Posts Tagged ‘Krankenhaus’

Haverigg United v Vickerstown, Saturday 29th August 2026, 2pm

August 31, 2026

There have been six Krankenhaus festivals to date and Jen and I are fortunate enough to have been to them all. The capacity has risen from four hundred in 2019 to fifteen hundred these days.

There have been changes in the layout too and this year saw more use of the secondary Glade stage as well as additional food trucks. The catering had been moved to create more covered areas near to the barn and this worked well during the frequent downpours.

The highlights were the two Sea Power sets. The first was a general festival set, with Clari from Mary in the Junkyard guesting on Lovely Day Tomorrow. On the Sunday night Sea Power played Decline in full with former member Eamon making an appearance and reliving his forays into the crowd with a drum. The bear was back too.

Whilst I’d be happy enough even if the line up went no deeper than Sea Power, Mary in the Junkyard, Bill Ryder-Jones and BC Camplight were also well worth seeing.

On the Saturday afternoon I nipped out to watch a game in the fourteenth-tier Furness Premier Division. It was taking place at Wilson Park in Haverigg which is around a twenty-five minute drive from Muncaster Castle.  Wilson Park is also the home of Millom Rugby Union Club and has pitches for rugby, football and touring caravans. The park has a great backdrop of some hills. There weren’t any stands, but one corner had a rail that I was able to lean against.

Haverigg have had a mixed start to the season and went into the game in the lower half of the table, whilst visitors Vickerstown sat at the top with three wins and a draw from their opening five fixtures.

As you might expect at this level, there weren’t many spectators. I counted a total of sixteen that watched some part of the game, but most of those paid a fleeting visit, often as part of a dog walk. Only six of us were there to watch the game in full and all apart from me were well-known to the players.

The ref looked well into his sixties, but had a good game. He took no lip from anyone and was quick to highlight that he was more than happy to sin bin anyone questioning his decisions.

Most of the meaningful action took place in the first half. Vickerstown took the lead a quarter of an hour in with a well-placed shot just inside the post. Haverigg levelled five minutes later when a long-range free kick was palmed up in the air by the Vickerstown keeper, only for it to drop behind him into the net.

The biggest talking point, between the players at least, was a Haverigg shot a minute from half-time that hit the underside of the bar and may, or may not, have crossed the line. Like so many of those commenting, I was too far away to have a worthwhile opinion.

With two minutes of the second half remaining a Vickerstown shot was parried by the Haverigg keeper and the rebound was tucked away to clinch the three points. It was hard luck on the home goalie who had kept his side in the game with some top notch saves. That’s how it goes sometimes. I made the short drive back to Muncaster for the teatime sets.

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Workington AFC v Warrington Rylands, Tuesday 25th August 2026, 7.45pm

August 29, 2026

It’s that time of the year when Jen and I head over to the Lake District for Sea Power’s Krankenhaus Festival. This time we are staying in Ravenglass, so it is a short walk through the woods to the festival site at Muncaster Castle.

The house that we are staying in backs onto the Ravenglass Estuary which, tides permitting, makes an excellent place for walking the dog.

I’d identified an interesting game in the first week from a ground hopping perspective. Workington are moving to a new stadium, but it won’t be ready until next season. I went to a game at their old stadium, Borough Park, last year when we were over here for Krankenhaus 2025. This year Workington are temporarily playing their home fixtures at Derwent Park, home of the town’s rugby league team.

That stadium dates back to 1956 and looks its age. As well as rugby league, it has also hosted speedway intermittently over the years. The perimeter track has been covered over in places, but it is easy to imagine the bikes lapping the pitch.

The fixture that I was attending was in the seventh-tier Northern Premier League Premier Division. It’s the same division that Stockton Town and Redcar Athletic are currently in. Admission was fifteen quid on the gate with another three pounds each for a programme and parking.

I think fifteen pounds for tier seven is a bit on the steep side and as the attendance was only 638, maybe I’ve a point. I wonder whether charging, say, a tenner, would have a beneficial impact on numbers and revenue?

I started off in the main stand which dated back to the days when view obscuring stanchions were in fashion. There were enough empty seats for me to pick a spot where I could see both goals. Visitors Warrington Rylands, who I believe started out as a factory team, went ahead after eight minutes. The goal revealed that many of those sat around me were away fans. Everyone got on ok though, despite the overt celebrations.

The main talking point was the sending off of a Rylands player close to half-time. No one was really sure of what he did or that he had actually been red-carded, but we didn’t see him again and he wasn’t replaced.

At half-time I moved to the terraced stand on the opposite side. I stopped at the toilets in the old stand first which had no lighting for that true old school experience. On my way I bought  a cheeseburger. It wasn’t the best and perhaps provided an indication of why most people were opting for hot dogs or chips.

