Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

The Club’s AGM will be held on Thursday 23rd May 2013 at the Clubhouse starting at 7.30 p.m. A notice of the meeting, the Agenda for the meeting, the accounts for the 2012/3 season and a proposal for the increase of subscription rates for the coming 2013/14 season have all been sent out to paid up members by e-mail this week. If you haven’t received your notification, please contact either Peter Greatorex on secretary@ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk or myself (Lynne Morgan) on preisdent@ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk. Hope to see you there.

The AHC trophy/awards winners for 2012/13 are:

Ken Miller Colt of the Year (Boys) – Joe Mulddon
Simon Morley Colt of the Year (Girls) – Molly Davis
Ken Miller Ladies Player of the Year – Nicky Benedict
Ken Miller Men’s Player of the Year – Paul Neyton
Ron Cooksey Progress Trophy – James Maitland & Chloe Russell
Bob Greatorex Team of the Year – Under 13 Girls Colts
Ian Maloney Lower XI Player of the Year – Robert Evans
Maria Taylor Most Enthusiastic Player of the Year – Nicky Davis
Bar Team of the Year – Nicky Davis & Michelle Igoe
Jubilee Plate – Peter Greatorex

Ladies 1s Player of the Year – Tracey (Luvvy) Holland
Ladies 2s Player of the Year – Victoria (Freddie) Chudleigh
Ladies 3s Player of the Year – Irene Okello
Men’s 1s Player of the Year – Shujah-ur-Rehan
Men’s 2s Player of the Year – Ryan Dare
Men’s 3s Player of the Year – James Berressem
Men’s 4s Player of the Year – Parm Singh

The winners for the Astro draw for April 2013 are:
£500 Andy(Digger)Barnes
£250 Sheila Kinnear
£100 Ian(Sherpa)Jenkins (kindly donated back to AHC)

Well done all and your cheques will be with you soon. That is it now folks until the winter season draw starts again in October. Thank you for your support & tickets can still be purchased using the form which you can down load from on the website.

The AHC end of season Newsletter has been e-mailed/posted out to paid up members, copies will also be availbale at the Clubhouse on Thursday 25/4 and one will be posted on the website soon. It has all the latest AHC news and updates:
Presidents Chatter
Club Captains views
AA’s News
AGM
Annual Dinner
Weddings
Tours
End of season performance details
Ladies Summer League

Ashford U13 Girls scooped the Tony Smith Bowl following a sudden death penalty shuffle against Surbiton in the final of the Surbiton Hockey Club Tournament held today 21st April 2013.
Congratulations go to all the girls for ending the season on a high and also to the coaching staff of Jacqui Bashford, Adrian Hewes, Sarah Jacob and Peter Cottrell for their support during the tournament and throughout the year.

Ashford 3’s 2 OMT 4’s 4

Bit of a damp squib end to the season. We showed flashes of the play that have seen us move from 11^th up to 7^th  during the 2^nd half of the season but can have few complaints losing to a more-motivated OMT side.

We had plenty of chances to score and lots of D action and – if I am being positive – last season we would never have had that D action! Unfortunately, we weren’t too clever often delaying the actual scoring attempt until it was too late.

The other thing to day is that some woeful collective defence saw us give up certainly 3 of the goals. We did get back to 2-all with Wild Man’s 4^th goal of the season and a flick from yours truly but conceding a 3^rd goal pretty much straight from push back didn’t really help much!

Ho hum, well it has still been a top season for a side that has come in the bottom 2 or 3 for the last 3 seasons – we should come 8^th and may come 7^th

It has been a very enjoyable season and we have been a real team – not bad for a team starting at 14 and finishing at 53!

Our success goes on against the top teams in the league. 4^th-placed Marlow had a similar side to us with a few old boys and talented sprogs (though probably a bit older than ours) and once again we had a really good game of hockey regardless of the score.

Started off poorly and after the first 15 we were deservedly one-down but we then steadily improved throughout the rest of the game. We only got one shortie but scored from it – Harry flicked Sam’s rebound home – but I was happy to get the first half out of the way.

