Chairman Ray Blaxill's Report to the 2010 AGM:

To list and thank all the hard working members of the Club individually for their immense contribution to overall Club success of this last season would be impractical. You know exactly who you are - Thank you personally and on behalf of the Committee.

Membership

Adult Playing Members          148   (76 Male and 72 Female)            
Non-playing Members             28
Junior members                        39

Total Membership                  227  

Some work around membership and the issue of cards will be undertaken in the near future and details will be issued in due course.

 On The Pitch: There have been a variety of playing outcomes which have been individually annotated under the various Captains reports. Both the Men’s Firsts and Men’s Thirds were promoted but I have just been informed by the East League Management Committee that our request to decline the Third Eleven promotion has been accepted. They will play in Division 5 SW again next season. Our Men's First XI will be need to be focussed next season but fully deserved to be Champions and deserve all the plaudits. The Ladies First and Second XI’s had relative success with the latter just missing out on Promotion.

Respect is a key word for this coming season as with a number of new young umpires on our ever growing list, it is important that we nurture their development not discourage it. In any event winning is not everything! In the main our discipline is good but we should not rest upon any laurels in this respect as our reputation can suffer very quickly. I know the guard is changing on most of the ladies Captains front and I extend my thanks to all those skippers – male and female - for their dedication and stickability (excuse the pun!)

Off The Pitch: The SCHSC continues to work hard on the Club House, Bar and the surrounding facilities which becomes increasingly onerous when faced with more red tape and form filling from various sources. The Committee have agreed to car park and security schemes which should be implemented in the near future. We do enjoy the most convivial and pleasant of post match surroundings which contribute to our most healthy Social Calendar. Thanks must be extended to Sara and her bar team for their excellent cellar and service.

With regard to any potential development of the King George V (or indeed the old British Aerospace) sites, these are still some way off and as usual money is a major stumbling block. A feasibility study and plan is being drafted but my own feeling is that which ever Political Party (or Mixture thereof) has a mandate (or not) by Friday morning, certain cuts in Local and National spending are likely and these may impact upon any potential grants or investment opportunities.

The Club Web Site has had a couple of face lifts and is up to date and informative. It has not been without it’s issues but the techies have worked relentlessly to iron out any issues. All feedback is still most welcome however. Thanks Gents.  The Press coverage links were forged early this season and reports have been reliably sent in. Our relationship with the media is on a sound footing now. 

Clubs First: Our current Accreditation has very recently expired and we are awaiting a date to be reviewed. Geoff Trew has worked very hard on compiling the pack (my thanks to him for all his hard work) and the Club is optimistic that the renewal of the Award will be granted. This award is key to our future development and youth programme so thanks to all those who have provided their information in a timely manner. Just a reminder that Clubs First is the standard by which SHC is judged externally by England Hockey and providing the information is forthcoming from all sources in an efficient order then the task of maintaining the folder of such plans and documents is not onerous.

Growing the Membership – Youth and Schools: The Club is always looking to expand and develop its’ playing and non playing numbers. Despite various attempts to forge meaningful links and offer either lunch time or after school coaching there has been considerable frustration in engaging local schools. We received positive feedback from Sports Stevenage and the schools following our attendance at the Mini Olympics earlier this year but more needs to be done in this key area.

Our aim for 2010 – as it was for 2009 - is to use our contacts in local schools to forge these important links with greater effect. Paul Mould has done an excellent job with the youth over the past years and I must record the Clubs thanks for all his efforts. In view of the fact that we were unable to field a youth side this year we are exploring the possibilities of pairing up with another local side to fulfil fixtures.   

Personal Development: Throughout the year the club has helped develop a number of individuals. The Umpiring report details those that have reached or are in the process of attaining their qualification to umpire. We are at present helping support a new Level 2 Coach through his qualification but more are always required. The more qualified coaches we have the more flexibility and structure can be applied to our training sessions which are still under used by the majority of playing members (especially the men’s side). We are also looking to help young leaders should they be identified as suitable for such advancement.

The Year Ahead: The club is in a healthy enough position. Financially; playing wise; socially and with a growing membership base. The structure of the committee and how the club is administered is still a challenge that I have yet to really tackle. I wish to segregate the purely Paper based side of the committee and the playing side but without doubling the number of meetings and hence time spent running the club.

It seems that the number of volunteers is decreasing and the amount each person does increasing. For this club to continue to expand and prosper it is a fact that we need more and more willing people to be involved to benefit the club as a whole.

It may be poignant to reflect at this juncture that on the field of Stevenage Hockey Club, never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.!

Ray Blaxill

Chair         May 2010

THIS IS THE WAY THEY CAME OUT OF THE MIXER: 

·         LADIES 1   

·         Ladies 2

·         Ended up in third place with 50 points, narrowly missing  promotion to premier div.  ( St Albans finished on the same points, but had better goal diff so they went up instead of us)

·         Hannah Finch got a very well deserved players player as she was our midfield dynamo, but Lisa and Kate also deserve a mention for their outstanding efforts.  Biggest thanks of the season go to Jo “Thorpeee” Thorp for her tactics, pre-match warm-ups  and of course her legendary thorpeedoes, – we would not have ended up in 3^rd place without her. 

·         LADIES 3  

·         Well what can I say, to start off winning most of our pre season games was a great start compared to the previous season.  This put the team on a real high but unfortunately this was not to continue. With players going up to the 2’s, then with pregnancy and far more than our share of injury’s this season the team seemed doomed.   It’s no fun coming 2^nd every week but everyone continued to come out and put in100% effort.  All the way through to the end of the season where we were fighting relegation even down to our final game, but this just wasn’t to be our season.

