with Papillon in 2000, could again be represented by Colbert Station (25/1) and Seabass (33/1), the 11/2 favourite last year. Seabass, third in 2012, finished 13th under Katie Walsh last year.

Weights for the Crabbie’s Grand National are framed by the British Horseracing Authority’s head of handicapping, Phil Smith, and will be revealed at the annual Crabbie’s Grand National launch in London.

The Crabbie’s Grand National is the only handicap of the year where Smith has absolute discretion over the weights. The official can deviate from the normal handicap ratings and often does, particularly with horses high in the handicap.

Run over 30 fences and four miles, three and a half furlongs, the Aintree race is a global attraction, watched by more than 600 million worldwide.

Andrew Tulloch, Aintree’s clerk of the course and director of racing, said today: “We are thrilled with both the quality and quantity of entries for the 2014 Crabbie’s Grand National which, with a prize fund of £1 million, is easily the richest jump race ever run outside of Japan.

“A Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Long Run, and the high-class Tidal Bay are the likely top-weights and we are eagerly awaiting the weights’ announcement.”

The biggest development in 11 years at Market Rasen racecourse is set to take place this year with the extension of the Tattersalls Enclosure.

If planning permission is given, the £800,000 investment will offer the racecourse greater capacity in its most popular enclosure for the major events that it now stages.

Three sell-outs in that part of the racecourse during 2013 showed the need for the venue -– which is part of The Jockey Club, the largest commercial group in horse racing -- to cater for larger audiences in Tattersalls.

The ambition of the racecourse was illustrated last month with the announcement of its biggest combined racing and music day on Saturday 16th August when Wet Wet Wet will be in concert.

The racecourse has this week applied for planning permission to West Lindsey District Council and, subject to consent being received, the construction work will take place in the summer and autumn.

The first phase will be the demolition of the old Family Enclosure grandstand. The Tote Exacta bar will then be doubled in size and the capacity of the Tattersalls Enclosure increased.

The aim is to complete the development by the end of November in time for the traditional Boxing Day fixture which has averaged 9,000 spectators since the turn of the millennium.

Pip Kirkby, general manager of Market Rasen racecourse, said: “This is an exciting development for the track as we stage increasingly popular major racing days. It illustrates the confidence that The Jockey Club has in Lincolnshire’s only racecourse that this investment is being made. This is a good day for sport and entertainment in the county.

“Subject to planning approval from the local authority, we will get the work under way as soon as we can. The aim is to have everything completed in good time before our popular Boxing Day meeting.”

In the meantime, sales have already begun for the opening ‘Rasen Rocks 2014’ concert with Wet Wet Wet after racing on 16th August. Tickets start at just £23 for adults and £8 for children (aged 5 to 17 years). Children’s tickets are limited in number (200 per enclosure), so early purchase is advisable. There is a maximum of four children’s tickets per paying adult.

Tickets for all racing fixtures at Market Rasen can be bought in advance online at www.marketrasenraces.co.uk or on 0844 579 3009. Savings of up to 25% are available on advance purchases.

Market Rasen racecourse is staging 21 jump racing meetings in 2014 and is a leading conference and events centre.

As the rain continues to beat down, it’s hard to believe an event that annually heralds the advent of spring is only five weeks away.

That walk up the hill past a Pittville Park dripping with daffodils and towards the magnificent arena of Prestbury Park seems as distant as it did after AP McCoy had guided ALDERWOOD to victory in the final race of the 2013 Cheltenham Festival last March.

Perhaps that is the reason why racing seems so wrapped up in other matters at the moment. Such as Daryl Jacob’s jockeyship. Such as Dr Marwan Koukash’s horse-naming policy. Such as racecourse attendance figures. Such as Channel 4 Racing’s viewing figures.

OK, such topics detract us nicely from slow-motion jumps racing on deep, desperate ground, which is one of the most unedifying sights in the sport.

But bring on the merry-go-round of Festival preview nights, I say, if I am reduced to putting my oar in on subjects that have nothing to do with the quest for the winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (which, incidentally, is WICKLOW BRAVE).

For the record, I rate Jacob. Of course, he is no Ruby. Who is? But he holds horses together in a similar style, and his judgement is sound. He rides too many seconds for my liking -- maybe because he can be one-dimensional, choosing to pounce approaching the last and seemingly reluctant to take races by the scruff of the neck, as on ROCKY CREEK at Cheltenham last month. But I would rather have Jacob on BIG BUCK’S than Sam Twiston-Davies, who will be top class one day but whose inexperience has already betrayed him on big days this term.

OK, that’s one topic out of the way. Now what of this edict from the BHA to stop the good Doctor naming any more of horses after his son, Gabrial?

Frankly, I cannot believe an issue of such trivia has got so many in such a tangled tizz. The argument goes that because Dr Koukash ploughs so much money into racing, he should be able to name his horses how he likes. Well no, actually, he can’t. First and foremost, he must abide by the rules of racing. The sport comes before any owner (as the Godolphin drugs scandal underlined) and if that means obeying the BHA, then so be it. After all, sponsors aren’t allowed to barge their way into the sport, waving whopping-big cheque-books and demanding that long-standing race-names are changed or defaced, are they? I quite enjoyed the Worthington Champion Shield And Victoria Club Stakes (registered as the St Simon Stakes), didn’t you?

Sorted. So let’s move on to matters of considerably higher importance and gravity -- namely the statistics that suggest our tracks are attracting fewer racegoers, but not because they’re watching on C4 instead.

In kerfuffles such as this, I have learned in recent years to make Rod Street, the admirably level-headed boss of Great British Racing, my first port of reference. And I am sure he is right when he says he doesn’t read too much into attendance-figures because there are so many vagaries (such as, no doubt, abandoned fixtures and the number of all-weather meetings that are lucky to attract one man and his dog). Similarly, when Street says that racing attendances have stood up remarkably well in the worst economic downturn since the 1930s, I am certain he is right. The average daily attendance of 3,972 for 2013 is only 57 lower than 2008.

The downturn in Channel 4’s viewing figures is rather more alarming. A near 20 per cent fall from 2012 when coverage was shared with the BBC. That equates to ten million viewers. Where have these people gone? Have they deserted the sport?

