Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

Happy New Year and I hope you had a good Christmas and besides hockey training if you would like to do some extra exercise, why not try the new Zumba classes being held at Short Lane:

Starting in the New Year there will be a new Zumba class down at the Sports Club every Monday from 9 January 2012 between 18.15 – 19.00, classes are £5 per per person or £40 for a 10 class pass.

Members and non-members are welcome and classes are open to anyone 16 years and over contact Sophie (facebook name SOPHIE VITAL SIGNZ) for further details.

Sorry to report that AHC lost the challenge pool match v ACC last Thursday by 4 games to 2, hard luck shane and the boys and we will get them next ime!

On a brighter note:

Ashford Cricket and Hockey Clubs are holding a Family New Year’s Eve Party this year.

To celebrate 2011 and see in the New Year the club will be open from 8 pm ’til late, there will be games/quiz and music and dancing, and food/buffet will be provided.
Entry will be free to members but on a first come first served basis and numbers may be limited – tickets are available from Tracey Roberts and please get yours now if you want to attend. Non members will be charged – £10 adults, £5 children.

Full details to follow.

Get you tickets now to enjoy a great night and while continuing your support for your Club.

Well after a two year break of the annual challenge game due to snow, the Ashford Antiques (AAs) really turned the heat on against Sunbury Stars of the past (SSOPs) in front of a very large and enthusiastic Ashford crowd at Short Lane on Saturday 17/12/11. The pitch was slightly icy on the dug out side, so the SSOPs and most of the spectators stayed on the sunny clubhouse side rather than the chilly shaded side of the pitch. The traditional pre match photos, ceremonies and exchanging of gifts was followed by the keepers racing to the centre spot from their goals (or top of the D in Ali Boxell’s case) to start the game. From the word go the AAs combined well and belied their ages and played some silky, flowing hockey. The AAs got several short corners which saw the Nicky and Jackie go close, but none were converted. However, the AAs were in such good form that they had other alternative methods of scoring and duly took the lead with goals from Maria Cavilla and Gillian Clegg to take a 2-0 lead into the break. AHC secretary and 4th team skipper Peter Greatorex kindly provided mulled wine for both teams and the umpires, which was avidly consumed and enjoyed.

The second half saw a vocal crowd which had grown to 30+ including a multitude of offspring, Ladies Club captain Emma Hynes, 3rd team skipper Abi Frith, the Doggets, the Silver Fox, various other husbands and a host of non playing AAs. The visitors rallied after the hot wine though and young Ellie (SSOP player of the match) was causing the AAs problems with her lovely stick work and youthful legs and speed. In fact the SSOPS had some chances but failed to really threaten the AAs D. The SSOP goalkeeper was meanwhile playing extremely well and made numerous good saves from shots by Annie and Nicky amongst others. Eventually skipper Morgan pounced to get the AAs third goal and proceeded to celebrate by sprinting back to the half way line, pulling her shirt over her head and flashing her trendy sports bar much to the surprise of the cheering crowd (she nearly froze to death doing it though!). A most enjoyable game was then finished off by Annie Neyton getting her deserved goal, but the SSOPs kept playing and trying to notch an opening goal. A splendid game was followed by much socialising, eating, drinking, gossiping and of course a visit from Santa and the awarding of the Challenge cup to the victorious AAs. Thanks must go to Nicky McAndrew and the rest of the SSOPs for being such sporting and friendly opposition, Brownie for all her behind the scenes work, Sant aJesswe, Quiz marker Carol Stedman and Rosemary for her food. All the AAs played well and despite it being four years since she had been able to play Claire Brant (Barbie) played like she had never been away, whilst many showed that the legs and fitness may fade, the skills remain – well done all.

Team: Ali Boxell, Ali Donelan, Jackie Parson, Alex Saunders, Hilary Hull, Jacqui Bashford, Kirsty Rossington, Annie Neyton, Lynne Morgan (Captain), Nicky Benedict, Claire Brant, Gillian Clegg, Sue Westlake, Maria Cavilla

Umpire: Steve Smith

Photographers: Peter Westlake, Rich and Peter Greatorex

Player of the Match: Nicky Benedict, even though Ali Boxell in the AAs goal didn’t put a foot wrong!

Spectator of the Day: Peter Greatorex (AHC)

Quiz Winners; 1st equal Sally & Carol (AAs) & Sunbury Oldies
2nd Hannah Bashford (AHC) and friends
3rd The Doggetts (AHC)

Miss/dick of the Day: SSOPs keeper when she tried to take out an AAs player.