Despite being a man down, Rylands doubled their lead five minutes after the restart.  Their two-goal advantage was short lived though as Workington halved the deficit with a screamer from distance. Five minutes later, the home side levelled from a free kick on the edge of the box. The turnaround energized the kiddie ultras at the far end of the terrace and prompted a run of drum led chants.

As we entered the final stages of the game the momentum was with Workington and with two minutes remaining, they headed home from a flicked-on corner to take the points. Rylands went down to nine players before the end after a second red card and no doubt felt hard done by.

I left the stadium at the full-time whistle to a chorus from the home fans of “Two nil and you fucked it up”. A harsh, but accurate summation of events.

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Askam Utd v Crooklands Casuals, Saturday 23rd August 2025, 11am

September 5, 2025

The August Bank Holiday weekend is rapidly becoming associated, for me at least, with Sea Power’s Krankenhaus Festival. This will be the fifth one that they’ve held at Muncaster Castle and Jen and I have been to them all. The first one, back in 2019, had fewer than four hundred attendees and probably many of them were gatecrashers who had been alerted to the complete lack of security.

This year the capacity had reached fifteen hundred and that’s as high as I’d like it to go. Part of its charm is the lack of crowds and, whilst I appreciate the need for it to at least break even, it was very full inside the barn for the higher profile bands.

Despite the increased capacity, the festival was still a success. Hamish Hawk was very well received, as he had been last time he appeared. I can’t really understand how he isn’t bigger. There was a short performance from Stewart Lee, prior to him introducing The Nightingales. I wondered if he might struggle a bit as most of his humour relies on slow burning build ups and looping back to previous references. I needn’t have worried, as he nailed it.

The highlight though was Sea Power. It always is. For their Friday night performance, I started off a few feet from the stage, but it got too hot and after being clonked on the head by a surprisingly heavy wooden owl that was being dangled from a fishing rod, I moved to the colder air outside the barn and watched the rest of the set from there.

We stayed offsite, in a small place near Santon Bridge. It was ideal for a Sunday morning walk along a Forestry Commission path to Mitterdale. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife other than a few sheep and I’m not sure that they count. As you’d expect, the views were great. When the path became boggy, we called it a day and turned around, but the six-mile stroll with plenty of ascent was worth doing.

Unsurprisingly, I took in a football game. I’d originally planned to head up to Whitehaven, but their 3pm kick-off would have meant missing Hamish Hawk. For an alternative I found a game that was kicking off at 11am as part of a groundhopping weekend. It was at Askham and involved an hour-long drive down some country lanes that were barely wide enough for one car, never mind two.

It was a fiver to get in and that included a programme and a team sheet, something that a lot of groundhoppers regard as essential to their experience.

Inclusion on a groundhopper tour significantly boosted the attendance. There were close to four hundred people there, mostly blokes on their own and of a similar age to me. The club had pulled out all of the stops to provide facilities and hopefully make a few bob from the day.

There was a small stall with Askam merchandise, including shirts that were presumably last season’s match kits. Further along, someone had two full tables of pin badges. He also had replicas of the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup trophies. Selfies could be taken with the trophies at a pound a pop. An outdoor bar sold cans of beer and soft drinks but I resisted all of the spending opportunities until I reached the food stall where I spent my cash on a bacon and egg roll instead.

The Duddon Road ground doesn’t have any stands or seating, although there were a few picnic tables along one side of the pitch. There are houses along two sides of the pitch and some picturesque views of the sea behind one goal and the hills behind the touchline with the picnic tables.

It was a grass pitch and after the summer that we’ve had was mainly yellow and in need of some rain. It would have benefitted from some levelling too, with one section in particular sloping upwards towards the corner flag.

The fixture was in the twelfth-tier Division One of the West Lancashire League. According to the programme, Askam hadn’t been doing too well so far this season, but they had most of the early possession and better chances.

Crocklands took the lead against the run of play a quarter of an hour in, when a third effort was driven home after the keeper had beaten out the previous two attempts at goal.

Askam stepped up the pace in the second half but despite the pressure couldn’t force an equalizer. Most of the crowd moved on to Dalton for their second game of a three match Saturday itinerary, whilst I headed back up the road to Muncaster with sufficient time in hand for Hamish Hawk’s afternoon set.

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Workington v Hebburn Town, Monday 26th August 2024, 3pm

November 23, 2024

Krankenhaus was done for another year. It really is a wonderful festival and has grown from around three hundred attendees five years ago to twelve hundred or so this year, which is big enough for me. The very friendly vibe is probably enhanced by the number of dogs that come along. Plus, Sea Power aficionados tend to be some of the nicest people around. I don’t think I saw anyone being a dickhead the entire weekend.