Maybe. But probably not. Whenever viewing or attendance figures are trotted out as if they are gospel, I find myself asking why no allowance is made for lifestyle changes that are rapidly and radically affecting society as we march, blindly but willingly, through The Digital Age.

Why is no-one suggesting that C4 Racing might be losing viewers to Racing UK and At The Races, the two TV channels making a superb job of dedicating themselves solely to the sport? Why is no-one pointing out that televised races from any corner of the UK and Ireland can be picked up on most laptop, tablet and mobile devices at any time on any day of the week? Planet Gogglebox isn’t just inhabited by terrestrial beings any more.

Why do so many experts and commentators fall into the trap of measuring racing’s popularity on racecourse attendance alone when the sport offers so many other ways to engage with it? Of course, we want to be there. But we don’t have to be there to enjoy it, to appreciate it, to find about it, to bet on it. We have our websites, our mobile apps, our subscription channels, our interactive formbooks, our Racing Post Members’ Club, our online betting accounts, our in-running facilities, not to mention those thingys from the past.......what were they called? Ah yes, newspapers and magazines.

I have no doubt tracks can do more to boost their crowds. Hopefully gimmick-free and racing-related, rather than music-related. Equally, I have no doubt Channel 4 can do more to boost their audiences. Once they determine where their target-market lies, realise that betting is intrinsically linked to the sport and that the prospect of winning a bit of money is the principal, initial lure for new supporters. But please, everyone else, let’s find perspective before reaching for the rant button.

And that’s enough. I didn’t think I had that much on my chest to get off. But most of it has gone and I didn’t even mention The Barney Curley Coup. Blimey, that was a laugh, wasn’t it? No? A scandal, you say? Oh for goodness sake, bring on the Festival!

The queen of storytellers returns in a gripping tale of adventure, romance and danger set against the epic backdrop of the Second World War

Love, treachery and tragedy take centre stage as Lesley Pearse introduces us to Mariette Carrera, the wild, wilful daughter of Belle, charismatic star of the best-selling book of the same name and its follow-up The Promise.

But you don’t need to know Belle to enjoy this sizzling saga which sweeps from the historic town of Russell in the far north of New Zealand’s North Island to London in the Blitz and the perils of Occupied France.

Pearse is one of the UK’s most popular authors of women’s fiction and it’s easy to see why. Survivor is her 22nd novel and confirms her reputation for impeccably researched and exciting stories full of fast-paced drama and passion with a capital P.

Whether she is portraying everyday life or extraordinary events, she has the power to get under the skin of her characters and to pull tightly at our heartstrings.

Mariette (Mari) Carrera is a defiant, strong-willed and reckless seventeen-year-old. She’s been secretly dating the local bad boy and sooner or later, if she stays in the small, gossipy town of Russell, New Zealand, she will get herself into some serious trouble… and pregnant.

Her doting parents, Belle and Etienne, fear for her reputation and even though it’s 1938 and the world appears to be teetering on the brink of war, they reluctantly decide Mari should leave for a fresh start in London.

Nervous but thrilled at the prospect of the new life ahead of her, Mari leaves home on the SS Rimutaka, bound for the palatial home of her godparents Noah and Lisette in St John’s Wood, London.

Armed with the freedom she has longed for since childhood, Mari quickly falls for Morgan Griffiths, the handsome Errol Flynn lookalike steward on board ship who takes care of her when she becomes ill during the voyage.

But once she reaches London, there are other temptations and Mari is soon caught up in a whirlwind of dances and parties in the glittering West End, relishing her independence as she earns her own money as a typist. For the first time in her life, she is mistress of her own future.

When war is finally declared, Mari’s new life in England is cruelly blown apart when a bomb hits London’s Café de Paris where she is celebrating her 21st birthday.

Forced out of the care and protection of her home with Noah and Lisette, she ends up alone in the East End but Mari is older and wiser now and even in the face of so much despair, she finds the chance to make a difference.

And amidst the destruction, Mari learns that the only way to survive this war is to fight with all the strength and selflessness that has been buried within her...and only then will she find true happiness.

Mari is a gutsy and gregarious heroine, a born survivor who looks life in the face and never shrinks from its slings and arrows, and her rollercoaster story is played out with Pearse’s trademark compassion, insight and humanity.

An enthralling and addictive story…

(Michael Joseph, hardback, £18.99)

Driffield Cricket Club held their annual sportsman’s dinner at the rugby club on Saturday evening.

Once again it was another superb evening, with the 20th anniversary being celebrated with arguably the best comedian to date.

Former Nottingham Forest captain and winner of two European Cups, John McGovern, was main speaker. He was good and told many stories about his former manager Brian Clough, who he played for at Forest, Derby and Leeds United.

The evening, with former PE teacher Barry Greenlaw again the MC, was well attended with every ticket being sold.

But after another good meal and stories being told by John McGovern, it was comedian Jamie Sutherland that had everyone talking at the end of the night.

His jokes were original and very funny, with everyone finding the evening entertaining and one person in particular taking some extra stick.

Once again a massive thank you to Barrie Foreman of J.H Foreman Ltd, Hutton Cranswick for his kind sponsorship.

Pictures on page 69.

Driffield U17 27

Pocklington U17 12

Sunday saw the visit of local rivals Pocklington to Kellythope for a Junior Colts Yorkshire League Two clash.

Only a point separated the two sides going into the game so it was expected to be a good game. Both teams were evenly matched through the early period of the game with both sides having periods of sustained pressure.

It was Driffield who eventually broke the deadlock when Higgins forced his was over from short range with Watts adding the extra points.

Pocklington rallied and following pressure on the Driffield line forced their way over and added the conversion for last action the first half.

Driffield were now playing with the wind and Watts kicking out of hand was putting Driffield into good attacking positions.

When Driffield had the put in at a scrum five metres out Sheader evaded the Pocklington scrum half to go over.

Driffield were very much on the front foot now and when Pocklington were awarded the scrum on their five metre line Lewis took one against the head for Beachell to pick up at eight and force his way over. Watts again added the extra points.

As Driffield started to see more of the ball and an infringement from Pocklington saw Driffield given the advantage, Watts showed excellent skill to put over a drop goal.

Following a passage of midfield play from both sides Dodds made an excellent run through the Pocklington defence to score in the corner.

