Former FIH President Leandro Negre at the Board meeting with the THM Trustees and Museum Mentor, Liz May.
Standing: Liz May, Philip Kimberley, David Balbirnie, David Wareham, Mike Barford, Dil Bahra, Lucy Newcombe, Imogen Gibbon.
Seated: Katie Dodd, Leandro Negre, Mike Smith.

We were delighted that the former FIH President and current Chair of the FIH Foundation, Leandro Negre, took time out from his busy schedule to join us at the December THM Board meeting. It was an opportunity for Leandro to hear first-hand the current activity supporting the development of our new premises at 13 High Street and our exciting long-term plans to move to our own purpose-built Museum accommodation.

THM continues to look for ways to develop the partnership it has with the FIH Foundation and the meeting discussed how we can work together to promote the international hockey heritage agenda. We also had some very positive discussions around the setting up of an International Hockey Heritage Network over the coming year that will support the wider initiative to celebrate the FIH Centenary in 2024.

Katie Dodd, 21 December 2017

These are exciting and challenging times for THM. The Trustees recognised the need to take on additional museum and business skills at the strategic level to ensure we deliver on our ambitious plans to develop hockey’s heritage and bring it to a wider audience. We are therefore delighted to announce that following a competitive recruitment process, Imogen Gibbon (Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery), Philip Kimberley (former Chair of England Hockey) and Lucy Newcombe (former England Hockey International and recently retired Wing Commander with the RAF) have now joined the Board of Trustees.

Imogen Gibbon (left) graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MA (Hons) in Art History, subsequently gained an MSc in Archive Administration from Aberystwyth University. From 1997 until 2002 she was Curator of Historic Photographs and Ship Plans at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich before moving on to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2002 to became Senior Curator of the Reference Section. In 2013, she took up her current role of Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery where she has been responsible for initiating and delivering many successful exhibitions. Imogen says she is thrilled to have been appointed as one of the new Trustees for The Hockey Museum. She added “the development of THM Collection – both the objects and archives – is pivotal to achieving the objective of placing the Museum at the centre of the heritage of hockey in the UK and internationally. I look forward to bringing my twenty-plus years of professional museum and gallery experience to assisting with the development and exhibition of the Collection which by 2020 will be the world’s leading hockey museum and archive”. She is also very much looking forward to her first ‘back to hockey’ session as part of her role as a THM Trustee.

Philip Kimberley (left) comes to THM with a wealth of experience following a successful business career including twenty years’ senior international leadership (Chair/CE) experience in a ‘blue chip’ multinational company. Chairman of England Hockey from 2002 to 2015, where he led a complete rebuild of the organisation to a position where it is now recognised as one of the best run governing bodies in British sport. Under his stewardship, the organisation set on the road to its highest ever participation figures and was awarded the right to host numerous major events including the 2018 Women’s World Cup. He has also served on other boards, notably UK Sport, Sports Coach UK as well as UK Sport's anti-doping project board. He has been recognised for his considerable contributions to sport being awarded the Community Sport and Recreation Emeritus Award in 2015 and an OBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours. Philip is also a member and Trustee of Gerrards Cross Hockey Club.

After completing an Aerosystems Engineering degree at Salford University, Lucy Newcombe (left) joined the RAF and was commissioned as a junior officer. Rapid promotion provided multiple opportunities in a variety of roles over 17 years. She has been involved with and led and managed teams in many environments including 4 operational tours in the war zones of Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. She also completed an intensive 11-month Masters Course covering strategic management, leadership, international politics and affairs and campaign planning. She also found time to get involved in RAF and Combined Services hockey over a 10-year period, holding posts of Vice Chair, Secretary and Head Coach. Since leaving the RAF, Lucy spent 18 months walking solo around the coast of Great Britain. Lucy is also a former International hockey player playing for England in the mid 1990s. She is now a qualified Level 2 hockey coach and ski instructor but is also actively involved in a variety of other sports including running, swimming, cycling and walking.

Mike Barford, the long-time Treasurer of THM has also joined the Board as a Trustee. Imogen, Philip, Lucy and Mike will join the existing Trustees Dil Bahra, David Balbirnie (FIH nominated), Katie Dodd (Chair and EH appointed) Mike Smith (Curator), David Wareham, and Ian Wilson (EH appointed). Patrick Rowley, one of the original founder Trustees, has now stepped down from his role. THM would like to thank him for efforts in the setting up of the Museum and his service in the following years.

Katie Dodd
Chair of THM Board of Trustees
October 2017

One year on from the women's hockey final of the Rio de Janiero 2016 Olympic Games, Great Britain gold medallist Helen Richardson-Walsh has continued her support of The Hockey Museum by donating her astro shoes from the Games (right).

