Notices:

Woking HC is looking for players of all ability to strengthen this large ambitious club in the heart of Surrey. The Men’s 1st XI has recently appointed ex South African international Denzil Dolley as head coach in an effort to push for promotion up to the South Premier next season. Our Ladies 1st XI competes in the South Premier and we also have a very large and successful colts section.  The club is also re-laying one of our two current astro-turf pitches beside our clubhouse with a new state-of-the-art modern pitch.

Any players interested in joining at a very exciting time please contact Men’s 1 Captain James Turner for more information or see this website for more details of pre-season training and trials over the Summer. 

 Woking HC as featured at Clubbz.com

  

Trials: 

Saturday 4th September 2010
Morning – Ladies: 9am - 1pm
*Meet at 9am, in kit ready to start!*
Contact Amy on 07791 004 979 for more info
 
Afternoon – Mens 1s, 2s and 3s: 1pm - 4pm
*Meet at 12:30, in kit ready to start for 13:00!*
Contact James on 07887 728 115 for more info
 
Saturday 11th September 2010
1pm onwards – Mens 2nd Pre-Season Day
(check out the mens page for more info)
 
Men's Summer Pre-Season Training:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:30pm – 9:30pm
 
New members welcome! Please complete a Club Membership Form and bring it with you to trials or post it to Julie Green.
 
 
 

Stop Press!: New pitch gets the Go Ahead!

The final piece of the jigsaw settled into place last week when we received notification from the National Hockey Foundation that they could give us £40k towards our new pitch fund.  

This means that we now have sufficient funding to go ahead with the planned work to replace our top pitch.  We will no longer have to watch the ball going in and out of play down the side line, or place the ball just inside the pitch rather than on the line on side line hits!

Work is scheduled to start on August 19th 2010 and is projected to finish before the end of September, meaning that we will have both pitches back in play in time for the league season.  The work will include relaying the existing pitch and replacing the floodlighting with a brighter, more energy efficient version. There is now funding for a replacement fence but this is subject to further discussion with the Council and may have to be delayed until later in the season.

 We have funded the pitch project as follows:

Club Funds:  
£75k
Donation from Woking local area committee
(one of Surrey County Council’s committees):  
£17k
Grant from England Hockey:
£49k
Grant from National Hockey Foundation:
£40k
Loan from Woking Borough Council:
£100k
Total raised:  
£281k



Don't start the new kitchen just yet...It is possible we will need to use the members loans as a short term bridging facility but everyone involved will be kept advised on progress.

Many, many thanks are due to all members who have put in so much time and effort to get this project underway, most notably Ian Draper, who has headed up the project team, and our treasurer Paddy Blackwell.  Make no mistake, we would not have a new pitch without them!

It is also important for us all to remember the work done to achieve Club First Accreditation and commitments this entails. Without Club First we would have been ineligible for all the loans and grants in the list above.

 
 

Active Kids Voucher Update

 

Dear All,

 

We collected a massive 6878 worth of vouchers and the order has gone in to Sainsburys for:

 

1x Small goal keeper kit (3749 vouchers)

4x Goal keeper sticks (4x 549 = 2196 vouchers)

2x Sets of dimple balls (2x 399 = 798 vouchers)

1x collapsible water carrier (80 vouchers)

 

This is absolutely brilliant – please pass on my thanks to all the member for their work in collecting the vouchers.

Special thanks to Mark as he had to count them all...........................!

 

The remaining vouchers were banked for next year.

 

    
 
For more information check out http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/ACTIVEKIDS/.
 
THANK YOU!
 
 
Woking Hockey Club Achieves England Hockey ClubsFirst Award! 
 
 
 
After a year of hard work from members in all sections of the club, we successfully passed our England Hockey "ClubsFirst" assessment on Friday, 31st July 2009 and are now proud holders of the prestigious ClubsFirst Award.

For the assessment, one of England Hockey's Development Officers came to the club and conducted a range of checks and interviews to ensure that the club provides a safe, effective and child friendly hockey environment.

The ClubsFirst award is a national recognition for clubs that can demonstrate that they are working towards minimum operating standards. All clubs achieving ClubsFirst also achieve the Sport England Clubmark accreditation, a nationally recognised award for sports clubs.

As part of the club's work towards achieving this award, a range of club policies and future objectives have been updated and developed. All these policies are available on the club's website, and include:
 
  • Club Equity Policy
  • Club Child Protection Policy
  • Club Health and Safety Policy
  • Codes of Conduct for Coaches, volunteers, spectators and parents
  • Junior Club Rules
 
Please take a look to make sure you are fully up to date with all the club's policies!
Linda Jacks, who led the club through the Award, is emphatic about the benefits to the club, saying "It's incredible how working through the requirements of the award ended up meaning we have overhauled the whole club.  A major benefit is that it has stimulated increased communication between different sections of the club, and within the colts section, resulting in a new focus and determination to move the club forward."
 
The club has already benefited from achieving the award by receiving funding from both England Hockey (£49k) and the National Hockey Foundation (£40k) for our new pitch. Quite simply, we would not have qualified to receive this funding if we didn’t have the ClubsFirst award.
 
The club will also benefit in a number of additional ways:
 
  • As part of the award requires the club to write a four year development strategy for the club and a one year action plan, it ensures that the club will retain its focus over the next four years and continue to develop.
  • The club will be more attractive to new players and coaches seeking to move clubs, and it should thus aid recruitment.
  • The award required the club to develop a season long coaching programme for the Colts section.  This will ensure greater continuity between the age groups, and ultimately the transition into the senior section of the club, and will result in colts receiving improved and more structured coaching.
  • Achieving the award confirms that the club meets the necessary child safety standards, particularly with regard to child protection policies and CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) checks for nominated volunteers working in the colts section. 
  • Over the last year, the club has run young umpire and coaching courses, which will ensure that it support their colts not only as players but as future coaches and officials.  The club will now run such courses annually. 
 
Please contact Linda Jacks (familyjacks@btinternet.com) if you have any questions about the award.