Pocklington were still playing good rugby and again put the Driffield line under pressure that eventually told with Pocklington forcing their way over for the last score of the game, making the final score Driffield 27 Pocklington 12.

It was an excellent game and both sides tried their best to play open rugby on a very windy day.

The Pocklington side were as ever a credit to their parents, coaches, club and most of all themselves. They gave Driffield a tough game from the first to last whistle.

The win saw Driffield move above Pocklington into second place in the table and qualify for the National under 17 competitions.

The players are now looking forward to the draw which could take them away to a team from the North West or North East.

Team: Blacker, Rhodes, Reed, Kelly, Sirr, Watts, Sheader, Harrison, Lewis, Milnes, Dodds, Southwell, Higgins, Rough, Beachell, Hesslington, Clappison, Nettleton

Driffield U10 v Goole U10

On a gloriously sunny, but fresh morning at Kelleythorpe the under 10’s team coached by Rodney Hogg took on a team from Goole in a three-match fixture.

It was evident from the first whistle that the task to contain the Goole team would take a huge team effort from Driffield with the first of a number of Goole tries coming directly from the straight running and physical size of some of the larger Goole boys.

Driffield stuck to the task, digging in with stubborn defence resulting in the leaking of fewer tries in the second half.

Driffield’s possession was restricted to a number of fast darting runs making significant inroads into the Goole half, forcing them onto the back foot.

The second game was more of a contest with Driffield restricting the number of Goole tries with that stubborn, hard tackling defence and with more possession and field position Driffield’s pressure resulted in their first try.

Having lost the first two games and in the true spirit of the game, the 3rd game was turned into a training match with the exchange of players between teams.

The resulting rugby was a much more free-flowing game, producing numerous passing and rucking phases of play from both teams.

Significantly the confidence injected into the Driffield team produced a number of outstanding team tries finished off by the Driffield man-of-the-match James.

The award of team player-of-the-match went to Sam Thompson for his high tackle count and excellent support play.

It was a steep learning curve for the young Driffield boys and a valuable lesson in the core values of rugby union football.

Cheltenham Festival fever had to take a back-seat for a while this week when the weights were published for the 2014 Crabbie’s Grand National.

Thanks to new sponsors, Crabbie’s, this year’s Aintree showpiece on Saturday 5th April will be the first-ever £1 million National.

And a mouthwatering race is in prospect, courtesy of a top-class field, headed by multiple Grade One and Grade Two winners, TIDAL BAY and LONG RUN.

The Paul Nicholls-trained veteran Tidal Bay, who looks better than ever this season at the age of 13, has been allotted top-weight of 11st 10lb.

The Grand National is the only race for which the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) head of handicapping Phil Smith specifically frames the weights, and he gave Tidal Bay a mark equating to a rating of 161, 7lb less than the horse’s official rating of 168.

Nicholls’s charge most recently finished second in the Grade One Irish Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday, having previously been a galant third, also off top weight, in the Welsh National at Chepstow in December.

Tidal Bay, who unseated his rider in the 2011 Aintree National, is 20/1 co-favourite of three with the track’s official betting partner, Betfred.

Nicholls has six others entered for this year’s big race, including HAWKES POINT (10st 6lb, 25/1), who could line up in this Saturday’s Betfred Grand National Trial at Haydock Park on his first start since being beaten a head into second in the Welsh National.

Stablemate ROCKY CREEK (25/1), who finished runner-up in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham on his latest run, has been allotted 11st 5lb, although Nicholls warns he might bypass the race and go for the Cheltenham Gold Cup instead.

Nicholls’s rival for the jumps trainers’ championship, Nicky Henderson, has yet to win the Grand National in no fewer than 33 attempts. But he is well represented at the top-end of the handicap this year with three of the five highest-weighted horses.

The 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup and dual King George VI Chase winner Long Run (25/1) has 11st 9lb, while Hennessy Gold Cup hero TRIOLO D’ALENE (20/1 co-favourite) has been allotted 11st 6lb. While the former is seeking to regain his best form, the latter is an exciting horse on the up who won the Topham Chase over the National fences at Aintree last year.

Old favourite HUNT BALL, a former Cheltenham Festival winner who has yet to have his first start for Henderson, has been given a weight of 11st 7lb and is a 66/1 chance with Betfred. While another horse of interest from Henderson’s Seven Barrows stable is SHAKALAKABOOMBOOM (10st 2lb, 33/1), who ran a blinder in the 2012 National off an official rating of 9lb higher.

One of the leading fancies for the race will almost certainly be the Michael Scudamore-trained MONBEG DUDE (10st 9lb), whose sloppy jumping has been brushed up by Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Phillips, wife of the horse’s part-owner Mike Tindall. Winner of the 2012 Welsh Grand National, he is the third 20/1 co-favourite with Betfred.

Ireland’s champion trainer Willie Mullins, winner of the 2005 Aintree spectacular with Hedgehunter, has eight chances of enhancing his record in the Grand National.

Mullins’s leading contenders are ON HIS OWN (11st 3lb, 25/1), who has fallen in each of last two attempts in the race, the fragile PRINCE DE BEAUCHENE (10st 10lb, 33/1) and Paddy Power Chase winner ROCKABOYA (25/1), who is joint 88th on the list of runners with a weight of 9st 11lb.

Other talented challengers from Ireland include two from the yard of Ted Walsh, father of ace jockey Ruby Walsh, who saddled Papillon to win the National in 2000. COLBERT STATION (25/1), who fell at The Chair last year, has been allotted 11st, while stablemate SEABASS (33/1), who was third in 2012, has 11st 2lb. The latter was also 13th when sent off 11/2 favourite under trainer’s daughter, Katie Walsh, last year.

Colbert Station is one of many in with a chance owned by JP McManus. SUNNYHILLBOY (10st 9lb, 33/1), who is trained by Jonjo O’Neill, looks dangerous, considering he is returning to the form that saw him finish a gallant second to Neptune Collonges in the National of 2012.

Former winners of the Irish Grand National have a sound record in the Aintree race, so 2012 victor LION NA BERNAI (1025 10lb, 33/1), trained by Tom Gibney might be an outsider worth keeping an eye on.

