Polo My Story

This story belongs to Lily

and her Baba Bryn.

It's a tiny tale about Baba Bryn's life and the things he used to do.

That looks like fun! Giddy-up, Baba!

LILY LAUGHS

And now it is time for Baba Bryn to share his memories

and take Lily on a journey of discovery.

Lily and Baba Bryn live in a country far away called Kenya,

which is in Africa.

Baba means "Daddy" in Swahili, which is a language spoken in Kenya.

They live on this great big farm,

where they have lots and lots of horses.

They also have lots of these special African cows

and Lily is going to tell us who else lives there.

This is my Mama

and my naughty sister, Coco.

Whee!

Lily and Coco are sisters and the best of friends.

THEY LAUGH

Look at this lovely place.

Lily, this is a very secret place.

I built it specially for your mama.

Do you know why it's so special?

Yes, cos you and Mama married here

and I had my christening here.

And Lily, you know when we had your christening here it was so special.

Cos there was water full of lily pads.

-Yeah, and do you know why we had lilies?

-Why?

-Because you're a Lily.

-Yeah.

What were you like, Baba, when you were a little boy?

I was just like you, Lily, when I was a little boy.

I loved horses.

I grew up here on the farm and we were very, very lucky,

because we never knew life without horses.

And I was very lucky to be able to do Pony Club Camp.

We would go and camp on someone's farm

or someone's ranch in the middle of nowhere

and we would then look after our horses

and play lots of games

and see all our friends

and have so much fun.

This old film of Pony Club Camp is from Great Britain.

These camps happen in all parts of the world,

just like the ones Baba Bryn went to as a boy in Kenya.

And then, Baba Bryn talked some more

about how their family came to live on the farm.

Grandpa George, a very long time ago, left Wales

and he went all the way around the world,

a very, very long way, and he ended up here,

in East Africa, on the northern slopes of Mount Kenya,

where he bought this beautiful farm where we live today.

And he loved his horses.

And he taught so many people how to ride.

Let's go and meet one of the people that Lily's Great-grandpa George

taught to ride a very long time ago.

This is Rose.

Jambo!

Jambo means "hello" in Swahili.

When Rose was a little girl like Lily,

Great-grandpa George taught her to ride.

Many years later, Rose taught Baba Bryn to ride

and now she's teaching Lily, and Coco, too.

Good. Right, Lily, leave your reins and hold your hands right out now.

Right out. Leave your reins.

Because Lily and Coco are still learning to ride,

they're being led by Henry and Josh,

who work alongside Rose and the horses.

And good. Right, go to the top now, get your ends. That's it.

Lily's pony is called Gemini.

Coco's pony is called Sandstorm.

All right, Lily, you can walk.

Lily's been riding since she was two years old,

just like Baba Bryn and Mama Tara.

This is an old photo of Mama Tara on her pony when she was only three.

Up. And right back. Right back, Coco.

Right back. Right back. That's it.

Rose is helping the girls to learn how to balance well on their ponies.

Round the world you go, both of you.

Right, and forward.

Thanks for the lesson, Rose.

And, thanks to Henry and Josh for looking after the girls

and making sure they didn't take a tumble.

Learning to ride is lots of fun.

After the lesson,

Lily's pony needs to be cooled down and given a good brush.

This is called grooming.

Do you think he likes that? I think he's smiling at you, isn't he?

That's good.

Great brushing, Lily!

Well done, Lily. He's looking so smart now.

(Lovely.)

Lovely!

Baba Bryn loved his first pony, too.

His name was Scotty and it was given to him by Rose.

It was a Shetland pony, a bit like the ones in this old film.

I was as old as Coco when I had Scotty.

Scotty was such an amazing little pony

and he was my best friend.

Baba Bryn still loves to ride ponies

and he loves to play a sport called polo.

Polo is one of the oldest sports in the world.

This very old picture shows people playing polo hundreds of years ago.

Two teams of players ride on ponies.

