The All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA) Honary Life Members board from 1925 onwards has now been fixed at the Museum. Thanks to Mike Smith for polishing the plate.
The archives at Butts Way are taking shape. Whilst Mike Smith (right) has been busy painting and fixing the sheves, Dil Bahra (left) has been sorting the books and magazines in the library.
Hockey, at last, has its own archive museum. The dream of a number of enthusiasts has been realised. The Museum is at Butts Road in the lively, leafy Surrey town of Woking in England.
It has come about largely through the energy and initiative of a group of enthusiasts. Two pairs of people, Mike Smith and David Wareham, on one hand, and Patrick Rowley and Dil Bahra on the other, with largely the same objective of working to preserve hockey's rich heritage, came together. When the two groups met some four years ago, they decided to form a Hockey Archives group.
The group was later expanded to include Katie Dodd, the former England international, and Ian Wilson, the Treasurer of England Hockey. The sextet blended instantly and enormous progress has been made. You can see how far we have progressed.
The collection, spanning the 125 years of hockey's existence, so far consists of books, magazines, photographs, videos, drawings, paintings, besides trophies, plaques, and the changes of hockey clothing, balls, and sticks - even hockey stamps. Some fascinating, even unique, things have come into our possession.
We are also in the process of obtaining extensive statistical records of hockey both for the UK and international hockey. But this is not just about the higher levels of our game. Our collection is a montage of hockey at all levels.
The initial driving force for this collection came from Mike Smith, he of Mercian sports goods fame, and chartered surveyor David Wareham, a former hockey umpire and official. Pat Rowley and Dil Bahra, as members of the Hockey Writers Club, had become increasingly aware of the dearth of readily available information on the game. Pat had realised how little was available back in 1969 when he wrote The Book of Hockey. Dil was particularly interested in India and the subcontinent. Katie Dodd became interested when she joined England Hockey and tried to pull together a historical display for women's hockey. Her energy and drive made her a natural leader for our group.
Ian Wilson was responsible for trying to save what records of England and UK hockey existed when England's National Stadium at Milton Keynes was sold. He set up an England Hockey Archive Steering Group and played a major role in making sure hockey literature was found a home at Bath University.
Our website has been sponsored by Denys Shortt, the former England U21 international, through one of his businesses. He is one of many in hockey who are supporting our venture; people who want to put something back into the game they love.
Thankfully many enthusiasts around the UK, the country where hockey was born, and the rest of the world, have retained and collected hockey memorabilia.
So if you know of anyone, wherever they are in the world, who would like to join us in our initiative or provide memorabilia, do get in touch. We are extremely grateful to Woking Borough Council and its enterprising museum, The Lightbox who have made the site at Butts Road available to us (at peppercorn rent) and provided valuable guidance and help.
Hockey now has two collections of archives. We played an important role in the setting up of the hockey section for Bath University's sports library where their archivist, Lizzie Richmond, has done a wonderful job.
Our next venture will be to make a display to have on view, possibly in Central London, in time for the London Olympics. Soon we will seek to secure individual donations while currently we are working to make the Museum a Charitable Trust.
Meanwhile do get in touch with us. We need your suggestions, ideas, and contributions.
Patrick Rowley, September 2011
Wimbledon Ladies Celebrate 125 Years
Wimbledon Ladies' Hockey Club (WLHC), the oldest surviving ladies' hockey club in the world, celebrated their 125 years in style over the weekend of 27th and 28th of September. It began with a programme of matches followed by a traditional match tea of sandwiches and cake at the Wimbledon Club where...
First THM Quiz Winners
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Mrs Belchamber, Miss Bettine And Miss Ellis
I was in The Hockey Museum one Tuesday morning and was asked to look up some information to help answer an enquiry from a man researching his family tree, whose mother, Mrs Belchamber, played for England in the 1920s. He had some information and a letter dated 23 October 1920...
Lord Gets Off The Bench And Picks Up His Hockey Stick
This article was spotted in a recent issue of the Scotland on Sunday newspaper. "The recent retired chairman of the Scottish Land Court, Lord McGhie, shows no signs of slowing down. Just a week or two after stepping down from his exalted position, the good Lord will be turning out in...
Robert Watson Collection
The recently acquired Robert Watson collection contained three unusual items (pictured). Two are silver hallmarked pin badges from the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics. The third is believed to be a cufflink from the 1948 London Games but we are missing its partner. Mike Haymonds, September 2014
Lost Collections: Bill Malherbe Of South Africa
Probably the first real collector of hockey material was Bill Malherbe of South Africa, although the claim might be hotly contested if anyone knew what was in Ken Howells’s (of Teddington Hockey Club and Wales) collection. Sadly, his total and vast collection was thrown away shortly after his death, so...