Crack hunter chaser MOSSEY JOE (33/1) is also an intriguing contender. He joined Enda Bolger after selling for £160,000 to owner Barry Connell at a Cheltenham sale last month and has been given 11st 1lb.

Another Irish handler, Martin Brassil, successful with Numbersixvalverde in 2006, is likely to run DOUBLE SEVEN, who has 10st 11lb and is priced at 33/1.

There has been no Welsh-trained winner of the Grand National since 1905. But las year’s third, TEAFORTHREE is back for another crack from Rebecca Curtis’s Pembrokeshire yard. He carried 11st 3lb in 2013 but has 5lb less for the 2014 race and is quoted at an enticing 25/1.

Last year’s winner Auroras Encore has been retired, but his connections of trainer Sue Smith and owners Jim Beaumont, Douglas Pryde and David van der Hoeven are again represented this time round with the ten-year-old MR MOONSHINE(40/1). An excellent jumper, he has won his last two starts and will line up with 10st 12lb on his back.

The Welsh National winner MOUNTAINOUS (33/1) has a weight of 10st 7lb, while the Alan King-trained GODSMEJUDGE (25/1), winner of the 2013 Scottish National, has 10st 11lb.

Two other fascinating entries are BIG SHU (10st 8lb, 40/1), emphatic winner of the Cheltenham Festival cross-country race last year, and CAPE TRIBULATION (50/1) , who is very well-handicapped on 10st 12lb on his top-notch form last term.

A total of 114 entries go forward into the race and no fewer than 82 of those (72 per cent) are in the handicap proper. There will be a maximum field-size of 40 (with an additional four reserves) on the day.

The relationships between mothers, daughters and sisters are complex, shifting and notoriously volatile.

Amanda Hodgkinson, whose debut novel 22 Britannia Road caused a stir last year, takes up this potent theme in a historical odyssey covering 50 years and three generations of an ordinary family harbouring extraordinary secrets.

Spilt Milk is a moving and lyrical story, in tune with nature, human nature, the power of love and the ties that bind together lives fractured by discord, despair and deceit.

At its heart are two sisters, affectionate partners in spinsterhood, but torn apart by the unexpected arrival of an itinerant farm worker at their tiny, isolated cottage on the banks of the Little River in Suffolk in 1913.

Handsome, charming, sweet-talking Joe will set their pulses racing and change the course of their sheltered lives forever.

Since the death of their parents, unmarried sisters Nellie and Vivian Marsh live a ‘mend-and-make-do’ existence with their older sister Rose on the outskirts of a small village.

Both in their early twenties, Vivian and Nellie are tentatively getting ready for new experiences but 37-year-old Rose has decided that they must dedicate themselves to ‘sibling love,’ live in their cottage hidden from the world and abide by their late mother’s mantra that ‘talk and lies cannot touch us if we’re deaf to the sound of them.’

Nellie, superstitious, robust and practical, adores the adventurous romance in the soul of kind, loving and beautiful Vivian while Rose, worn out by work and illness, is loyal and private and a mystery to her sisters.

The young 20th century is all around them but they are not part of it… until Rose’s death casts them adrift, the river suddenly floods and to the rescue comes farm labourer Joe Ferier whose presence blows apart their cloistered innocence.

Both Nellie and Vivian fall for Joe, a man at one with the river and who emanates a watery scent of weeds, mud and washed stones. The consequences are devastating for the sisters who leave their home, carrying with them a terrible secret that will be a lifetime’s burden.

In 1939, a generation later, teenager Birdie Farr is working as a barmaid in the family pub in London when she finds she is pregnant and turns to her mother Nellie for help. Aunt Vivian steps in to arrange an adoption for Birdie’s newborn daughter but as the years pass Birdie discovers she cannot escape Nellie and Vivian’s shadowy past.

And her own obsession with finding her lost daughter will have deep consequences for all of them...

Hodgkinson’s atmospheric and affecting novel excels in its finely detailed sense of time and place, its gently unfolding narrative and the insight and power of its emotive themes.

Is history destined to repeat itself, she asks, is nature stronger than nurture and can a new generation break the bonds of history, family tradition and genetic programming?

Strong and yet achingly vulnerable, pulled back constantly to the river that shaped their destinies, Nellie and Vivian are beautifully drawn characters, their lives constantly overshadowed by events in the past.

Spilt Milk is also compelling and enjoyable as it travels backs through time, evoking the sights, sounds and smells of an East Anglian rural idyll or the muck, sprawl and clamour of the back streets of London.

Wise, perceptive, warm and heartbreaking, this is a story that lingers long in the mind…

(Penguin, paperback, £8.99)

Former Driffield Golf Club ladies president and captain Mary Foster certainly knows a thing or two about golf. But it was as she came to collect her scorecard for the weekly Tuesday morning ladies golf that I noticed she possessed a wonderful selection of colourful ball markers .

The collection consisted of swimming badges, themed poker chips and more conventional ball markers!

When a ball is obstructing another ball on the green, one should mark the closest ball to the hole with a flat marker such as a coin or other small object immediately behind the ball.

As regular golfers will know, it is the honour of the player furthest away from the hole to play next and if another ball interferes with play it should be marked.

It is also deemed to be showing polite etiquette if you do not stand on your fellow players’ putt line.

As rule 19.5a. states: If a player’s ball in motion after a stroke is deflected or stopped by a ball in play and at rest, the player must play his ball as it lies.

In match play, there is no penalty. In stroke play there is no penalty, unless both balls lay on the putting green prior to the stroke in which case the player incurs a penalty of two strokes.

Golf is one of the few sports that allow you to be virtually your own referee, good etiquette towards other players is one of the aspects of the game I feel is at the heart of this honourable game.

In my experience, it is necessary to mark the ball with a clearly visible marker, and Mary certainly would receive top marks!

‘Loft Up’

Driffield Golf Club member and long hitter Jeff Stevens, owner of the ‘Sugarshack’ on Driffield main street, has been playing with a 12 degree lofted driver for the last two years.

And Jeff noticed that for the last couple of weeks many of the players on the European and American golf pro tours have been playing with drivers with more loft.

These players have also been wearing caps with the wording loft up’ on them.