Special Awards:Barbie & Kirsty R for travelling so far and being so keen to play.

The Xmas newsletter 2011 has recently been sent out to members via e-mail and it contains all the latest AHC news, information from Ashford (Short Lane) Sports, Ashford Antiques gossip and the league tables for all teams at the half way stage of the season and lots of other articles. Please contact me president@ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk if you haven’t recieved a copy and we hope to have a copy linked to the website soon.

The astro draw winners for December 2011 are shown below:

£250 Gordon Smith

£100 Ian Jenkins (Sherpa)

£50 Alex Saunders

£50 John Tomkins

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.

Sat 10th Dec, Ladies 1s 1 – Hampstead & Westminster 3s 7

Top of the table H& W 3rd team were a very fit, organised and workman like side. The effects of Ashford Ladies Christmas bash in Soiree the night before perhaps affected a few of the red and black players and we were 2-0 down in 8 mins having actually conceded a goal after only 1 minute, to have it thankfully disallowed! The opposition dominated play though and were 6-0 up by half time. Ashford won some short corners, but only had one direct shot, a good strike that went just wide by Jackie ‘Yip Yip’ Parsons. At this stage the score wasn’t reflecting the efforts of the team: Skipper Lucy Uttley tried to boost things when she came on, but the oppo read her game well and whilst Nicky Benedict had some constructive runs, none resulted in shots on goal. Rasna Sandhu played constructively and Tracey ‘Luvvy’ Holland did well despite being weak with flu for most of the week. The injured Club Captain Emma Hynes was missed, though could be heard on the sideline with AHC President Lynne Morgan.

Ashford regrouped at half time and played a lot better in the second 35 minutes and prompted by Jackie Parsons at the back got some good moves going. One flowing move on the right by Rasna and Lucy set up Maria Cavilla, but without the desired results. However, we did eventually score when Maria was put through and she fired home well. At this point, Ashford had held back attacks from H&W and they failed to increase their tally. Howver, near the end Lucy did a bad tackle as a forward was about to shoot resulting in a yellow card and a penalty flick for the opposition, which they converted.
The oppo were a nice lot, despite one of them got a yellow card for being 5 yds back. Sam got PoM, as she was in amongst the action most of the time. Lucy was ’Dick of the Day’ for her yellow card. They missed the injured Emma.

Thursday December 15th – Pool match between ACC and AHC. Teams of eight players, nibbles nad prizes on offer. Shane Smith is running the AHC team, so please let him know if you want to play or come down and support our team against the mighty Cricket Club. The challenge begins at 7.30 pm, hope to see you there.

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Ashford 3 Henley 3

A game full of incident to bring the curtain down on the first half of the
league programme.
Three down at the interval, the ‘Ford staged a remarkable comeback but just
as goals from Matt Emmerton, Jas Nijhar and Alex Betts brought them level, a
rash of temporary suspensions left them with eight men for the closing
stages threatening to undo all the good work. However, Dave Baker got on
the ball deep in his own half and winning free hit after free hit ran down
the clock and all things considered it was in the circumstances a point
salvaged rather than two dropped.

For the third home game running the ‘Ford began sluggishly and conceded an
early goal. This time, however, the visitors were allowed to go further in
front and when they scored a third from a corner just on half time it
looked a long way back.

The interval gave the ‘Ford the opportunity to regroup and change their
formation and they seized back the initiatve from the restart.
Scarcely allowing Henley a touch, the ‘Ford passed the ball aound with
purpose and goal by goal the deficit was erased.
Matt Emmerton got the first with a sumptuous deflection and then  Jas
Nijhar worked his way through the Henley defence to shoot under the keeper.

When Alex Betts finished off a well worked corner move with eight minutes
remaining it seemed that the ‘Ford might just be able to push on and snatch
a famous victory. However, as Henley rallied and managed to stage their
first real attack of the second half, Luke Cottrell found himself
outnumbered and a last ditch tackle brought a temporary suspension. Further
cards for Nijhar and Chris Bolton gave Henley a three man advantage for the
last few minutes but the ‘Ford, or what was left of them held firm and they
settled for a point which looked distinctly unlikely 35 minutes earlier.