Second half we really worked hard collectively but would single Harry out for his all-round game, he sometimes suffers from ‘enthusiasm varies with interest’ but he was certainly interested today and was on hand to bat in our second from close-range, another good team goal but I cannot remember anything else about it!

A draw would probably have been fair but we have probably had 3 games this second half end in draws when we should have won so I think we deserved a little rub of the green. Also a big thank you to Bobby who came out in awful weather to help out Marlow and umpire.

So we go to the last game safe in mid-table obscurity and with only one defeat in our last 8 games and this is already a terrific season for us.

Normal opening up to Thurs 28th March

Good Friday, Fri 29th March 7pm to close

Easter Saturday, Sat 30th March noon to close

Easter Sunday, Sun 31st March noon to close

Easter Monday, Mon 1st April 7pm to close

Normal opening from Tue 2nd April

Note: During the above period the club may close early
on any day depending on custom

Newbury & Thatcham 3’s 0 Ashford 3’s 0

This was a very entertaining, hard-fought game and the only failing was a lack of goals though the home team had about 12 short corners and we had at least 5 1-on-1’s but we will be nice and put that down to good defending.

One of the major assists to the success of our season has been fantastic availability of our regulars but we did have the opportunity to give a debut to Parm – father of Kulvir and Aranvir – who played at left half and did very well (I brought Aranvir up to look after him). Also I had to reshuffle midfield with Matt S playing the Jimbo role and he moved forward to partner 14-year-old Rob Forster who played his first game in midfield for us.

The team as a whole got back to basics after the second-half blip against Wycombe, we lacked a little bite generally in the first half and put ourselves under pressure but the second half was more even and we were always dangerous. The last ten minutes we tired and Newbury had a couple of open play opportunities plus a couple of shorties but we still had a 1-in-1 to win the game!!

This point probably means we are staying up but we will leave the fizzy pop in the bottle for now…

The lucky astro draw winners for March 2013 are:£100 David Sutch
£50 Hilary Hull
£50 John Vocking

Congratulations to all the winners and your cheques should be with you soon. It is only £12 per year for a ticket and a draw is made every month throughout the season, with the extra big money prizes being drawn at the AHC Annual Dinner in April. Application forms are available on the website (see link on side bar), enclosed and on the Club Notice Board. Help support the club and give yourself a chance of winning some money at the same time.

Don’t forget Saturday 23 March – Tamla Motown Evening at AHC. Tickets £10, which includes a sit down meal. Tickets available from behind the bar.

Sorry, but unfortunately the Thames Lodge Hotel have let us down so therefore we have had to make a VENUE CHANGE…The Annual dinner will now be held at The Anne Boleyn Hotel in Staines (http://www.boleynhotel.com/).

It is still on Saturday 27th April, arrival drinks will be served from 6.30pm, to be seated for the meal at 7.15pm, followed by awards, raffle and the disco!

Details of the menu and wine list have been e-mailed out to members and all pre orders of wine by the bottle will receive a 10% discount.

The tickets are £37.50, thank you to those that have already paid! The latest we need the money by is Wednesday 10th April.

Witney 3′s 2 Ashford 3′s 2

Maybe we should just play the league leaders away every week! It could also have been it was a lovely, mild day again but off we went to Witney and although a point apiece was a fair reflection of the game, conceding 2 goals in the last 4 mins was a little hard to take! The game was a bit sleepy and had an end of season feel for much of it, very strange given Witneys’ championship ambitions. It was a pleasure to renew acquaintance with the burly no 17 Nick Viagra who as usual seemed more interested in umpiring the game than playing it! Playing up front, Viagra certainly provided stiff opposition. After 15 mins, we took the lead where the oppo stopped for a foot which was not given and Harry had no compunctions in putting the loose ball away. We played pretty well but nothing spectacular and saw the half out fairly comfortably and for much of the second half, the game continued in a similar uneventful vein. Witney in the last 20 mins started to exert pressure and good play from Andy R in goal and a Viagra cock-up ensured we kept our lead when shock! with 7 mins to go we had a shortie and a loose ball was pounced on by the very person typing two-fingered here for his first outfield goal for 4 years! Witney threw everything at us and we cracked 4 mins to go and 2 mins later (groan) a weak shot was blocked but the loose ball put away and we were hanging on! A last-second shortie for them was not good for my heart rate but their captain very kindly hoofed it to keep things all-square. Before the game, I would have snatched a point so gotta be pleased.

