Well, the last game of the first half of the season has now been played, and I hope everyone now makes the most of the downtime and turn their focus to completing your preparations for Christmas.

The best place to start this Chairs Catch Up is on the field, where we have taken a step forward this season with all our teams being more competitive, performing well and integrating a number of youth players across the men’s and ladies’ teams. With three of other teams challenging for promotion, we should certainly be optimistic for the season to come based on performances so far. From the games I have seen everyone continues to give their all and are smiling so let us keep it going for the remainder of the season.

Some more positive news, two of our youth players Freya Parker and Gracie McCallum have been selected by Essex to play for the U17 and U14 teams, respectively.

Off the field the changes made this season to the coaching arrangements appear to have been well received and my thanks to all the coaches for making the transition so smooth. Please continue to give your support to our coaches, whether that be taking/assisting some training sessions, giving feedback or simply turning up on a Wednesday.

A big thank you to our Club Captains, Captains and the Fixture and Umpires Secretary for their continued effort and resilience in ensuring that games go ahead on a Saturday, and I know you are all grateful.

The Garons Park Project continues to progress and following Southend Council’s planning approval in late June, Garons Park CIC have subsequently been completing the remaining planning requirements and turned their attention to raising the funds to complete the project. To that end they will be producing a promotional film to support the funds raising efforts in the coming month, which will feature several Southend Hockey Club representatives. At this stage we remain hopeful of playing at Garons Park for the 2026-27 season. However, please keep everything crossed as if our journey to this point tells us anything, it is that nothing seems to happen easily.

The Committee have continued to work hard on behalf of the club and besides ensuring the club runs smoothly, have been looking at how we grow our youth participation. The project, being led by Caitlin Nolan, has already seen actions being agreed by the Committee for our youth section, some of which have already been implemented such as Astro the SHC teddy and POM medals. A School links form was recently circulated to club members seeking players who have a connection to a local school/home-schooling group to complete. If you have completed it thank you and if you have not please can you do so.

The Social and Fundraising Committee, led by Mel Lamb, have been busy and have organised a number of events already this season namely a race night that was enjoyed by all those that attended and the Phil Harvey Club Supper that took place on 10th December that was well attended by both current and past players. Mel and her team are doing a great job and more social events are planned for the second half of the season including Eddie’s Quiz (always a learning experience) on 28th February, the end of season drinks on 21st March and the Dinner and Dance on 18th April at the Boundary.

At the Phil Harvey Club Supper, in memory of a former player, his brothers wrote a short message that included “Phil would do whatever he could to support the club and made many good friends along the way (as demonstrated by the number that attended the Club Supper). He knew that the club doesn’t just need players it needs willing people to organise teams and the running of the operational side of the club, umpires without whom the games can’t be played and it needs people to support the social side, which is just as important as playing as it raises the funds which allows the club to exist and everyone to get to know other members of the club not just those who they play with on a Saturday”. Those words are as true today as they were when Phil was playing for the Club, so please get the social events in your diaries and support our Club in whatever way you can as we hopefully complete a strong season and look forward to our move to Garons Park.

Lastly, please recover from any knocks and injuries you may have and comeback in the new year eager to go again. Enjoy the mid-season break, drink, and eat too much and have an amazing Christmas with your family and friends.

Seasonal Greetings

Peter Woodman
Chairperson