HOCKEY
IN THE COMMUNITY
The hockey centre and Beeston Hockey Club continued its partnership with Belong Nottingham and hosted a training day on the 26th October 2021. Around 40 adults took part in the session and refreshments were provided in the bar after the hockey session. Following this event, a number of other sessions have been hosted for Belong throughout the year. Belong is a charity which support migrants living in Nottingham from all backgrounds and from a large number of countries.
Great Britain Hockey and England Hockey continued to use the pitches at the hockey centre for their Elite Development Programme training and National Age Group training with a number of training sessions taking place throughout the year.
The World Class Players holiday camps have continued to prove popular with camps taking place during the school holidays throughout the year. A number of new schools’ masterclasses have taken place at the start of the Easter holidays with Town Close Prep, Eltham College and Thirsk School all attending. The sessions have been led by a number of Beeston men’s and ladies’ first team players and coaching staff.
Following the success of the U13 East Midlands Lions teams at the UK Lions U13 competitions in 2021, a structured series of training sessions followed by selection took place through April, May and June. Once the teams were selected two preparation camps took place ahead of the tournaments which were hosted at the hockey centre in June and July.
The UK Lions boys U13 squad attended a two-day camp during October half term in preparation for their trip to Malaga. The group stayed at the Orchard Hotel on campus at the University of Nottingham. Lunches and evening meals for the group were provided at the hockey centre. A further camp took place at February half-term however, the two-day camp was cut short to one day only due to Storm Eunice. The group is selected from the U13 boy’s teams who took part in the tournament at the hockey centre in June 2021.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy returned to the hockey centre to host a seminar in the conference room for the first time since the pandemic began. The organisation has been using the hockey centre for many years and its great they have returned after the enforced break. Other bookings in the seminar room have begun to re-establish with the Midlands Instructors Group (driving instructors) and Nottingham Speakers Club also hiring the room for their regular meetings.
The Sunday afternoon mixed league has continued to take place throughout the 2021/22 season. There were ten rounds of fixtures throughout the season.
The University of Nottingham hosted a Movember charity mixed 7 a side event on pitch 4 on Sunday 28th November. Around 150 players attended the event from the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.
The number of participants attending the Beeston HC Flyerz sessions on Monday evenings has continued to grow. There are now over 30 members who regularly attend the weekly training sessions. From this group, Declan Underwood and James Hunsley represented Great Britain at the special Olympics in Amsterdam in July 2022 where they won a bronze medal.
Following on from this, the centre also hosted a number of weekly Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club disability cricket sessions throughout the summer.
The England LX masters teams (over 60, 65, 70 and 75) had a training camp at the hockey centre in March 2022. The group are hoping to arrange some international fixtures at the hockey centre in the summer 2023.
Following Beeston HC being awarded ‘Clubmark’ status by England Hockey, the club have now been announced as one of the new Talent Academies. There are 17 Talent Academies throughout the country. The Talent Academies are high performance environments for players aged 15-18 on the cusp of the England age group squads. The club has also been announced as a new Talent Centre which is an England Hockey accreditation of a well-run junior section.
The centre hosted England O35 ladies training sessions in April and July as the team prepared for the Masters World Cups in August 2022.
Midlands over 55 men held a training camp at the hockey centre in May in preparation for their regional tournaments which took place that month.
The hockey centre continued to host training sessions for the East Midlands Performance Centre as well as fixtures against a number of other performance centres. The Midlands performance centres will be replaced by the new Beeston Talent Academy.
Beeston HC ladies 1st team reached the England Hockey Championship final on the 21st May. They lifted the trophy for the second year in a row defeating Buckingham 3-1 in the final which took place at Lee Valley.
A specialist goalkeeper camp run by Fortitude Hockey took place at the end of May. The camp was attended by over 40 junior and senior goalkeepers from a number of clubs in the area.