The highlights were the Sea Power sets themselves and for their Sunday night performance we got a mellow rarities set, drawing heavily on Hamilton’s songs. All it would have needed for perfection would have been a rendition of Lovely Day Tomorrow.

I hope that the festival has started to turn a profit and that it helps to keep them going. I’d miss gigs like the two that we got from them this weekend.

As we were staying at Muncaster for the rest of the week, I had the opportunity to take in a match on the Bank Holiday Monday at Borough Park in Workington. It was a fixture in the seventh tier Premier Division of the Northern Premier League.

I can remember when Workington were a Football League club. It’s forty-seven years since they were replaced by Wimbledon in the penultimate season of the bottom four in Division Four having to apply for re-election. I don’t remember Bill Shankly managing them though, that was before my time. Visitors Hebburn Town are ex-Northern League and have done well to advance two steps since those days.

It was thirteen quid admission, which seems high for tier seven, but maybe that’s my age. Why can’t I still buy a car for a farthing? The turnstile was impressive in an old rickety way, as was almost all the ground. The dugouts seemed modern, which is a shame, as I’d hoped to have imagined Shankly sat in one of them. I still did, but had to put in the extra effort to imagine the dugout too.

The capacity of the ground was limited to three thousand, with seating for around five hundred in the old main stand. With time to spare before kick-off I got myself a programme and joined the queue for one of those curly sausages that always remind me of a particular style of dog turd. It came with mash and gravy and tasted better than it looked. It was announced before kick-off that Workington had signed Efe Ambrose who had turned out for Celtic in the past and who had more than fifty Nigerian caps. He wasn’t available for this game.

After watching from the seats for a while I toured the rest of Borough Park and had spells watching from behind each goal.

Hebburn had the best of the opening exchanges, blazing a shot over the bar early on and then taking a first half lead with a shot that the Workington goalie got a hand to and should probably have kept out. It looked as if that would be sufficient for Hebburn to see the game out but a break down the right ten minutes from time led to an equaliser. The move was repeated four minutes later and to the delight of all those around me, including a dog, Workington went ahead.

Hebburn understandably weren’t happy about the changed circumstances and their day deteriorated further when a fella picked up a second yellow soon afterwards. All Workington had to do after that was run down the clock and they managed it easily enough.

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Millom ARLFC v Normanton Knights, Saturday 24th August 2024, 2.30pm

November 14, 2024

As we’d now reached the weekend, Krankenhaus was well under way. It’s the fourth time that the festival has been held and Jen and I have been fortunate enough to attend them all. Harry and Isla were also there two years ago and came in with us and Soph on the Friday afternoon this time.

It’s a chilled, friendly atmosphere and I’ve little inclination these days to attend any festivals that are bigger or rowdier.

Highlight of the Friday was Sea Power’s set. But it always is. Whilst the other bands were decent, I’d be happy if the three-day festival comprised of nothing more than a single Sea Power performance each day. There’s enough going on to fill my time in Muncaster Castle and on a Saturday afternoon there’s always some football on somewhere.

I popped in pre-match on the Saturday and watched a Hector Gannet lunchtime set whilst Harry was still in bed before returning to the house to pick him up and drive south to Millom.

We were there to watch a football game in the West Lancashire league, but on arrival there was already a crowd of around four hundred watching a rugby league game on an adjacent pitch. Millom Amateur Rugby League Club contends to be the oldest rugby league club in the world. I’ve no reason to doubt their claim, particularly as my knowledge of the support is so limited that this was the first ever fixture that I’d seen live.

A little research revealed that the game was in the sixth tier of English rugby which is Division Two of the National Conference. Millom were fighting to avoid the drop to Division Three and badly needed a win against visitors Normanton Knights.

Harry plays Union for Stockton and found the six-tackle League format interesting. It means you have to concentrate more when watching as you need to know how close the attacking side is to the six-tackle limit.

I’m not sure all of the crowd were counting the tackles, as a lot were focusing on their pints and the socialising that comes with a big game on a Bank Holiday weekend. Others were watching from their houses across the road, which gave a great view of the match from their front gardens and upstairs windows.

It was all very good natured on the pitch despite the relegation fears and an even first half ended with the sides level at twelve points each. Normanton went ahead in the second half before Millom took control and ran in three tries for a 30-18 win that kept their hopes of avoiding the drop alive.

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Kendal Town v Newcastle Benfield, Saturday 17th August 2024, 3pm

September 20, 2024

I rarely go to music festivals these days but make an exception for Krankenhaus as it is run by Sea Power and, if nothing else, it means I get to see them play twice in a weekend. It’s held at Muncaster Castle in the Lake District. At least I think it’s the Lakes, although I’m never really sure where the boundaries stop and start.

