So, we come to end of 2020, and what a different year it has been with the Pandemic hitting us in March. The Pandemic has had a major impact on the sport in generally and particularly on grass roots clubs like ourselves, I would like to thank all our volunteers, playing members and parents who have helped across 2020.

There are a few people that I would like to personally thank for their volunteer work over the last 12-18 months.

Chris Shattock
His work within the club probably goes unnoticed by most, as he manages the club house and bar making sure that it is in full working order. He has over past year worked on the refurbishment of the club house, the kitchen is completed, and other projects are in the pipeline, also he has ensured the club house has been COVID compliant in the short time we have been able to use it.

Elliot Barling
Mr Barling work across the club is immense, he has for a few seasons now been our Umpire Liaison Officer, ensure that we all have umpires for our senior games on a Saturday and has amazing support from our umpiring pool. Secondly this season he has returned to coaching, taking on the U16 Girls as well as running the Ladies Club Training Sessions and his willingness to help wherever he can across all sections of the club, and step in where he can. And finally, he is the only club member to have purchased a full set of available club merchandise…….

Graham Locker
Graham took over club secretary from Matt White for the season I am sure he never envisaged what was coming with the Pandemic. His work on ensuring we have followed the right protocols to enable us to get back on the pitch when possible and ensuring that all relevant data was sent to England Hockey on time. He also ensured that we where kept informed of all Boris ramblings and ensuring that all our members where kept up to date with the latest changes/updates that we needed to follow. Thank you Captain COVID

Fixture Secretaries
Our joint fixture secretaries Baz and Graham have been amazing, taking on this role this season I am sure they never expected this situation. They have excellent at sorting the games for our senior section, with the delayed start, the challenge around pitches, lockdown and then a short re-start. Thanks for all your help.

Our Coaches
Next our coaches, whether they coach in the senior or junior sections the added challenges the Pandemic has brough with in it 2020. The junior coaches especially have done an excellent job ensuring our juniors have been able to get as much Hockey has been great. A couple of special mentions for Adam Price who joined us this year as our Directory of Junior Hockey and he has had a major impact on our juniors, secondly Rob MacRae who as well as stepping in to be the lead coach for the U10 Girls and assisting with the U14 Girls, he has assisted in managing the every growing Junior Fixture List, not easy at the best of times. The impact you have all had is shown by our every increasing numbers and the success we are showing on the pitch.

Our Umpires
The ones who are quite often forgotten, without them we cannot play Hockey. Our pool of umpires continues to diminish, so the remainder of the pool have done an excellent job ensuring all our games go ahead, with some of our umpires doing 2 or 3 games on a Saturday on occasions. They all deserve our thanks, and when we can a beer after the game.

The Committee
Also a big thank you to the rest of the committee for the their support during this year, that includes our Treasurer, Welfare Officer, Club and team captains – your work over this year is greatly valued by myself and the rest of the committee and the club members.

A final thank you to one of our members who has given up a lot of time without being asked, Justin Protheroe, as well as sponsoring our coaches and some of our men's 1's kit he has assisted in junior and ladies coaching and has a positive impact on both. His positivity around them all has been second to none.

The club will be handing out as a thank you small gifts in the New Year to all our volunteers

So here is to a better 2021, it will I suspect start in Lockdown – but let’s start to plan for the whole year and what we can do to ensure we get to play the Sport we love. If you have any ideas, then please let the committee know.

See you in 2021

Chair