Emperor’s Report

Chairman’s Report August 2011

As I write this we are about to launch into the 2011/12 Season and the Club is stronger on all fronts than it has ever been and I urge anyone who is reading this to consider how they can help us on this ongoing journey – after all you must be interested in hockey to have looked at this.

Last season was astonishly successful. The success of the senior sides on the pitch will be evident from the contents of this Brochure and with 4 of the 9 senior sides getting promotion and the other 5 all finishing high in the table confidence is high for the forthcoming season. The Captains, Coaches (under Dave and Kay Parsons) and the hockey coordinators (Ali Walls and Janet Fuller) all deserve great praise.

The Junior Section just keeps growing and the good feel buzz in all activities is now reflected in performances on the pitch with fantastic seasons from the U16s, U14s and the more junior sides. The organisation, coaching and involvement of parents is superb.

The Development continues to go well and we begin the season with two fantastic new pitches. Only 4 years ago we were playing our top grade hockey in Ashford – how far we have come in such a short time. By next Christmas we will have a state of the art Clubhouse and Sports Hall. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the De Haan Foundation for providing the funding for this but please do not forget the massive investment of time of the Development Committee under Andy Mainwaring particularly Paul Major, Nobby Clark, John Godden and Stuart Ingleston who are delivering the project on behalf of both the Hockey and Cricket Clubs. We will have top class facilities that will be available to the wider community and sustainable in terms of ongoing maintenance for the foreseeable future. Fantastic.

The Hockey Club Committee is now transformed into a Professional body of people thanks to Ally Hiscox and the rest of the team. The financial position of the club has now stabilised and the strategy of the Club going forward is now well established. I thank every member of the Committee for the unseen work they do.

I am delighted to observe that whilst all these improvements are occurring the Social side of the club remains to grow. The End Season Dinner saw 105 people sitting down to eat in the Club House and the atmosphere was unbelievable. This was repeated at our Presidents 70th Birthday Celebration.

Finally I will return to where I started. As we move forward we need more and more people to get involved just doing a bit. If you feel you can help the Club forward in any way (coaching, sponsoring, committee or even the smallest job) please contact me – we would love to get you on board with the best Sports Club around!