Helen's donation will help to keep the memory of GB's success alive for future generations.

THM already holds a wealth of paraphenalia from Helen and her wife Kate including playing kit and Opening Ceremony 'walking out' uniform from London 2012 and their previous other international tournaments. Helen's Rio astro shoes are a welcome addition to this collection. Perhaps we'll get our hands on her medal at some point too. Here's hoping.

Were you involved in Great Britain's hockey journey (men or women) in Rio or at any other Olympic Games? Be it as a player, a member of the support staff or a travelling supporter, we'd love to hear from you if you'd like to follow in Helen's footsteps and donate to the museum. 

Left: Great Britain Women line up before the Rio 2016 Olympic final; image copyright Frank Uijlenbroek.
Right: Helen Richardson-Walsh, astro shoes prominent, in action during the Rio 2016 Olympic final; image copyright Koen Suyk.

Photograph courtesy of Steve McCarthy

As well as the excellent hockey on display at the Hockey World League series in London last week, there was also a small display, put together by the Hockey Writers' Club, celebrating the work of the late hockey journalists and photographers Peter Savage, Bill Colwill and Ravi Ghowry. The 'Remembrance Corner' was situated in the press area at Lee Valley and examples of their photography were displayed around the room. THM's Lynne Morgan and Shane Smith snuck in to have a look and pay their respects.

THM's oral history collection is dedicated to (and features) Peter Savage. Check it out here.

A few Wednesdays ago, twelve of the England Women’s Masters Over 55s rode in to The Hockey Museum (THM). Led by Ruth Hine, the ‘Red Riders’ regularly saddle up for the day as part of their team building and training. Having chosen somewhere to visit, they meet up at a suitable location and cycle the rest of the way. This particular Wednesday it was the turn of The Hockey Museum to play host.

The twelve team members, each in their pillar box red tops and navy-blue England Hockey Masters shorts arrived mid-morning and stayed for a few hours to view the museum and to swap hockey stories with our staff and volunteers. One such story, recalled by Hine, occurred during the Masters Over 55 World Cup in Easter 2016 when the umpire pointed out white astros were not permitted – cue white astroturf shoes being coloured in with permanent markers. Sara Walker also recalled her memories of playing for Ealing Hockey Club.

Not only did Ruth bring her team with her, she also brought some objects to donate to the Museum including a 2016 FIH Masters World Cup Women’s Over 55s winners medal which THM is honoured to have received.

At the end of the visit the ladies also treated us to a musical rendition of the Lady Masters Anthem!

England Over 55s Anthem- We Remember- My Favourite Things
Lyrics by Ruth Hine

We all remember the long headed sticks,
Penalty bullies not penalty flicks,
Roll in from the sideline and being off side,
Always five forwards with wings that stayed wide.

Remember the goalies with white cricket pads;
We wore canvas boots carried long, buckle bags,
On bouncy grass pitches we dodged the dog dirt!
Without any shin pads the leather ball hurt.

Remember the days when we cancelled for rain,
Painting the balls white was- Oh such a pain,
Playing on redgra and grazing your knee,
Bringing mum’s cake for a sociable tea.

Now our bodies weak and our bones creak
Our friends think we’re mad!
We have to remember the good hockey days,
And then we don’t feel so bad!

Now we bring ‘tenas’ but it’s not our match fee,
It’s harder to move with replaced hips and knees,
We can’t run like we used to but can use our brain
It’s just hard to remember the time of the game.

Our kids are grown up, we play hockey the same,
We sweat more at night than during the game,
We come off the pitch – can’t remember the score,
We think we enjoyed it so come back for more.

Now our bodies weak and our bones creak
Our friends think we’re mad!
We have to remember the good hockey days,
And then we don’t feel so bad!

All of us at THM would like to thank the Women’s England Over 55s Masters and we hope that they come and see us again soon.

Holly Parsons, June 2017

THM's Curatorial Assistant Holly Parsons.

Holly Parsons completes the Museum’s curatorial team. She joined as Curatorial Assistant in February.

Since leaving the University of Portsmouth in 2011 she has been volunteering at museums in London and the South, including the Old Police Cells under Brighton Town Hall, Marlipins Museum in Shoreham-by-Sea, the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, the World Rugby Museum in Twickenham Stadium and at Culture24.

For the past two years she has worked in Visitor Services at the Royal Pavilion and Museums in Brighton where she has worked in the Youth Group, in the booking office, represented the organisation at the Museums Association Conference and planned a conference on the Workforce Development programme.

In the rare time when she is not working or visiting museums she enjoys swimming, reading or completing craft projects.