Quite simply modern golf balls are been specifically manufactured to deliver less spin at impact with a driver to help the ball fly on ‘rainbow’ shaped trajectory.

The initial high launch helps increase both improved carry plus added roll once the ball hits the ground again. The other added benefit of more loft improves accuracy as sidepin found on less lofted drivers is vastly reduced.

As a Professional golf coach I see the majority of golfers wanting more accuracy with their drives, one of the main factors is whether the loft of the club matches up with their ability. Golf is a game where hitting the fairway off the tee is one of the main keys to improving your score, keep the ball in play and the whole game becomes more fun.

Steven Gallagher, winner of last week’s Dubai Desert Classic is one of the new generation of top players to Loft Up.

To give more loft a go, come to Driffield GC to give your game a lift.

For more information or to improve your golf via individual or group tuition give Kenton a call on 01377 253583 or email kenton.pga@btconnect.com

Loft and lie

If you are interested in trying new equipment one of the main keys to finding what suits you is going through a process of elimination.

The great new Nike range of equipment has just landed at Driffield Golf Club and there are hundreds of fitting options to help make sure your new equipment is made specifically for what you need.

Try before you buy, off grass, the only surface played during true competitive play where seeing is believing.

A small village school where pupils are ‘proud to belong’ is celebrating after Ofsted inspectors ruled it is a good school.

Staff, pupils, parents and governors at Wetwang Church of England VC Primary School are celebrating after Ofsted judged it to be good in all key factors, including overall effectiveness.

Inspectors found that teaching is good, and sometimes outstanding; that pupils’ achievement and behaviour is good, and that headteacher Mike Sibley provides effective leadership, having developed a strong staff team which is committed to improving the quality of teaching and raising attainment.

The school, which has only 54 pupils on roll, is said to have undergone a significant period of change since a previous inspection, including all the teaching staff and the headteacher.

The inspectors found that since Mr Sibley was appointed, a range of carefully planned changes has improved the overall quality of teaching and learning, and as a result achievement is good.

In their report, they said: “Pupils are proud to belong to Wetwang Primary School They are very keen to escort visitors around the school and show them their work. Their good attitudes and good behaviour make a significant contribution to the quality of their learning and the sense of belonging to a community in which everyone is valued.”

Mr Sibley said: “We are extremely proud of this report as it celebrates the positive changes in the school over the last few years. I am delighted that that the inspectors recognised the significant contribution of all members of the team, from the business manager to lunch time staff.”

Councillor Julie Abraham, East Riding of Yorkshire Council portfolio holder for children, young people and education, said: “I am delighted that Wetwang Primary School has again been judged by Ofsted to be good in spite of such a turnover in staff since it was last inspected.

“Mr Sibley has put his own mark on the school and the outcomes have been excellent. Congratulations to all at the school and I am sure that they are en route to even greater outcomes next time around.”

Funky fun is never far away when Maverick Arts Publishing roll out their latest books for youngsters ready for something a little bit different.

Set up in 2008 by Steve and Karen Bicknell to market animal calendars, Maverick, based in Horsham, West Sussex, has found a new and imaginative line in their ever-expanding range of quirky children’s picture books.

As well as marketing a wide selection of greetings cards, children’s puzzles and educational and environmentally friendly toys, Maverick has a books list which goes from strength to strength with new titles produced every year.

Their latest collection features a perverse little princess who refuses to go to sleep and two adorable hedgehogs with a very prickly problem.

Princess Stay Awake by Giles Paley-Phillips and Adriana J. Puglisi

Giles Paley-Phillips, award-winning author of Tamara Small and the Monsters’ Ball and his perennially popular The Fearsome Beastie – soon to be a CG Short Animation starring Alison Steadman and Brian Blessed – knows a thing or two about what kids love.

His rhyming picture books and nonsense poetry capture the curiosity and exuberant spirit of childhood and here he sets his sights on Layla, ‘a princess who’d never go to bed. She didn’t like to sleep at all, so stayed awake instead.’

Brought to life by the chirpy, charming pictures of illustrator Adriana Puglisi, Princess Stay Awake is the ideal ‘lights out’ read for little girls who need a gentle push into the land of nod.

Layla is determined she’s not going to sleep and when sleeping spells, an extra comfy bed and a course of vigorous exercises fail to work any magic, only one person can outsmart this smartest of princesses… her Grandma!

A fun-filled, join-in rhyming text, lively illustrations and larger-than-life characters are guaranteed to make Princess Stay Awake another firm family favourite… especially at bedtime!

(Maverick Arts Publishing, paperback, £6.99)

Hedgehugs by Lucy Tapper and Steve Wilson

Meet a husband and wife team who have merged their creative talents and come up with an enchanting picture book about two hedgehog friends.

Steve Wilson is a British television presenter who has worked on CBBC and This Morning and has now turned his hand to writing children’s books. He created the concept of Hedgehugs along with his talented illustrator wife Lucy Tapper, and their first book is already proving a big hit.

Horace and Hattie hedgehog are the very best of friends. There are so many things they like to do together but there is one thing they can’t do… they can’t hug because they are just too spiky. After trying everything they can think of to resolve their dilemma, they find the solution… on a washing line!

Lucy Tapper created the characters and backgrounds for Hedgehugs from old baby clothes, and her husband came up with a heart-warming story to bewitch and beguile young readers.

Don’t miss the ‘cuddly’ adventure…

(Maverick Arts Publishing, paperback, £5.99)

‘Men and women know from birth that in evil is found all sensual delight,’ wrote the ground-breaking 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire.

And he was a man of his word… his most famous and sexually explicit volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), landed him in court charged with offences against public decency.

Scandalised society pointed the finger of blame at cabaret singer Jeanne Duval, the exotic and beautiful daughter of a white French plantation owner and a black Haitian slave who had become the love of his life, his muse, his ‘mistress of mistresses,’ his ‘Black Venus.’

Their volatile and obsessive relationship spanned over 20 years. Baudelaire’s friends claimed Duval was no more than a ‘gold-digger’ but she was the principal source of inspiration for his poetry, noted for its striking originality and modernity.

It was an intense but destructive affair which still fascinates today… so who were these two extraordinary characters and to what extent were they products of their backgrounds and the bohemian world they inhabited?

