b'Harehill hand of friendshipDave BessellRobert Singleton Kenny RoyleWesley Behan View from the pub car park.MarkDarrenBirchall Curt Jones Andy Hall JohnStone Sitting in the car outside the pub before going in, Marc and I each drew a deep Willingam breath and wished ourselves luck - after all, this did not look like the cosiest ofPaul Chapel establishments, the clientele we watched going in were invariably youngish, Andy male and lived on the estate and there was no conceivable reason why they Brichall Vicky Jay Behan should take a shine to two middle-class southern softies from what some call a Singleton posh paper.Steve Ronnie FoxHeaton Craig Escott We could not have been more wrong. Far more than cooperative, they were really warm and hospitable and proud of where they were from and the celebrity athlete who was a product of their own upbringing. It got to the point that they were thanking us for coming - as if we had done them a favour - and then the father of Steve Heaton started insisting that we stay the night for free in one of the rooms upstairs. And it was not easy to persuade him to take no for an answer!To cap it all: this story afforded me the rare and blissful opportunity to file an expenses claim for 47.45, accounting for eight pints of Guinness, seven lagers and seven bitters. And for the bean counters in The Times expenses department who would never normally let this get past them, the evidence was all there in the words and the pictures.Owenpage 20'