The annual summer leagues organised by the hockey centre ran from April to the end of August. The men’s 6 a side, ladies 7 a side, men’s masters 6 a side and mixed 7 a side summer leagues took place on weekday evenings in April to June. The men’s 11 a side, ladies 11 a side and mixed 11 a side summer leagues also ran from July to August. There were a staggering 113 teams from across the East Midlands taking part in the various summer leagues.
The centre hosted an ‘It’s a knock out’ corporate event on the 7th July for the Nottingham office of CEG, a national property company. The event took place on the grassed area behind pitch 1.
Nottingham High School hosted a summer hockey 5 day camp on pitch 5 & 6 from the 11th – 15th July.
Following the women’s World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, the India women’s national team chose Nottingham as the venue for their Commonwealth Games holding camp. The team arrived in Nottingham on the 19th July and stayed at the Orchard Hotel on the University Campus. Lunches were provided by local Indian caterers from the Bombay Sweet Centre on Radford Road. The team trained at the hockey centre from the 19th – 23rd July before they travelled to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games where they won a bronze medal.
A number of Beeston players also took part in the Commonwealth Games. Sophie Robinson and Gareth Griffiths represented Wales, Balraj Panesar represented Canada and Jamie Golden represented Scotland. Gareth Ikin was also the Scotland video analyst.
As part of a new annual exchange programme with Atletic Terrassa HC from Barcelona, Beeston hosted a number of their junior players at family homes from within the U14 age group. The exchange took place from the 22nd – 24th July with a mixed U14 competition taking place at the hockey centre. It is intended the exchange will work on an annual basis alternating between Nottingham and Barcelona each year.
Adult and junior training sessions and fixtures are now back underway and the 2022/23 season has started. There are now 7 national league sides playing at the hockey centre including 4 Premier Division teams. Beeston now have 4 national league teams and the University of Nottingham has 3 national league teams.
Beeston HC hosted trials for its new Talent Academy. Two squads (boys and girls) of 25 players have been selected out of 150 applicants. The Talent Academy will start this month.
The NODE fixtures for U8 – U14 boys and girls have restarted. These will take place on several Sunday mornings throughout the season at the hockey centre.
Finally, the school’s county tournaments for U16 and U14 girls are also due to take place this month.
EVENTS
In 2021, the Christmas marquee returned to the hockey centre for the first time since 2019. The site of the marquee has moved due to the construction of pitch 5 and 6 in 2020. The marquee is now situated between pitch 6 and the Tennis Centre in one of the overflow car park areas. The Christmas party events are being organised by Best Parties Ever who hosted eight dates in total with around 700-850 attendees per evening. The theme was Winter Wonderland.
The hockey centre played host to the England Hockey girls and boys schools finals in February and March. There were 24 schools from across the country who took part in each of the events. At each event there were finals of the U14 Tier 2, U16 Tier 3 and U18 Tier 4 competitions.
BUCS Big Wednesday was hosted at the University of Nottingham once again with the centre hosting the hockey competitions. The event was ticketed and sold out prior to the day with 1600 attendees. There were 6 hockey finals which took place on pitch 1 and pitch 4 throughout the day.
The County minis for U10 and U12 boys and girls took place on the 6th February followed by the Midlands minis on the 20th March for U12’s and the 3rd April for U10’s. The winners of the U12’s progressed to the England Hockey In2Hockey finals which were also hosted at the hockey centre on the 7th May. The Beeston U12 girls were successful at the regional finals and took part in the national finals. The England Hockey U13 schools In2Hockey finals were also hosted at the centre on the 6th May.
The AOC Games returned to Nottingham after a two year break due to COVID. The University of Nottingham hosted the event and the hockey competition took place at the hockey centre once again.
The DRET Spring cup also returned to the hockey centre after a two-year break. A number of schools from across the midlands and east of England attended the event with boys rugby taking place on the university playing fields and girls hockey at the centre.
The Midland Hockey junior area finals for U14, U16 and U18 boys and girls took place at the end of April on pitch 1, 2 and 5 as well as the civil service men’s and ladies’ annual tournaments which returned to the centre once again.
The Varsity hockey final between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University took place on the 3rdMay on pitch 1 with over 700 spectators attending the men’s and ladies finals.