Author and managing director of The Times Literary Supplement James MacManus’ enchanting and engrossing novel re-creates classic Parisian literary society in all its glorious and inglorious vibrancy as well as painting a memorable portrait of the troubled poet and his often misunderstood, much-maligned muse.

Black Venus shines new light on the background to a tempestuous romance whilst capturing the artistic scene in Paris in the 1840s and 50s when literary giants like Alexandre Dumas and Honoré de Balzac wined, dined and debated in the Left Bank cafés.

In early 1842, the stylishly dressed Charles Baudelaire is planning his poetic masterpiece and eagerly anticipating his 21st birthday and an inheritance which will bring him much-needed cash and freedom from his mother.

Paris is his city, it opens itself to him like a book. He knows its acrid stench, its unforgiving slums, its illuminating vivacity and its shadowy corners. He spends his days chatting with his artistic friends and his nights enjoying alcohol, opium and women.

Thirty-two-year-old Jeanne Duval also loves Paris. After years of pain, punishment and degradation in Haiti, the city has given her freedom, the right to make her own life and the opportunity to live on her wits, guile and charm.

She is currently working as a singer at a seedy cabaret club frequented by low-paid pen pushers and a raucous riff-raff who shout, fight, drink and molest the waitresses, but it’s a job and she knows how to make these men forget the miseries of their working day.

When two well-dressed strangers walk into the club one night, lives are changed forever. In a sea of shabby suits and greasy bow ties, Duval’s revealing red dress and sultry beauty catch the eye of the aspiring poet.

For the next two decades they will love and inspire, cheat and betray, break up and make up. They will share fame and infamy, desire and despair, poverty and illness. Their love will be tested to the end…

Immaculately researched and testament to the author’s own undoubted love affair with the City of Light, Black Venus is a gripping tale of jealousy, obsession, excess, cruelty and overwhelming passion.

At its heart burns the red-hot flame of Baudelaire’s perilous infatuation for a woman programmed by hardship and prejudice to be tough, single-minded, ruthless, mercenary, incapable of selfless devotion and yet still achingly vulnerable.

Mixing fact and fiction, McManus takes us on an exhilarating journey through the political, artistic and social changes of 19th century Paris whilst delivering a compelling and sympathetic re-telling of one of history’s most notorious love affairs.

(Duckworth, hardback, £16.99)

The Bridlington, Driffield and District branch of the RSPCA will host a fun dog show the the Driffield showground on Sunday March 23 from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

The event will be staged as part of the annual Kelk plant fair.

There will be 25 classes, with just £1 entry fee per class. Registratiuon is between 10am and 12 noon and judging starts at 12.30pm.

There will be lots of stalls to browse and plenty of plants on sale. For further information, contact Ann Bennett on 07807 521408.

As the Second World War consumed Europe, Asia and Africa, a smaller, secret conflict was being waged in a remote corner of Alaska which could have changed the course of history.

In 1942, Japanese forces seized Attu and Kiska, two of the 71 Aleutian Islands, a volcanic chain extending about 1,200 miles west of the Alaskan mainland. The aim was to divert American forces away from the main Japanese attack at Midway Atoll.

Over 2,000 Japanese troops dug in on the islands and American censors imposed a news blackout to hide the invasion from a nervous public. The local Aleut population were evacuated and interned as US generals came to terms with the possibility that these remote islands could be the breach through which the war spilled into North America.

The ensuing campaign – the only one fought on American soil – was one of the toughest battles of the war for US forces and took place well beyond both the press and the public.

Using the turmoil of a bloody military clash and a wild landscape notorious for its heavy rainfall and chilly fogs, Canadian author Brian Payton weaves a rich and evocative tale of life and death, love and faith, determination and resilience.

In April 1943, Seattle-based journalist John Easley is mourning his younger brother, a Canadian Air Force lieutenant killed in action. His self-destructive grief and his wife Helen’s need and failure to have a baby have combined to place intolerable pressure on their marriage.

Only a year ago he had travelled to the Aleutian Islands on assignment for the National Geographic magazine and now, determined to expose the hidden invasion which he learned about before flying home, he hatches a reckless plan to return.

Using his dead brother’s identity and a sheaf of forged papers, he convinces a US Air Force crew that he is travelling as an observer and hitches a ride to Alaska. But when the plane is shot down, only Easley and young Texan airman Karl Bitburg survive the crash.

As they struggle to escape capture and stay alive in the dark and cold at the edge of the world where gale-force winds accelerate down the mountain slopes in ‘an avalanche of sound and sensation,’ his wife is haunted by her husband’s disappearance and an absence that exposes her sheltered, untested life.

Haunted by their angry parting words and desperate to find him, she leaves behind all she has ever known in Seattle, joins the USO (United Services Organisation) as a troop entertainer and sets out on a 3,000-mile journey to the war in the north. ‘Action,’ John used to say to her, ‘is the only language fit for love.’

Danger and despair will never be far away but in a land where winds rise and fade and rivers flow endlessly, suffering will pass because as the Aleutians say, ‘The wind is not a river.’

Heartbreaking and yet inspirational in its moving depiction of the indomitable nature of the human spirit, The Wind Is Not a River explores how war impacts on ordinary people and the extraordinary sacrifices they are prepared to make.

Using spare prose and understated pathos, Payton conveys the brutality, isolation and suffering of war whilst delivering a memorable romance and a thrilling, action-packed adventure.

This is an emotionally powerful and resonant story packed with painstaking research, a fascinating slice of little-known American history and an intimate portrait of how people cope under intolerable pressure… and how far they will go for love.

(Mantle, hardback, £16.99)

Bridlington Mariners were beaten 26-0 by a stingy Driffield Cents team who have now not conceded a point for three matches.

The visitors’ preparations were hampered when two of their team were called up for the first team at short notice, and up against opposition who were brimming with confidence after a 58-0 win the previous week, Bridlington were unable to make an impression on the scoresheet.

Luckily for Wayne Leighton and Matthew Simpson, wind and rain gave way to bright skies on Sunday, February 16 as they faced their biggest running challenge to date. Both Yorkshire Wolds Runners travelled to Osmotherley to take part in the Hardmoors Trail Marathon.

This 27-mile event takes runners and walkers across the North Yorkshire Moors.