They have to hit a ball with a stick to score goals.

The game can be very fast and the ponies love running and turning.

Lily's Great-grandpa George used to play polo

and so did her Grandpa Tim.

Now, Baba Bryn plays polo, too.

Here he is in these old pictures.

Baba Bryn is taking Lily

to look at some of the things that are needed to play polo.

-Baba.

-Yeah? So, I'm going to tell you a story now, OK,

all about our family with the polo.

And my Grandpa George, your Great-grandpa George,

used to play with this polo stick.

And also, Grandpa Tim played with that polo stick.

Here's an old photo of Grandpa Tim.

He's Baba Bryn's Daddy.

And why does it... Oopsie!

Why does it have this tape?

It has the tape there so that the bottom area is protected.

-And you see the stick is made from bamboo?

-Yeah.

And this was probably made in India a long, long time ago.

And this one is now my stick.

-And whose name has it got on it?

-Baba.

The stick has Baba's real name on it - it's Bryn.

That's a Welsh name because, remember,

Great-grandpa George came all the way from Wales.

And then, whose polo stick is this?

-My naughty sister's!

-No way!

-Yes!

-And whose was it before?

-Mine!

-Shall we now look at the hats from a long time ago?

-Yes.

So, when Great-grandpa George and Grandpa Tim played polo,

they used this hat.

-Do you want to try it on?

-Yeah.

That is from a long, long time ago.

-Is it comfy?

-Yes.

And this is Mama's hat.

What does it have going round the side?

A Masai thing.

A Masai beading, doesn't it?

Because we're from Kenya, aren't we?

Let's try it on. And I bet you...

-Is that the nicest hat of them all?

-Yeah.

-The most important part of polo is the horses, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Shall we do three cheers for the horses? Hip, hip...

-Hooray!

BOTH: Hip, hip, hooray!

-Hip, hip...

-Hooray!

And now, Lily is going to see Baba Bryn and Mama Tara

play a game of polo at an old polo ground.

This is where her Grandpa Tim used to play polo, too.

Baba Bryn is in one team and Mama Tara is in the other.

They're lining up for what's called a throw-in.

Lily is going to throw the ball between the teams to start the game

but Lily makes sure she stays at a safe distance.

The teams are trying to hit the ball through the red goalposts.

CHEERING

Goal!

Yes! Baba Bryn's team have scored.

Mama Tara has scored, too!

Yes, another goal for the Reds!

APPLAUSE

BELL RINGS

The game is over, but which team won?

Baba won.

-And here's your cup.

-Thanks, Lily Lou.

-Mama lose, and here's your spoon.

-Thanks, Lily.

In polo, and some other sports,

the losing team are given a wooden spoon as their prize.

How strange!

And now it's time for Lily

to have some polo fun of her own with her friends.

Nice shot, Lily.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Well done, Clinton! What a goal!

-Come on, Lily!

-Come on, Lily!

-Come on!

-Go, Lily! Go, Lily!

Well done, Lily.

WHISTLE BLOWS

THEY CHEER

Better luck next time, Lily.

And now the whole family are off

for a lovely ride round the farm together.

There's plenty to see on the way.

COWS MOO

Wow, those birds look like they're on trampolines.

Baba Bryn and Lily have come back to the house with Coral, the dog.

Thank you, Baba, for a lovely day.

My pleasure, Lily.

We did so many different things. Can you remember everything we did?

We went to Rose's and had all of our riding lessons.

And I groomed my pony.

And I tried on my Grandpa George's polo hat.

We watched Baba and Mama play polo

and I rang the bell.

And we all went round the farm for a ride.

And so, what was your most favourite part?

Having a lesson with Rose.

And I loved having special time with you.

What a fabulous heap of fun.

That was Lily and her Baba Bryn's tiny tale

about the things Baba Bryn used to do and his love of ponies.

Now Baba Bryn has shared his story with Lily,

it's time for a Lily to start her own story.

Do you know someone who has a story to share?