Beeston’s vice-presidents held a midweek lunch in the bar at the centre. This was the first lunch the group have had together since the pandemic.
The annual HMRC rounders event took place in May. A number of teams played rounders on pitch 1 and 2 in the afternoon followed by a BBQ and drinks in the bar afterwards.
The women’s over 50 regional tournament took place on Saturday 14th May followed by the men’s over 35 regional tournament on the 21st May with eight regions represented from around the country in both tournaments. The men’s tournament was observed by the England over 35 masters coaching group and formed part of the selection process for the England world cup squad.
A U13 boys and girls festival for the local academy centres was hosted on the 15th May at the hockey centre.
The hockey centre was selected to host the England Hockey men’s County Championship A and B Divisions at the end of May. Seven counties took part in the event and Nottinghamshire came runners-up in the A division final.
The annual Beeston BBQ and awards evening returned to the hockey centre (after a two year break) on the 12th June with over 200 people attending the event on a sunny summer afternoon.
The summer months of 2022 was extremely busy at the hockey centre and was the first year since pitch 5 & 6 had been built that we could plan for a full event programme.
The first large event of the summer was the Women’s masters four nations tournament from the 17th – 19th June. England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland entered teams in O35, O40, O45, O50, O55, O60 and O65 age groups. Over 550 players took part in the competitions. The hockey centre organised a social for the players on the Saturday evening and Indian street food catering was provided by the Bombay Sweet Centre.
The U13 UK Lions Tournaments returned to Nottingham again with the boy’s competition running from the 24th – 26thJune and the girls from the 15th – 17th July. Over 750 junior players from across the United Kingdom took part. The UK Lions tournaments are the largest 11 a side hockey competitions for this age group in the UK.
England Hockey hosted the new Performance Centre Challenge Cup for U15 & U17 Boys and Girls from the 26th – 31st July. The event replaced the Futures Cup which had been hosted at Oaklands College in St Albans in previous years. Over 1200 players took part in the competition at the hockey centre. Nottingham High School provided over 4000 lunches to the players and coaches across the six days of the competition!
The European Touch Rugby Championships took place on the university playing fields from the 2nd – 6th August with over 1200 participants from across Europe. The event used the car park at the hockey centre and we supported the event providing pack lunches and ice for injuries.
Castle Rock Brewery launched a new beer called ‘Griff’ at the Victoria Hotel in Beeston on the 9th August to commemorate Beeston’s ‘Mr Hockey’ and to celebrate the Masters World Cup. The beer was stocked throughout the Master World Cup event at the hockey centre as well as several other pubs throughout the East Midlands.
The Masters World Cup for O35 and O40 men and women took place from the 12th – 21st August. There were 52 teams across the four competitions representing 19 nations from around the world. A number of teams booked training pitches at the centre in the days running up to the start of the event. Local marquee company, ‘Buster’ installed marquees around the building, along the grass between pitch 1 and the car park and on the terracing on the roof. Castle Roof provided and installed an additional bar in the marquee between the building and the statue. A welcome reception was hosted on the day prior to the event starting and was attended by England Hockey’s CEO, Nick Pink. A huge thanks must go to all the staff and volunteers who made sure the event ran smoothly from start to finish. They were treated to a tour of Wollaton Hall on Monday 15th as a thank you for making the event a tremendous success. Several socials were organised throughout the event with live acts, hog roasts, street food and a tuk-tuk coffee van all attending! On the final day of the event, after the closing ceremony, 4 trees were planted at the end of the car park to mark the 4 world cups hosted at the hockey centre. Notably, England won all 4 competitions.
Nottingham High School hosted their inaugural preseason tournament for U19 girls on the 4th and 5th September. Twenty schools from around the country took part in the competition across all 5 pitches.
The following week, Beeston hosted its annual preseason tournament with 28 national league teams also playing across 5 pitches. Players wore black armbands, observed a minute’s silence and the Union Jack was lowered to half-mast to mark the passing of Her Majesty the Queen.