With a 4000ft ascend it is certainly not an event to enter without adequate training and preparation.

Although official times are not yet available, both runners were extremely pleased with their times finishing in about 5:15hrs (Wayne) and 6hrs (Matt).

Yorkshire Wolds Runners always welcome new members of any ability, from complete beginners through to seasoned athletes.

If you are interested in joining please visit www.york shirewoldsrunners.com.yorkshirewoldsrunners.com or call Kathryn Hammond on 07817 906897 for more details.

Sports Relief Mile is coming to

Driffield – full

story on back page

According to this article published on www.getintogolf.org

Golf’s unique combination of outdoor exercise and social interaction can help you live a longer, healthier life. Playing golf can help you live longer – and make those extra years healthier.

Indeed, playing the sport can increase your life expectancy by up to five years, according to a study from the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden.

A team of scientists looked at the health and longevity of 300,000 golfers and found the death rate for golfers is an incredible 40 per cent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status who don’t play.

Golf provides a healthy dose of fresh air and nature combined with exercise and friendship – a powerful combination for living longer.

Professor Anders Ahlbom, who led the Karolinska study, said: “A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours, walking at a fast pace for six or seven kilometres, something which is known to be good for the health.

“People play golf into old age and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that can be of help,’ he added.

Indeed, golf can help you make new friends and keep in contact with those you already have. It is an exceptional combination of socialising and sport that can bring a wellbeing boost to your physical and mental health.

Regular walking, such as the four hours it typically takes to play a round of golf, can help ward off dementia. There is no certain way to prevent the disease, but regular exercise can help.

A study published in the journal Neurology, found that people who regularly walk and get other forms of moderate exercise appear to significantly lower their risk of developing a form of the disease called vascular dementia. This is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society saidl: “Whether it is going for a jog or walking the golf course, keeping physically active is a great way to keep your heart and your brain healthy.

“By keeping active you make sure your brain has a good, strong blood supply, which is essential to help it function better now and in future.

“Exercise is beneficial at every stage of your life so there is no excuse!

“Walking five miles a week – which you can cover in a round of golf - is the best medicine to slow progression of Alzheimer’s and reduce your risk of developing it, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.”

Get in to Golf…

One of our resolutions for 2014 is to get more people playing golf.  To help achieve our goal we have launched Get into Golf dates for ladies and juniors.

Junior Get into Golf

Golf is a great sport for promoting positive life skills such as honesty and respect.

Our facility offers a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment.

We are introducing the new Golf Foundation Junior Passport at Hainsworth Park and invite your children to a the new Golf Foundation Passport Course which starts on March 1

Passport Course Run -  Spring 2014 (all 10-11am)

£6 per session or £40for all 10 weeks (payable in advance)

Week 1:  Sat, March 1

Week 2: Sat, March 8

Week 3:  Sat, March 15

Week 4: Sat, March 22

Week 5:  Sat, March 29

Week 6:  Sat, April 5

Week 7: Sat, April 12

Week 8:  Sat, May 3

Week 9: Sat, May 10

Week 10: Sat, May 17(Family festival)

You can sign your child up to the new course today, please speak to Peter or one of the Performance Centre team on 01964 542362 (Option 1)

In addition to the above sessions we have scheduled a special Easter Fun Golf

Thursday, April 17 10am to 12pm. This includes Easter Egg Hunt, lots of games and prizes. £10 per child

Ladies ‘Get into Golf’

On Sunday, February 23 we are running another ladies coaching session.

It starts at 10am and lasts for two hours, costing only £10

If you have your own equipment then bring it along but if not, don’t worry as we will gladly supply you everything you need at no extra cost.

You do not need to have touched a club before and certainly do not have to be a member of a golf club to give it a go.

The sessions are great fun and provide the perfect, relaxed environment in which to get started.

Why not bring a friend along and see how much fun you can have?

Testing Panel Announced…

Wow! What a response we had to our request for golfers wanting to form part of an equipment testing panel.

Within hours of the advert going out we received over 50 applicants!

<fittingwall.jpg with: Our panel will test out the latest clubs in The Golf Studio>

We couldn’t select everyone so unfortunately some of you will be disappointed, but don’t let that put you off entering future initiatives.

The idea is for amateur golfers, just like you, to test the latest products and for them to give their honest and completely unbiased opinion on them.

The lucky 6 are:

Saturday, February 22 3-5pm: Dave Tunstall, Paul Gardner, Martin Hague

Sunday, February 23 3-5pm: Rob Moulds, Brian Miller, Mark Bird

We will be asking you questions about each iron, fairway, hybrid and driver and we will feature the results in the Driffield Times and Post and Peter’s weekly email newsletter the week after.

If you have been selected and can no longer make the day please let us know asap.

Follow the Hainsworth Park Pro’s on Twitter: @petermyers @hainsworthpark

The greens staff now have their own Twitter account: @hpgreens

If your life was mired in mind-numbing but safe mediocrity, could you throw it all away and risk death in the process?

This is the conundrum facing accountant George Foss in Peter Swanson’s blistering debut thriller which has already been optioned for its film rights and features a fiendish femme fatale who would give Hitchcock’s Marnie a run for her money.

Conjuring up all the romantic noir of Body Heat and Double Indemnity and with more red herrings than a trawlerman’s net, The Girl With a Clock for a Heart is the pulsating story of a man swept into a vortex of irresistible passion and murder when an old love mysteriously reappears.

Sexy, intriguing and dazzling in the sheer scope and complexity of its plotting, this is a tale of love, loss and compulsion which propels readers into a thrilling world of double dealing and Machiavellian scheming.

‘!t was like I had a secret disease, or there was this clock inside of me, ticking like a heart, and at any moment an alarm would go off…’

When George first met Liana Decter, they were both 18-year-old college freshmen and it was more or less love at first sight. They were inseparable all through that first autumn term and parting at the beginning of the holidays was hard to bear.

Even harder to accept was the news that Liana had committed suicide over the Christmas break. George became determined to find out what had happened but, when he turned up at the Florida home of her parents, he made a discovery that nothing could have prepared him for.

Twenty years later he’s approaching 40, in a dead-end job and a dead-end 15-year relationship with girlfriend Irene and his world feels as though it has been slowly drained of all its colour.

