So we set off once again from our base camp on Sunshine Mountain to face the arduous slog of a Saturday afternoon versus Halifax. Back when God was a boy, a fixture between the old Bradford Club and Halifax was probably one of the most prestigious fixtures in Yorkshire. To back up this statement, I have been scrabbling about amongst the usual debris found in her drawers, and found details of two epic encounters between Bradford and Halifax which were the Yorkshire Cup Final and its subsequent replay.

It appears to have been a Monday night at Cross Green in April 1968 when the two sides locked horns in the fight for the Owd Tin Pot as it was known. That epic struggle finished 3 points apiece. So the sides were dragged back to Otley the following night, Tuesday 30th April, to fight again. The replay was a high scoring affair, with Bradford thrashing their opponents in blue and white by eight points to six.

How times change. Here we are 47 years later shaping to do battle in Yorkshire Division 2 as we peer up the sheer rock face of sunshine mountain, with thoughts of glamorous tussles for Yorkshire Cup glory, long gone.

So before I get too morose. Here is a poem:

There is a proverb and a prayer with all, That we may not to three strange places fall;
From Hull, from Hell, from Halifax, ’tis this, From all these three, Good Lord, deliver us.
This praying proverb’s meaning to set down, Men do not wish deliverance from the town; The town’s named Kingston, Hull’s the furious river;
And from Halifax’s dangers, I say, Lord, deliver.
At Halifax, the law so sharp doth deal, That whoso more than 13 pence doth steal;
They have a gyn that wondrous, quick and well, Sends thieves all headless unto Heaven or Hell.
From Hell each man says Lord, deliver me. Because from Hell can no redemption be.
Men may escape from Hull and Halifax, But sure in Hell, there is not heavier tax.

Let each one for themselves in this agree, And pray – from Hell, Good Lord, deliver me.

So what do we know about this week’s fixture?

The Bees shape up for the game with two wins from two to open the season; the men from beyond Queensbury have sadly been on the wrong end of two sticks - in the season opener the lost at Huddersfield Laund Hill 43 - 22 and then succumbed to Bridlington in their home debut, 20 points to 29. You will possibly have noticed that in both defeats Halifax managed to score four tries and have secured bonus points from both fixtures, which means they are the highest placed of the five teams yet to taste victory.

You may be asking what are the Bees doing differently this season to get themselves off to their best start for bout a decade. Well, the secret sauce, worked out by Coach Ali Macdonald after countless hours of study, is that we now score more points than the opposition.

The news coming from the changing rooms is that we have probably got our strongest squad of ghee season shaping up for Saturday, but lets not get ahead of ourselves...as a wiser owl than me once said, may the better team win.