Nottingham Hockey Centre – Newsletter October 2018

Hockey in the Community
The summer leagues were once again a great success with more teams participating than previous years. Sikh Union won the men’s masters summer league, West Bridgford won the men’s 6 a side summer league, Burton won the Arthur Sandford Cup and Beeston won the Syd Baylis Trophy.
Beeston once again organised the ladies 7 a side summer league in July and August. The league was fully subscribed once again. Nottingham Players also organised their annual mixed league on Friday evenings in July.
In June, the hockey centre hosted England U18 girls for a 2 day training camp which included matches against Scotland U18 girls. The centre also hosted a England over 35 ladies masters training camp in July.
Beeston HC organised a new 7 a side mixed tournament on the 4^thAugust with 10 teams taking part. The event was successful and will be hosted again next summer.
The summer World Class Players camp on 30^thand 31^stAugust was again popular with 100 children attending over the 2 days. Rio Olympians, Mark Gleghorne and Adam Dixon were coaching on the camp.
Nick Robb organised a Quicksticks competition on the 27^thSeptember at the hockey centre. Over 170 local primary school children took part playing 64 games during the day.
In September, the hockey centre hosted the Nottinghamshire U14 and U16 girls schools and youth cup over 2 days. Over 10 teams from local schools enjoyed some competitive hockey.
An England Hockey coaching workshop took place in October with 21 people attending the day.
Beeston HC featured on BBC Radio Nottingham’s ‘The Terrace’ show on Friday 21^stSeptember hosted by Robin Chipperfield who interviewed a number of club members between 6pm – 7pm live on the radio. Beeston also appeared on Notts TV in the ‘Sport Week’ section of the programme. The filming took place on the 27^thSeptember.
The reception to Beeston’s announcement on social media regarding Bee TV and the televising of live matches was overwhelmingly positive and received more ‘likes’ on Twitter than the anniversary of the GB gold medal at Rio 2016. The first two games of the programme included commentary from Euro Hockey League and Olympic Games commenter, Nick Irvine.
Events
The hockey centre played host to a number of corporate fun days over the summer for companies including Ensek, Domestic and General, KPMG and ARUP. These social events were attended by between 80 to 400 people. The hockey centre provided the venue with refreshments and catering along with bouncy castles, dodgems, fairground rides and an ‘it’s a knock out’ activity day.
The annual Beeston junior BBQ and awards evening took place in July. Over 130 members attended the event with the awards presented by England U21, Paige Gillott and Great Britain U23, Gareth Griffiths.
The European Touch Rugby Championships were hosted by the University of Nottingham in between the 18^thand 21^stJuly. The hockey centre provided car parking for the event and the Stick and Pitcher bar was made available to the players and spectators. On the final day they literally drank the bar dry!
In October the hockey centre hosted the IAPS (Independent Association of Private Schools) Hockey tournament over 2 days. 37 school teams from across the country took part in the event.
Repairs and improvements
The irrigation system on pitch 4 developed a fault in the pump house in July with the new pumps overheating and caused pressure to drop when watering. This meant the pitch was unable to be used in July. This has now been repaired.
The Stick & Pitcher has installed a number of new draught products in the bar including Staropramen, Coors Light and Aspall Harry Sparrow cider. As part of the installation Molson Coors provided new glassware and point of sale.
Following on from Beeston Ladies’ promotion in to the Premier Division, Beeston have redesigned the road facing sides of the scoreboard so both men’s and ladies’ upcoming matches can be advertised.
The hockey centre has installed a table tennis table between the car park and pitch 1 for free use by visitors to the site.
A number of improvements have been started by the front entrance to the site. These include improved lighting in the evenings, a welcome sign, a laurel hedge and improvements to pedestrian access in to the site. The works should be finished by November.