We’ve camped at Krankenhaus twice before, but the rain last year lessened the enjoyment, especially for Jen, and so this year we returned to a house that we’d stayed in a couple of years ago. We took Soph’s beagle, Henry, and the highlight of the fortnight for him was when four trail hounds detoured from the fells into our garden. He had found his tribe. Unfortunately, it became less of a highlight for him when his tribe found the bone that he’d been enjoying and disappeared up the lane with it. It’s a dog’s life.

On the drive down to Muncaster, we broke the journey in Kendal. And what do you know? There was a football game going on. Who’d have thought that might happen? Jen spent a couple of hours wandering around the town whilst Henry and I took in the FA Cup Preliminary Round fixture between Kendal Town and Newcastle Benfield.

It was seven quid to get in and we settled into the back row of seats behind the goal at the clubhouse end. Henry spent most of the first half sleeping, perking up only if someone carrying a burger or a tray of chips made their way in our direction.

Both sides currently turn out in Division One of the Northern League. Newcastle Benfield have been there for the past twenty years, but it’s a new experience for Kendal Town who were moved laterally at the start of the season from the Premier Division of the Northwest Counties League. I suspect that travelling to the Northeast for most of their fixtures will soon wear a bit thin.

It will be interesting to see how Kendal get on in the Northern League. I’ve a suspicion that the standard is dropping with some many of the former Northern League clubs now making their way higher up the pyramid.

There were four stands dotted around the Parkside Road ground. In addition to the seats behind the goal where Henry and I had taken up residence, there were two stands along the side to our right and a small fourth covered area to our left. Whilst there were a few people in that stand, its main function was for storing lawnmowers.

The Mintcakes should have gone a goal to the good early on from a penalty, but it was struck a little too close to the Benfield keeper and he was able to keep it out.

There weren’t a lot of chances in the remainder of the first half, but just before the break a cross from the left was tapped in by a visiting striker to put Benfield one-up. He celebrated by shushing the home crowd and was rewarded with a volley of abuse, most of which suggested that he might like to promptly return to the Northeast.

At half-time I walked Henry across to the sloped grassy area just beyond the lawnmower storage stand and we watched the remainder of the game from there. The levels of niggle, if that’s a thing, increased and the visiting coach or manager was sent from his dugout to a spot on the rail behind the goal. It didn’t seem to reduce his ability to coach and probably gave him an advantage when Benfield had a corner.

One of the highlights of the second half was when the lino flagged for offside from a throw-in. He got some stick from those still on the Benfield bench for that decision and sheepishly lowered his flag as soon as he realised his mistake.

Kendal drew level with a quarter of an hour to go. I saw the ball crossed into the box but missed the finish as I’d glanced down to see what Henry was rolling in. Fox shit, I suspect.

I was paying better attention when the shushing striker notched his second goal of the afternoon, heading home from close range in added time to put Benfield one step closer to Wembley.

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Gosforth v Moor Row, Saturday 7th September 2019, 2pm

November 29, 2019

Ticking off this ground was a bit unexpected in that I’d no idea that there was a game taking place until I noticed the players running around as we drove past on the way to a different match. We had plenty of time though and I pulled in and parked up to take a few photos.

Jen and I were staying down the road at Muncaster for British Sea Power’s Krankenhaus festival and had spent the morning walking up on Muncaster Fell. It’s somewhere that I‘ve been to before and we had decent views both inland and out to sea. Further up the coast we could see Sellafield which was somewhere that I first worked at nearly thirty years ago.

Back in those days I stayed just outside of Gosforth and would regularly drink in all of the three pubs that are within a few feet of each other in the village. Sometimes the sessions would go on a bit longer than I’d consider wise these days and on more than one occasion I ended up going straight to work without ever making it back to my digs.

It wasn’t all drinking though, sometimes we had a kick about after work on the same field as where this game was taking place. Although we would usually then end up in the pub anyway so perhaps it was all about the drinking after all.

I learned from one of the home coaching team that this was a cup game against Moor Row, which is a few miles to the north. I’ve no idea what level the teams play at but it looked to be lower than Wearside League standard so maybe 12th or 13th tier. Anyway, I later found out that the cup was the Conway Cup and despite me hanging about for a good ten minutes I didn’t see any of the seven goals that Gosforth subsequently put past the visitors.

Still, it’s another ground, number three hundred and thirty to be precise, and it gave me a chance to reminisce about the times when concluding an evening at seven o’clock meant the next morning rather than early that same evening.

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