Behind them a group of swaggering, half-drunken Yorkshire
dalesmen, speaking a dialect which their own southland countrymen could scarce comprehend, their jerkins marked with the pelican, which showed that they had come over in the train of the north-country Stapletons.
Real character, he holds, the chief proper object of man's effort, is formed by quietly living, as did he and the
dalesmen around him, in contact with Nature and communion with God rather than by participation in the feverish and sensational struggles of the great world.
Steven Reeves then batted well for the
Dalesmen as he made 44 but they struggled a little at 68-4.
The
Dalesmen lost openers Robert Carr and Pratt quite cheaply, but McKiernan struck a crucial 44 runs from 59 balls and then Steven Mather and Sam Wood put on an unbroken stand of 25 runs, to claim victory for their side in a final total of 125-5, to become champions.
The
Dalesmen took the lead on 14 minutes through Scott Ryan, only for Aaron Kah to equalise with a header on 49 minutes.
Darlington pulled a goal back through Lewis Reece, but goals from Stephen Butterworth and Ryan, with his second of the match, sealed the win for the
Dalesmen.
National III North outfit YMCA were always on the back foot and trailed 21-8 at half-time against the
Dalesmen.
The
Dalesmen male voice choir, which he founded in the 80s, will serenade him for his birthday.
And director of rugby Neil Mitchell is hoping home advantage could be the key against the
Dalesmen, who have struggled on the road this season.
The handknitting company Rowan estimates that the number of men using its services has doubled in the past four years as a result of which it has launched the
Dalesmen Collection for Autumn/Winter 2011, its first dedicated collection of designs for men for six years.
But for all their pressure, Stourbridge could not add to their tally and the
Dalesmen finished the half with a flurry of tries.
He retired aged 80 and, in the late 1980s, he helped found the
Dalesmen Male Voice Choir, of which he is still life president.