OVER 2 YOU 235 (14/06/05)

POLOWARE

Can anyone suggest a solution for creating a polo Club Chukka list? A chukka is the 7-minute playing period after which ponies are changed. Club chukkas are for practice, where there are no set teams, but anyone who wants to play is included, and teams (of four) are made up generally at random.

Factors which have to be considered are: number of chukkas required (maximum 2 per pony); any pony must have at least a one chukka gap between chukkas, to rest - preferably longer, and early or late chukkas, to suit players that need to leave early, or arrive late). It has to accommodate awkward requests, such as players wanting to play in the same side. The list has to identify the player’s side and colour of shirt, (or bib), which may be different for every chukka. The list needs to define the player’s names and shirt colour, chukka number and horse's name. There are normally 4 players to a team, sometimes three, very occasionally five.

Howard Richardson, Attridges Polo Club, Felsted, Essex

I haven’t come across any polo specific programs as such but I am sure that someone has developed such an application or a spreadsheet and the place to start looking would be websites like: www.polonews.com/, www.uk-polo.co.uk/ and the Hurlingham Polo Association at: www.hpa-polo.co.uk/. These sites list a huge number of polo related resources and expert forums where you could post your query. There’s also a low-tech solution in the form of a wall-mounted notice board, called Chukker Organiser and you can find more information on that at:

www.thechukkercollection.com/

W. Barnes, via email

Sportsdraw, an online sports competition draw and league fixture program at: www.sportsdraw.co.uk, can handle the problem. Sportsdraw is presently used by a large number of sports clubs including Golf, Bowls, Hockey, Football, Squash, Tennis and Rugby Clubs.  If your correspondent would like to email me details of one of their recent chukka lists I will do a typical random draw for them free of charge.

Len Thompson, len@sportsdraw.co.uk

MUSICAL GARDENING

Whilst gardening I like to listen to music but I also need to be able to listen out for the phone and doorbell, and I cannot find a neighbour-friendly way to do this. Ideally I would like to have a portable MP3 player, with the facility to interrupt the music when someone phones or rings the doorbell. Does anyone know of a device, or can suggest a combination of components that could achieve this?

Chris Crockett, via email

Your correspondent could approach his problem from the other direction. A cordless phone will work fine in the garden as will a cordless doorbell (we have one which usually lives on a mounting stand but which can be taken off and carried around the house).

John Dean, Headington, Oxford

While it is hardly rocket science, the way I deal with Mr. Crocket’s situation (plus my being somewhat hard of hearing) is to enable Call Forwarding (a service provided by the my mobile phone operator for a small charge) from the house telephone to my mobile. This has a vibration alert, which is easily felt when it is strapped to my belt. I also have a “wireless doorbell” I bought in Singapore recently, which comprises a battery-powered transmitter and a loud electronic portable doorbell, which I have near me in the garden.  I assume something similar is available in the UK.

Eric Stride, Paphos, Cyprus

POLISH PASS

My father-in-law (a soldier) died recently and in his papers we found a "Wehrpass" a sort of passport belonging to a WW2 German soldier, all in perfect condition. It would be nice if we could restore this booklet to the present generation of this man's family. It's written in German, some of it in the old "Gothic" script. Although a German soldier it looks as if he could have been from a Polish family. We do not have any knowledge of either the Polish or German languages. Could any reader, help us in our research by directing us to appropriate web sites etc. either here, Germany or Poland.

Eric Blackburn, Stockton on Tees

The Wehrpass is an army record book belonging to a member of the Wehrmacht. I have not seen one of these before but I did attempt to contact the owner of a Post Office savings book belonging to a member of the Luftwaffe. This had the advantage of the owner's name and address, enabling me to get in touch with the local town hall. Noting that Mr Blackburn has no knowledge of German I could possibly help by translating the information on the Wehrpass as a first step, if he has no one locally able to do this for him.

Oliver le Maistre, via email (address forwarded)

CAN YOU HELP?

My company’s aviation briefing always starts with an accurate time check. Can anyone suggest a website that displays a continuous time readout, in hours-minutes-seconds, from an accurate source, in other words not the computers own clock?

John Tybjerg, via email

In the early years of the war, a German pilot parachuted out on the moors close to my parent’s farm near Pateley Bridge in North Yorkshire. He followed the stream down from the moor, and our house was the first one to see. In full flight dress, he knocked on the door

In true Yorkshire hospitality, my parents took him in an gave him a good meal, following which my father walked the two miles to report the matter to the local policemen who duly came and took the pilot away. I often wondered what happened to this individual, and would like to make contact with him or his family. Does anyone know of a website or organisation that I could use to research people who were taken prisoner by the British?

David A. Fryer, Leeds