Christabel Russell Vick comes from a committed hockey family.

She is a Vice President of Sevenoaks HC following in the footsteps of both her parents. She has played for the club for over 25 years and scored 300 plus goals, as well as a spell as a junior coach.

Her mother Mary was President of the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) and Chairman of Great Britain Women’s Hockey.

Christabel admits tennis was her stronger sport at which she played for and captained Kent until a back injury put paid to further active sport.

Using her statistical and IT skills she worked for Transport Studies Group at UCL, Henley Centre for Forecasting, NOP Market Research, Association of Commonwealth Universities and latterly as a Workforce Information Analyst in the NHS for 17 years.

Her activity with the Museum will involve collections documentation as well as editing the ‘Wembley Story’ using the detailed research done by Nan Williams and adding valuable information from her mother’s archives.

John Hurst has had a distinguished hockey career, on and off the pitch.

A goalkeeper, he represented England, indoors and out, and Great Britain between 1977 and 1988 and captained England on several occasions between 1979 and 1981.

He was in the GB squad leading up to the Seoul Olympics and ended his career as non-travelling reserve for the gold medallists, before taking up a position of consultant goalkeeping coach which he held until 2017.

In this time John has been a member of the management teams for GB and England squads, men and women, at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games as well as World and European Cups and Champions Trophies as goalkeeper coach and videographer.

He regards England men’s gold medal at the 2009 European Cup, GB men’s and women’s achievements at London 2012 and the women’s Olympic triumph in Rio as the highlights of his coaching career.

John is now gradually retiring from coaching activity and, in his role as THM volunteer, he will concentrate on the history and development of protective equipment in hockey.

Philippa Hurst is an Honorary Life Member of St Albans HC and, with husband John, recently retired from the Hockey Centre which they co-owned for many years. She joined Abbeyside Ladies, which later became St Albans Ladies Section, in 1975.

Starting colts’ hockey with the club around 1990, she eventually took them to the national semi-finals of the U15 girls club competition. She then became involved with East hockey, launching the U14s and then the U13s. The highlight of the year was the three or four day annual residential East camps at which she was either Manager or Welfare Officer. She later became manager for the U15s for three years, retiring from the role in 2012.

Philippa was a member of the East group involved in the development of England Hockey’s Single System.

Philippa began her career in teaching, having graduated from Birmingham University with a History degree. She and John met in their first teaching roles at Durrants School, Croxley Green. They have two daughters, Stephanie, who plays at St Albans, and Jen, whose daughters Emily and Chloe also play for the club.

She is a prominent member of the local historical society and co-wrote a book, published in 2016, entitled St Albans: Life on the Home Front 1914-1918.

Her activity for The Hockey Museum will be researching Hockey’s Military Stories.

The Hockey Museum is deeply saddened to learn that former GB and Wales Manager Roger Self has passed away after a long illness. Read his full obituary, penned by Bernie Cotton, on THM site here.

Funeral Arrangements

Roger's family are holding a private cremation next week, however, there will be a Service of Thanksgiving on Wednesday 28 June at 1pm at St Nicholas Church in Alcester. The latter is open invitation.

There will be another service of thanksgiving for Roger in Guernsey later in 2017 but there is no fixed date for this yet.

Jo Halpin, journalist and THM supporter, recently came across this fascinating article in the Irish Times featuring the 107-year-old former Irish international Dorothea Findlater. Findlater turned 107 years old on 27 December 2016 making it 81 years since she won her first Irish cap in 1936. It earned her a slow boat trip to the US.

Read the full article on the Irish Times website here.

 Wilhelmina Augusta Baumann

Exhibition: Wilhelmina Augusta Baumann

The Hockey Museum is currently showing a small exhibition on Wilhelmina Augusta Baumann, one of the most respected and important women in hockey during the 1920s and '30s. The exhibition, which explores Baumann's playing and pioneering administrative career, ties in with Surrey Museums Month (SMM) and its theme of "Surrey's super women". It runs throughout April 2017. THM is also included in the SMM i-Spy Trail which runs until September.

The exhibition will be on show until the late summer (see regular opening hours here) but between the 3-28 April THM will be open to the public 10.00am-4.00pm, Monday-Friday excluding Bank Holidays.

Last Tuesday (28 March 2017) THM was delighted to host former International Hockey Federation (FIH) and European Hockey Federation (EHF) President Juan Calzado and his family. Following his visit Mr Calzado said:

"It was a real pleasure to visit The Hockey Museum. The work that you are doing is fantastic ... record[ing] the history of our lovely sport and the hockey family will enjoy seeing so many important souvenirs of our sport."

Discover more about Juan Calzado's visit in our Blasts From The Past feature here.