Finally, Best Parties Ever as planning a return to the site in November and December to host their Christmas Parties. This year’s theme is Roaring Twenties and 14 party nights with up to 1000 guests a night is being planned!
FACILITY
DEVELOPMENT
A new water chamber has been installed for the new location of the Christmas party tent. This will supply water to the temporary kitchens, bars and toilets for the events.
Repairs and maintenance were carried out on the sewerage pump chamber in October 2021 after a fault with the floats was identified.
Repairs to the irrigation system on pitch 1 were carried out by Paul Graham who replaced the leaking valve on cannon 1. Paul also helped identify and resolve an electrical fault in the pump house which was causing excess electrical usage in the garage.
Repairs to the floodlights on pitch 4 took place in November by the University of Nottingham’s floodlight contractors.
Upgrades to the dugouts on pitch 2 have been made with the a new scoreboard installed on the roof as well as repairs to the benches and new kit bag hooks (made using old hockey sticks!) at the back of the dugouts.
The front entrance and hallway to changing rooms 5-8 has been redecorated and repairs to the flooring by the front door have been made.
New push button taps and LED motion sensor light fittings have been installed in the men’s and ladies toilets.
Fifteen new LED bollard lights have been installed alongside the new footpath from the front entrance into the car park.
The new astroturf installation on Pitch 1 was completed on the 22nd April. The brand new FIH globally certified carpet was installed by Nottingham based pitch resurfacing specialists, AS Systems. The striking electric blue colour was chosen as the FIH preferred pitch colour for broadcasting matches is now blue. As part of the project the path around the pitch was also replaced by Woodholme Construction with the macadam being supplied by Tarmac. A timelapse video was recorded throughout the construction and will be posted online shortly.
Whilst pitch 1 was being resurfaced work was carried out on the flat roof of the clubhouse. The old decking was removed and the roof has been repaired and tanked with fiberglass, and finished with AstroTurf. As part of the project the old picnic benches on the terracing of the clubhouse have been replaced by 8 sets of large team tables and benches.
Pitch 4 was also resurfaced at the end of the season and the handover date from the contractors was the 13th June. The University selected SIS as pitch contractors and a similar FIH globally certified blue turf was also installed.
The video tower on pitch 1 has undergone a number of repairs and improvements a new anti-slip treadplate has been installed on the container roof to ensure safety when accessing the tower.
A new ball stop net has been installed between the clubhouse and pitch 2 to prevent hockey balls from hitting the clubhouse when playing 6 a side hockey.
A new water saving system has been installed in the urinals in the gents toilets upstairs in the clubhouse.
A company called Worknest were appointed to update the Health and Safety policy for the site and the staff handbook. Since the installation of pitch 5 & 6 the centre is much busier than when the previous health and safety policy was written so updates and amendments were required.
A new canopy has been installed on the pitch 2 dugout to provide shade and shelter for the match delegates and officials.
There has been an increased number of travellers around Nottingham in the summer months in the past few years. On Friday 17th June, during the 4 Nations event, around 20 caravans drove into car park but were unable to access the grass overflow parking areas due to the number of vehicles already on site. To help prevent access further in the future several height restriction barriers and an extension to the wooden knee rail around the car park are currently being installed on site.
In addition to the new bollard lights along the pedestrian footpath, 10 new LED light fittings have been installed in the main car park to replace the old fittings.
A leak developed in the ceiling in changing room 5 during the master’s world cup. This has now been repaired and replastered.
An additional three CCTV cameras have been installed to cover the blind spots around the building. There are now 34 cameras covering the site.
Eight new fence panels have been installed behind the goal at the Boulevard end on pitch 1 to replace the twin bar fencing which was damaged by hockey balls. The new fencing is a much tighter gauge and is much stronger than the previous fence panels.Several improvements and additions have been made around pitch 4 with a new digital scoreboard and camera system for video analysis due to be installed in the coming weeks. A new container has been installed for kit storage and to store a new tractor for pitch maintenance.