Maybe it is a little frustrating to lose top spot but the ‘Ford can be
satisfied with their work so far in 2011/12. They are very much in touch
with the leaders and have also successfully negotiated three rounds of the
EHB Trophy so there is plenty to play for after the Christmas break

The AAs are hosting the annual challenge trophy match v Sunbury Stars of the Past (SSOPs) this coming Saturday at Short Lane at 1.30 pm. Unfortunately snow and ice have caused the postponement of this popular fixture for the last two years, so please can you all try and arrange for some beter weather for us this year. Once again star AAs players are travelling from far and wide, including across the pond from the US of A, to play in this prestigious event. Numerous festiviites and ceremonies are held before and after the game and everyone is welcome along on the condition that they either wear a Santa hat or something festive. Hope to see you there and “COME ON U AAs”.

The U16 boys were at home against Teddington today, but unfortunately lost 0-6 to a very strong team, the score did not reflect how well they played. The U14 boys were also at home and they won 3-0 against Richmond. The U14 girls were away at Woking and played a very good game winning 2-1 thanks to a late goal scored in the last minute by Beth Jefferies who also scored the first. Well done all.

A 10.30am start in deepest Berkshire meant leaving Stanwell at 8.30am but
the ‘Ford did not seem troubled by the earlier than normal push back and
were a goal up inside two minutes, courtesy of a Phil Lewis penalty corner.
Moving the ball around with assurance, the ‘ Ford controlled the rest of
the half allowing Sonning not even a sniff of keeper Adam Smith’s pads.
The game was effectively put to bed just after the break. Ryan Holland had
caused problems from the start and in trying to stop him, the Sonning
defence left plenty of room for Jas Nijhar to exploit and he set up the
‘Ford’s decisive second and third goals . First, The Wizard of the Dribble
mesmerised the home defence before firing an adroit pass to the left post
where Chris Bolton controlled and fired home with clinical precision. Then
the veteran stickmeister weaved his trademark brand of magic to suck in at
least four defenders before laying it off for skipper Luke Cotrell to scoop
home.
The one blemish on a fine team performance was a collective lack of
concentration which allowed Sonning a very late consolation.

Forthcoming events at Short Lane:

Friday evenings – Informal quiz in the Members bar, hosted by Shane Smith – all welcome.

Monday December 12th at 7.30 pm, ‘Ideas evening’, where we hope representatives of ACC and AHC will meet to thrash out further ideas to help solve some of the current financial problems. We plan to issue some ideas in advance to promote discussion at the meeting, but we would be grateful if you could ensure that we are primed for a inspiring debate and hopefully some innovative ideas. Please could you let me 9Lynne) know if you would like to attend this meeting to represent AHC.

Thursday December 15th – Pool match between ACC and AHC. Teams of eight players – food – prizes – time etc. to be defined. Shane Smith is running the AHC team, so please let him know if you want to play or come down and support our team.

Saturday December 17th – Children’s (2-12 years old) Christmas party from 4.30 pm. Tickets £4 each (available behind the bar) and food, games, prizes and a gift for each child, with also of course a visit from Santa.

Saturday December 31st – New Year’s Eve party, 8 pm until late, there will be games/quiz and music and dancing, and food/buffet will be provided. Entry will be free to members but on a first come first served basis and numbers may be limited – tickets are available from Tracey. Non members will be charged – £10 adults, £5 children.

Go here and like the page to get updates on events & results via your facebook newsfeed!

If the link isn’t showing below, simply search for ‘Ashford Middlesex Hockey Club’ as a PAGE (NOT GROUP), on the left should be the button to click to like it!

thank you

Plans have been finalised so….

FRIDAY 9TH DECEMBER

Ashford Ladies are obvioulsy classy ladies so get you party frocks and celebrate Christmas in style at Soiree (did you like my little play on words in the title?!)

TIME: 8pm at Soiree or maybe a bit earlier for a cheeky one somewhere before? Food served at 8.30pm
PLACE: Soiree, Staines (just up from pizza express, before roshni’s)
DRESS CODE: Dress to Impress!! (think people are thinking dresses/similar to last year!)
COST: £20 to include own area with delicious buffett including hot and cold selection, disco and dancing the night away!

I know its not far away, so need to know numbers pretty quickly, and £10 deposit asap. If you definately want to come, but not going to be at club to pay deposit before the 9th Dec, just let me know!

The more the merrier and if you want to bring a friend thats great, just let me know for numbers!

Please can you give your deposits to captains on sat (or let them know you definately want to come)

Thanks
Em