After the excitement of the Diamond Jubilee, Le Tour, the Olympics, the Paralympicsand the recent thrilling exploits in the USA of Andy Murray and Rory McIlroy things get even better this Saturday with the welcome opening of another hockey league season! This is strictly true for most of our teams with the Ladies’ 5ths and 6ths and Girls and Boys Development having to wait another week.

The Ladies’ 1sts, after a good pre-season, will start their fourteenth successive season (in this spell) in the England Hockey national league with the long trip to play Oxford Hawks (12.00), over whom they completed the double in 2011/12. The team is again led by Nick McAllen (manager) and Charlie Harrison (captain) with Clyde Camburn making a very welcome return to the club as coach. Meanwhile the Ladies’ 2nds, managed by Nigel Wooltorton, captained by Frances Taylor and coached by David Brook are now in East Division One North, after their promotion at the end of their highly successful 2011/12 season, and they have a demanding opener when they entertain Lowestoft (12.30).

For the Men’s 1sts, who have also enjoyed some promising friendly performances, it will be a season of readjustment in East Premier A after their relegation following three years back in the national league. The team, which begins with a home match against Cambridge University (2.15), is captained once more by Mark Wheelhouse and coached by Leigh Sitch (who has switched from the Ladies’ 1sts) and Philip Cobbald. The Men’s 2nds is led by Lawrence Baynes who returns as captain after a one-year break and they will aim to re-establish themselves as one of the top sides in East Premier B after narrowly avoiding relegation last season.  They start their campaign away to Cambridge University 2nds (1.30) and like the 1sts will hope to find the students not fully prepared pre-term!

On the men’s side of the club it is good to welcome back Andy Hipwell, Fred Merrett, Tom Sumner and Jimmy Wheeler and it is ‘welcome’ to all new members, across the club, who have joined us this season. I hope to record their positive contributions in the months ahead! On the debit side we have, sadly, lost Richard Gill (retired), Ben Wright (now with Southgate), Elliot Smith (Cambridge City), Seb Knight and Mark Stacpoole. There will be other departures, including members going off to university, and I hope to make reference to them in a future Musings.

On the Ladies’ side of the club a familiar figure will be missing and really missed as Frances Burrell has retired. Frances has given tremendous and much appreciated service to the club over many years with her calm yet positive approach to the game allied to her pleasing personality and good sense of humour. With Charlie Harrison she captained the 1sts last season. She will also be missed for her good stick work and ball control and tactical awareness in both the outdoor and indoor versions of the game. Frances had a particular liking for the indoor game where she scored many vital goals. I have no doubt that all members of the club will wish Frances and her husband Graham all the very best for the future.

Other matches this Saturday include the Ladies’ 3rds entertaining the 4ths (10.30) – they shared the honours last season with a win apiece – and on the Men’s side of the clubthe 3rds away to Bourne Deeping (11.30), the 4ths away to Lowestoft Railway (2.30), the 5ths at home to Holt Harlequins (4.00), the 6ths away to IES 4ths (11.30) and the7ths at home to Norwich City 5ths (1.45). Good luck to all our teams this season.

The start of a new season is the appropriate time to pay tribute and to thank our sponsors for their support.  Our main sponsors are once again Hunton Legg (R.G.) Ltd (Men’s 1sts), Kilbourns.co.uk (The Ford Specialist), who are sponsoring the Ladies’ 1sts, Lovewell Blake, Larking Gowen and the rebranded IceniPost.com, the sponsors of our splendid website. Our thanks are due, respectively, to Mark and Annie Legg, Mark and Debbie Kilbourn, Mike Smith and Murray Graham of Lovewell Blake, Brian Pring of Larking Gowen and Nigel and Sue Bedingfield of IceniPost.com. Their continued support (please see the club’s website for links to their websites) and that of all the other friends of the club who help us by way of pitchside advertising boards and advertisements is invaluable in the general running of the club and in the development of our facilities.

It is also appropriate to thank a) all team officials for kindly taking on their respective and vital roles including new captains Jose Tibbenham (5ths), David Blackmore (4ths), Richard Hunt (6ths) and Tom ‘Magic’ Miller (7ths) plus LB (2nds), as already mentioned and b) fixture secretaries Irene Bicker (Ladies) and Merna Merrett (Men) and club captains Kristina Smyth and Tristan Baynes for their hard pre-season work.

Other news and comments

a) It is good to know that Kevin Ridley’s knee operation in Bury St Edmunds Hospital went so well yesterday that when he woke up he was told he had appeared to have ‘quite enjoyed’ the experience! What were you doing and saying Kevin?!

b) Please note your diary regarding the Club Quiz Night to be held in the clubhouse at 7.30pm on Saturday 13 October.

c) In case you do not know there is a notice board on the clubhouse end of the sand-based pitch showing that day’s matches on both pitches.

d) In case you drop bottles by the side of the pitches to annoy me – as has been the case in the past – you are succeeding! As I’ve said before in this column the bottles do not levitate into the bins!

Here’s to an enjoyable season both on and off the pitches.

With kind regards

Mike Denham

[email protected]

12/9/12

 
Sprake and Tyrrell Builders, Bungay