Firstly, many thanks to those who attended the AGM. The meeting saw a number of changes made to the various committees and I would like to express my thanks to all those who have served and have stepped down this year. Special mentions to Suzie for doing a fantastic job as Ladies Club Captain and of course we cannot forget Suzanne who stepped down as Club Secretary after an amazing 17 year shift. Max Eyre has valiantly taken on both roles and will, I’m sure, be a wonderful addition to the Management Committee. Connor Jury, Darren Stoner, Jen Hopkins, Max Eyre are all standing down and as team captains and I am sure you will all join me in expressing our gratitude to them for all they have done. Connor and Darren clearly decided to go out at the top, with both of them standing down after having led their teams to promotion. We welcome David Ashworth as M2s captain, Chris Thompson as M4s captain, Ros Jackson as L3s captain and Paige Green as L4s captain and wish them all luck for the coming season. Will Head has stepped down as Facilities Manager and, again, we thank him for all he did for us. I’m very sorry to say we are also losing Colleen Elvidge as our Safeguarding and Welfare officer after many years of fantastic work for the club. Colleen has gone about her work in the role with great commitment and diligence and has done a great job in what is a tough and often thankless task, often in challenging circumstances. She is a tough act to follow but she leaves a great platform for the next incumbent to work from.

Hockey hasn’t of course stopped just because it’s been 35 degrees out there and summer league has again been a great success. A point was raised at the AGM about OSHC hosting one some Summer League hockey, something that has been discussed several times over the years. We had hoped to host our own ladies league this year and steps were taken to apply but unfortunately we just missed out. It is our intention to try again next season and will hopefully be able to secure at least one home league. We have held two very successful U12 summer coaching sessions and Tim’s Thursday nights have again been great. We are always on the look out for new coaches to get involved in the youth set up (which has expanded enormously over the last few years) and would love to hear from anyone who would like to get involved.

As ever, the weeds at the club have been enjoying the weather as much as we have and there is a fair amount of work required to get the club in shape for the winter. It’s a big job this year as in addition to the usual tidying up around the clubhouse and pitch, the outside of the clubhouse needs a decent clean and various parts inside need decorating. A club clean-up day is planned for Saturday 22nd August. I am hoping this year we can approach it slightly differently and I will be speaking to team captains with the intention that we can allocate jobs to teams to make the whole process easier and lift some of the burden from the clean-up regulars.

I hope the rest of the summer treats you well and will be back in touch before the season starts.

Thanks

Tom Cawcutt
Chairperson