His problem is that he’s still in love with Liana and he has spent the last two decades both dreaming of and dreading the idea of seeing her again.

And now she really is back… sitting at the bar of his local tavern in Boston and telling him she’s in serious trouble and he’s the only one who can help her.

Liana has assumed a new identity and she wants George to help her in an act that puts both him and those closest to him in terrible danger.

No-one knows better than George that the enigmatic Liana is trouble but he can’t say no and so he makes a choice that will plunge him into a terrifying maelstrom of lies, secrets, betrayal and murder from which there is no sure escape.

The Girl With a Clock for a Heart is a bold and ambitious debut written with all the skill and assurance of a master in the making. A crisp, clear narrative, an unfathomable line between good guys and bad guys and bucketloads of suspense ensure that the mystery continues to the very last page.

Don’t miss out on a tantalising treat…

(Faber, hardback, £12.99)

As we count down the days to the greatest sporting show on earth, the annual lure of the Cheltenham Festival never ceases to amaze me.

This will be my 30th consecutive Festival (discounting the foot-and-mouth horrors of 2001). And considering I’ve seen every race live since the day BROWNE’S GAZETTE, trained by Michael Dickinson, stormed home in the Waterford Crystal Supreme Novices’ Hurdle of 1984, you’d think I’d be a hardened, seasoned cynic by now.

But not a bit of it. Like thousands of Cheltenham pilgrims up and down the country, I am as excited as ever.

I know already that I won’t sleep the night before the opening day. And that has nothing to do with staying in a different hotel.

I am going to the usual, extraordinary lengths of preparing for the week, poring through formbooks, facts and figures, constructing a portfolio of tips and, of course, plotting each day’s drinking, eating and socialising before and after racing!

I am even logging on, every day, to obscure websites for re-assurance that the weather will be fine, the going Good To Soft. So far so good, by the way. Mainly cloudy, one or two showers, bit of sunshine maybe on World Hurdle Day.

This is how the Cheltenham Festival consumes you. It removes reality and casts a mesmeric spell that creates an intoxicating mix of top-quality sport and racing-related bonhomie.

It’s a fair bet that most of you reading this will have sampled Festival Fever. And, like me, you will be in awe of the four-day feast.

But for those Festival virgins looking forward to their first visit to the Cheltenham cauldron, or for those not yet transfixed by the best Jumps racing in the world, here are a few tips for between now and Tuesday 11th March.

No, I’m not going to tell you what’s going to win the Gold Cup. But I will advise on how to make the best of your preparation, ahead of the Cheltenham Roar.

ACCOMMODATION -- if you’re staying over for the week (essential, in my book), you’ve probably booked your digs already. If not, Cheltenham itself is likely to be full. It is also expensive as hotels double, treble or even quadruple their normal prices for rooms. Try to find somewhere in the surrounding towns and villages and travel in each day. I would not even be averse to staying as far out as Bristol or Birmingham where top-brand hotels are available at very respectable prices. But make sure you sample the atmosphere in Cheltenham town centre both before and after racing on at least one of the days. It is magical.

PUNTING -- year after year, I am tired of reading advice warning punters to take their time and to pace themselves through the week. Rubbish! Get stuck in from the off. The week is punting heaven. Quality horses available at tasty prices, plus a mindblowing plethora of irresistible offers from all the big bookmakers. Yes, you still have to get your judgement right, but don’t be hamstrung by caution.

NON RUNNER, NO BET -- of all the aforementioned offers from the bookies, NRNB remains the stand-out. Worryingly, there were signs last year that one or two of the major firms are considering steering clear of what is, if exploited expertly, a punter’s licence to print money. But expect most to indulge from next weekend onwards, enabling us to back our selections without fear of them not running or going for an alternative race. It does mean that much your work must be done before the Festival starts. But that is no bad thing because once you get swept away by all that the week entails, there is precious little time for form study.

PREVIEW NIGHTS -- no other sporting event in the world has spawned such an extraordinary phenomenon as the Cheltenham Festival Preview Nights, set to be staged all over the country in the next fortnight. Trainers, jockeys, owners, punters, journos all pile in with their opinions and tips for each race. The nights vary dramatically in quality and popularity. Occasionally, they yield golden nuggets of inside information. More occasionally, they expose so-called experts as charlatans. If you cannot attend one, it is worth subscribing (for about a tenner) to a service run by Weatherbys, who will e-mail you, the very next day, a full report on a selected few.

PREVIEW LITERATURE -- if you’re not careful, you can be smothered to near strangulation by the colossal amount of news and views, both printed and digital, in the build-up to the Festival. But I find three publications indispensable. The ‘Racing Post Cheltenham Festival Guide’, updated each year and published this weekend, is a veritable work of art. Slickly produced and a minefield of information. But equally detailed and almost as magnificent is Weatherbys’ ‘Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide’, published next week, which concentrates more on the year-by-year trends for each race. Many still turn their noses up at trends as a tool for finding winners. Believe you me, for the Cheltenham Festival, it is sheer folly to ignore them. As an ally to the two books, fork out three quid or so on ‘Cheltenham: The Ultimate Gude’, produced by the ‘Racing Post’ and published next week. In one handy, concise newspaper that can be used as a regular source of reference, it features all the entries and form for the big races.

DRINKING -- utterly inevitable and unavoidable, whether you are toasting your winners or drowning your sorrows. I remember being mortified one year to find that my favourite Cheltenham pub, and one frequented regularly by racing people, The Crown on High Street, had been demolished. The clock is still there, but no boozer. These days, the town centre boasts any number of places likely to be immersed in racing from dawn till dusk. The Montpellier area is always heaving, and many pubs and clubs make a special Festival-themed effort to make you feel welcome. Some host live music, many show replay after replay of the day’s racing action on big screens. On the course itself, for me, it’s the Arkle Bar first, the rest nowhere.

THE IRISH FACTOR -- somehow, I have managed to get through this piece without one mention of the Irish. Which equates to disrespect of the highest order.

They do not flock over here in their battalions like they used to. But their infectious enthusiasm, racing knowledge, reckless gambling habits and sheer sense of fun and adventure remains the overriding factor that makes the Cheltenham Festival what it is.

Good luck -- and enjoy the craic!