Hope for Tomorrow Charity Polo Match

On Saturday Rosie and I went to a Charity Polo Match in aid of Hope for Tomorrow and the Prince’s Trust. I had been invited as a guest of the charity Hope for Tomorrow because of the volunteer work I do maintaining their website.

We arrived at midday to a champagne reception followed by a short explanation of the game of polo. We were then treated to a lunch of crayfish tails with lime mayonnaise followed by roast saddle of lamb and a summer fruits pudding to finish.

After lunch the charities held an auction. Hope for Tomorrow is trying to raise money to purchase a pioneering mobile chemotherapy unit that will operate in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire bringing life-saving treatment to patients in the area where they live. Most items in the auction went for well over £1500 with the majority of opening bids at £500. The most expensive item, two tickets to any sporting event up to and including the 2008 Beijing Olympics, went for over £10,000.

The first polo match began at around 3.15 in the afternoon with two teams of four players per team. The teams were captained by Prince William and Prince Harry respectively. It was quite a surprise to see both of the young princes on the field at the same time.

At half time (after 15 minutes of play, seven and a half minutes per ‘chukker’) the crowd was invited to go onto the polo ground and push in the divots. We walked around laughing pushing in divots and then I took a picture of Rosie divoting.

The match ended with Prince Williams team winning overall. They were presented with the Vodafone Cup by Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth. The event had raised £55,000 for the two charities.

After the polo we had a cream tea and then drove back to Bristol.

All my photos of the polo are on my gallery.