·          3^rd TEAM PLAYERS PLAYER NOMINATIONS: There were votes for Clare Swarbrick and Claudia Strickland. 

And winning by just one vote was Liz Westcott.

 I would like to thank:

Nicki Reynolds and all the Ladies Captains for their support.

The tea ladies and the bar staff

The committee and last but not least our wonderful team of umpires.   

·         LADIES 4  

Throughout the entire season the ladies 4’s showed commitment and a great team spirit.  They were always eager to play and whatever the final result they always enjoyed the game.

The team didn’t have the greatest of starts to the season but through determination and the desire to win coupled with the coaching and support of Tim Dingley we improved dramatically week by week.  We were rewarded with our efforts and had a fantastic 2^nd half to the season; which didn’t go unnoticed by our opponents; and consequently we survived the relegation battle

Won 5

Drew 5

Lost 10

Players Used 24

Player of the Season Natalie Leach

Ladies 4’s also generated the following: 

U15 Player of the Year - Ros Fewell

U19 player of the Year - Jess Day

Most Improved Player - Jo Howlett

 ·         LADIES 5   

 ·         The ladies 5’s had an enjoyable season with lots of new players starting out, many of them not playing for the 1^st time since leaving school.

 Playing in div 7 of the 5 counties league we managed to win 3 (2 on default) and lose 9 matches.

 Thanks to Geoff’s training and support on the sidelines when he could, our overall play improved with Tamlynn, Debbie, Lu and I scoring a few goals.

 Our player of the season was Christine Hajdarmataj who did some fabulous saves in goal and I would like to say a big thank you to her help throughout the season being my vice captain.

 ·         MENS 1       Our league season finished like this: our player of the year was Danny Blackburn

MENS 2       My aims for Stevenage Men's 2^nd XI this year were to consolidate the team after last year's drop and to create a lasting youth policy within the upper sides of the club.  On the whole we've had success with both of these aims, finishing above the relegation spots despite having many personnel changes at the half way mark of the season and playing roughly half a team of youngsters every game.

Overall this season I've used 39 players; we've scored 38 league goals, 6 friendly goals, conceded 76 league goals and 6 friendly goals.  The top scorer was Andy Blaxill, with 8 goals, despite being promoted to the 1s at Christmas.  Jack Dingley played the most games, missing only one friendly at the start of the season.  I've had two vice captains.  If elected as captain again, my aim would be to keep the same vice captain all season.

·         MENS 3   Players used 32 – Top Scorer Harp Mann

 ·         MENS 4      Finished 6th out of 12 teams with a record of won 9 lost 10 drew 3. Ian Brown was the leading scorer with 15. Had some excellent performances from young players such as Chris Hall (player of the year), Steve Hamid, Tom Woolley and Bailey Dingley.

 ·         MENS 5

• Played 18
• Won 5
• Drew 4
• Lost 9
• For 33 Against 40
• Points 19
• Finished 7^th in our league 2 places above Tony’s terrific 6’s       

• Special thanks to Iain Roberts – rightly recently recognised by the club of course but in my 4 years (and last 3 with the 5’s in particular) at SHC he has been a continuous source of encouragement and support
• Excellent seasons for many and of the youngsters Andy Davis stood out throughout.  Graham Spicer probably our most improved senior and Roger Hammond’s enthusiastic input is always invaluable
• Thanks as last year to the keepers – they’ve all helped us out so much – we simply need to try to increase our keeper pool………
• After two years as skipper I’m delighted to be handing on the reigns to Dave Wells (also our top scorer with 8 goals btw) for next season who I am sure will find his new vice Stuart Jones a real help as I have Iain
• I’m looking forward to a slightly less hectic hockey winter but Dave and Stuart know they can count on Iain’s and my help of course as the 5’s look to push back up the table

 ·         MENS 6

FIXTURE SECRTETARY'S REPORT

This has been another season plagued by cancellations due to snow.  Thanks to various people, including other clubs fixture secretaries, some of the cancellations due to snow were made in good time this year so that members were able to make other plans for their then free weekend.

Here are some statistics for this season:

Ladies - 153 games were arranged.  Of these 37 were cancelled and 8 were re-arranged league games.

Mens - 177 games were arranged.  Of these 34 were cancelled and 11 were re-arranged league games.

Please bear these statistics in mind in future when you ask to cancel friendlies!  Granted, some cancellations are due to bad weather, some due to other clubs cancelling, but a fair few are requested by Stevenage captains. 

Lastly, I would like to wish you a very successful season for 2010-11 as I very much doubt, due to the condition of my back, that I will be back on the pitch just yet - but I am ever hopeful!

CATERING CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

The Catering Team have provided a first class service this year and our refreshments compare favourably when compared to other clubs.Many thanks to all those who have helped this year.

In providing a varied and reliable catering service our two sets of catering teams have once again ensured that we welcome opposition teams to the most convivial of Hockey Locations.

 Sian and Lynn are stepping down from Hells kitchen for the coming season and Saoirse and Katie have yet to decide upon accepting the vacant extra position. Should they decline the optional additional week then the Committee will need to advertise for a suitable replacement.

 The Menu for next year will need to be reviewed in line with cost and ease of preparation and discussed with the Catering team accordingly.

 I do believe that this position could be undertaken with minimal effort by any other club member with minimal effort.

 Ray Blaxill

Catering Chairman

May 2010

UMPIRE LIAISON OFFICER REPORT

My Sincere thanks to all at Team SHC Umpire for all their help during the last year.

The registered SHC Umpiring team is one of which the Club should rightly be proud especially the Young members of the team. I wish to thank all those who blew this season. Without you the games do not happen.

The number of Games for each Umpire for 2009/2010 season are as follows :-