Museum Stand At The Investec Cup
The Museum’s stand at the Investec London Cup held at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park was a great success, attracting even more visitors than last year’s stand and proving a hit with adults and children alike. The display of sticks is always popular with...
The Cine Films Mystery
The Museum has been given four large collections of hockey films which have been recorded on film reels. Rowena Shepherd, the Museum volunteer leading in this work, commented: “At the moment we really only know their titles. They are a mixture of films of hockey events and matches such as...
Investec London Cup, 9-13 July
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Memories Of Wembley Stadium
Nan William’s work to uncover the full history of the playing of hockey at Wembley Stadium continues and she has recently received some fascinating stories from former internationals Karen Brown, Sue Slocombe and Val Robinson. In an attempt to also find some local knowledge of this annual hockey event, she...
Even The Gods Played Hockey
This mosaic, an image of the god Pan from a Roman villa, was recently seen by The Hocket Museum volunteer Evelyn Somerville in the Archaeological Gardens at Paphos, Cyprus. It was created during the 3rd century AD.
Club Mugs
Now’s the time for a spring clean of your kitchen cupboards to find a new home for that old club mug or beer glass that you keep just in case or maybe for ‘old time's sake’. Well, The Hockey Museum can offer this club memento pride of place as we...
War Stories
The Hockey Museum calls for hockey military stories as the centenary of WW1 approaches. Click on the image for the full article.
Museum Volunteers Needed
The Hockey Museum opened at the beginning of 2012 in splendid premises in Woking, Surrey. In two years it has come a long way in establishing itself as the leading institution for collecting, storing, archiving and researching the rich history and heritage of the sport of hockey. New collections arrive...
Let's Make A Date!
When the English Hockey Association folded in 2002 was that the end of English hockey? Of course not. Early the following year a new association, England Hockey, arose, phoenix-like, from the ashes. And some time after that it was renamed the English Hockey Board. Clubs kept on playing and many...
How Old Is Your Club?
How old is your club? Guildford Hockey Club were not really sure. They celebrated their 50th in 1975 on the understanding that they had started in 1925. Local club Woking then suggested that they might be older than that. Their club chairman, Chris Basly, contacted us and we had a...
The Oldest Club Archive
Surbiton Hockey Club are not quite the oldest club in the world but they do have the oldest and most complete ‘club archive’; unless you know better, of course! Their minute books go back to 1874 together with copious press cuttings and a complete collection of their club newsletter from...
The Hockey Museum Visits FIH HQ In Lausanne
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) are very impressed with what we are achieving at The Hockey Museum after their two top executives visited us at Woking last July. A special 'there-and-back-in-a-day' visit made us realise that they were serious. The FIH's mission statement includes a commitment to history and heritage...
20 years in Storage
By Mike Smith Two collections that have arrived at the Museum have actually been with us for over twenty years. They were collections given to us as a ‘fledgling set-up’ but, with the loss of our first home in Milton Keynes, they were never updated and sorted. This fascinating job...
Initiatives To Promote The Museum
By Mike Smith The NHM website will be "upgraded" in the near future as we have just about reached the capacity of the old one. Under the direction of our new Webmaster, Allan Jobling, and our Publicity Officer, Mike Haymonds, we are hopeful of significantly increasing the potential to share information and...
FIH President visits the Museum
By Mike Haymonds Leandro Negre, FIH President, made his first visit to the Museum on Wednesday and pronounced himself “very impressed” with what he saw after a guided tour with Chair of Trustees Katie Dodd and Curator Mike Smith. He spoke with many of the volunteers about the work they...
More Lost Collections
When we met with Leandro Negre, President of the FIH, at the Hockey Writers’ Club Luncheon last year, he said: ”This haemorrhaging of historical hockey material has got to be stopped.” Yes, Leandro, but how do we stop it? Within an hour we learned that the collection put together by Don...
Hockey in Morocco
The Museum has started researching the origins and development of hockey in North Africa as we already know that ‘hockey-like’ games have been played in many countries in this region for generations. We have images of a game called ‘Genna’ being played in Ethiopia (see item in December’s newsletter), ‘oggaf’...
The Wagstaffe/Miroy Trunk
Whilst collecting the Miroy collection and helping to clear the house we came across this old trunk in the loft. With the name Wagstaffe on it we realised that it dated from Barbara’s father who founded the Folkestone Hockey Festival. It was through the Festival that Barbara and Nevil first...
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