As the year comes to an end and we turn our thought to Christmas and the New Year, admittedly a different Christmas than we might have been planning, but Christmas nevertheless, I thought it might be appropriate to reflect briefly on Hockey 2020 and the reasons to be proud to belong to such a truly family orientated inclusive club!

In the first few months of the year we had much to celebrate, from the men’s and ladies excellent indoor performances to the many successes of our juniors both individually and in their respective teams. My husband Roy and I watched some excellent ladies and men’s first and second XI games as well as marvelling at the progress of the juniors in the ladies Acorns.

Throughout the club quite a few teams were looking good for promotion, and then came the announcement of the pandemic and lockdown No 1. The leagues left in suspension, the end of season dinner cancelled, the Vets tournament cancelled (the first time in 37 years), our ladies hockey tour to Barcelona, cancelled, as were a number of other junior and senior tours. Ever resourceful, we managed to hold our end of season awards events and AGMs online but it wasn’t the same.

Once lockdown was eased a select team of men and ladies with the support of the hockey and cricket section spent the summer redecorating the Vine and refurbishing the kitchens and doing what they could to ready the clubhouse for the start of the season. And what a great job they did as we saw for ourselves on Friday and Saturday evenings as we embraced the ‘new normal’, enjoying sunshine and a glass ( or two) of wine watching cricket on the Vine.

Come the start of the season, and permission from England hockey to resume competitive hockey, the Committee had done a fantastic job in making sure we were well placed to comply with the social distancing requirements and Lynn had done a similarly fantastic job readying the pitch for the fresh onslaught. And for a couple of months it felt almost normal, with great performances from many of the teams and a fantastic turn out for all training sessions as well as Saturday and Sunday junior hockey (seeing all those eager and enthusiastic mini’s supported by a fine array of junior coaches is definitely something to warm the heart). But just as we were starting to relax and enjoy, along came lockdown No 2. While we enjoyed a few days of respite at the beginning of December with training resumed, a few internal games, 100s of juniors turning out on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and even the odd competitive game with a team in the same tier, it wasn’t to last! I’m especially disappointed as the Taylor family were really looking forward to the Boxing day hockey seven-a-side run around, and regaining our trophy! Let’s hope we will see a resumption of some games in the new year, and of course fingers crossed for the Vets festival!

So as we hunker down to enjoy our more muted Christmas festivities I’d like to thank the Committee, Coaches, Players and Parents and all the people who have lent their support and wish you all good health and happiness.

Karen Taylor
SHC President