Ashford 3 Wycombe 3

Not so pleased with this draw, we gave up 3 very soft goals and one in the last 30 seconds to snatch a point from the 3 that were pretty much on the plate. We pretty much completely outplayed the oppo in the first half and they were lucky to be only 3-1 down. We were profligate in front of goal and made some poor decisions in the D and the second half was as poor a performance I have seen from us. A lovely team move and run and cross from young Matt saw Shane slide in at the far post for the first. Sam banged in a stonker of a shortie and after we had gifted them a goal back, Chris Lunn scored from close range. Right at the end, a lad appeared up front – I think his surname was Ringer – and we needed to adapt to cope with him in the second half. We didn’t and the team as a whole but also myself as the captain need to learn from this. What is good is that I can carp about giving up a game like this. We have improved throughout the season and the second half of the season has been great fun and we have played some lovely hockey and 1 defeat in 5 is nothing to sniff at…however we are still a work-in-progress!…

This year’s Annual Dinner Dance will be Saturday 27th April at Thames Lodge Hotel in Staines. Welcome drinks overlooking the Thames, three course meal, the much anticipated awards and lots of dancing to end the evening!

Tickets are £37.50 each, please make cheques payable to Ashford Hockey Club, alternatively you can pay via bank transfer, contact Doreen Brown on treasurer@ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk.

Menus are to follow shortly.

The lucky astro draw winners for February 2013 are:

£100 Jane English

£50 Lynne Morgan (donated back to AHC)

£50 Freddie Cottrell

Congratulations to all the winners and your cheques should be with you soon. It is only £12 per year for a ticket and a draw is made every month throughout the season, with the extra big money prizes being drawn at the AHC Annual Dinner in April. Application forms are available on the website (see link on side bar) and on the Club Notice Board. Help support the club and give yourself a chance of winning some money at the same time.

…when the 3’s beat the might of Leighton Buzzard 2′s 3-1 and knocked them off the top of the table!! I happened to be at Van Dyke school playing in the game! Probably one of the most enjoyable and rewarding games of my 38 years of playing hockey!!! And I’m getting carried away with these exclamation marks!!!!…

Went to LB really hoping more for a good performance than 3 points – we had a young, decent team (I was a year older than my 3 other defenders!) although Chris was ill – the main point I put across to the boys was we had to be patient and hold the ball well cos LB (and Witney) are comfortably the best teams in the division. Starting with a bare 11 against LB with 2 subs, off we went a little nervously as usual but we survived a couple of minor scares and got into the game with Chris Lunn putting a shot just past the near post. We went one-down against the run of play when the LB forward snapped up an errant clearance and they finished nicely. We continued to play decent hockey and forced a few shorties and pressurised the home defence and with 5 minutes of the half to go, a lovely move down the left set up Wild Man who slapped the ball home from near the top of the D, lovely finish. 1-all and the home team were arguing with themselves, half time and I had virtually nothing to say bar keep going.

Second half was just a real pleasure to play in and it would have been great to have done this with a home crowd as I really didn’t think we had such a complete performance in us. Defence was solid and spread the ball, midfield dominated their counterparts and allowed us to pressurise their defence and the forwards were too quick and skilful for their backs and everyone worked tirelessly.

We were awarded a penalty from a shortie when their guy kicked it then fell on top of the ball! And I took my first p-flick for at least 4 seasons, yes, the normal one! We didn’t sit back on our lead and kept playing and it was no surprise when we went 3-1 up with 8 minutes to go. Right by the back line, Harry turned on a sixpence (I don’t know what it was doing on the pitch) beat one player, two players, flicked past the keeper and Wild Man deflected it in from close range (for goal no. 3 of the season and his best-ever season return!! Doorknob nomination for a forward/midfielder!) and we played the game out in comfort. I’m sure LB had a few players out but this result will have rocked the hockey world – well MBBO Div 6 anyway! Well done, lads, very proud of you…