Aka: Remind me exactly why I play this game?

In glorious sunshine we meandered through the Cotswolds heading towards the historic town of Banbury, enjoying the heady scent of wild country flowers, contemplating life, clouds and the beauty of nature, dreamily anticipating the noble game of hockey ahead of us... Then I woke up and realised I had to belt up the M40 for 60 miles, in driving rain, wind howling, to play in the most miserable conditions imaginable. Once there, the car park was under 6 inches of muddy water (pleasant), the toilets were closed (eek!), the opposition were big (very), and the pitch sloped confusingly to the left (no, it wasn't your hangover Jan!).

Anyway, twice we took the lead. First goal from Lorraine, after a great run and cross from Kate. Second goal from the newly svelte Kitbag, more of a 'partyhandbag' these days, doing one of her sweepy things. Sadly, however, three times the delicate souls of Banbury defeated our defence, despite goal-line saves from Jan, and diving bravery from Woody. But we tried hard, played well in the conditions, and certainly deserved a draw. HUGE thanks to Painey for umpiring in such hideous conditions and to Alice's Dad Tim for moral and vocal support!

Luckily no accidents on the way home, as most of the team seemed to be without any knickers, let alone clean ones. Now there's a thought...

Team: Wood, Kitto, Croft, Jobling, Scott, Wainwright, Hall, Chipperfield, Duke, Stratford, Hext.

RACE NIGHT - SAT 21ST FEBRUARY

Tickets are now on sale at £3 per person for race night. There will be 8 races with 8 runners each. Race Representatives are;

Katy Shaw, Fay Rider, Catherine Watson, Zoë Scott, Jan Croft, Watsy and Adam Laubser.

Each rep is selling sponsorship of one race (at £10 per race with the intention to divide that up between team members) and individual horses (at £5 per horse for individuals). The Hockey Section want to raise astro fund money from this event so please contribute towards sponsoring a race and get a horse for yourself. It will certainly add to the fun and competitive feel on the night.

Please don't be shy - if you haven't been asked to sponsor a race, horse or even if you want a ticket to attend feel free to contact a rep direct!

Food is not included in the ticket price but burgers etc will be available to buy over the counter on the night.

Here is this weeks roll of honour:

ACHC ladies 3's travelled away for a top of the league clash with Aylesbury. We went 1-0 down, while we were caught napping, with a controversial goal from outside the D, which seemed to set the umpiring tone for the match!

Stella Sanders got hold of a defenders clearance and equalised shortly afterwards, from the edge of the circle, which settled the team slightly and we had several failed attacks. Sara Daughtry's cracking goal from a short corner was disallowed by the umpire who simply DID NOT LIKE IT! - (well this is the only reason we could come up with!)

Aylesbury became quite physical and decidedly stroppy as AC had most of the play but were totally incompetent in front of goal missing numerous chances and penalty corners. Some stylish passing up the pitch resulted in a silky pass square past the keeper by Ruth Fermor to Hannah Towers who slipped it past the keeper. (2-1 to us.)

AC had yet more chances with Hannah Towers getting her and the ball past the keeper only to have her shot cleared off the line by a very agile Aylesbury defender. The keeper made several good saves as the pressure rose. A mass push at the end and some delightful commentary from their supporters resulted in an Aylesbury short corner which unfortunately they scored from to equalise in a game that finished 2-2 .We really didn't do ourselves justice and need to commit and play as a team. We also need to train up some of our own umpires!

NEW CLUB TRAINING FLEECES

The new club fleeces are now ready for order. They are far superior to last year. This year they are a triple layer, wind, rain and snow proof jackets. The are made by a company called Wind Checker and are much much better than the old reversible jackets.

This year ladies also have fitted sizes I think ranging from 8 to 16. Mens sizes are small to extra large. Another great inclusion this year is initials (max 3) embroidered on the front. The cost of these fabulous new jackets is £45 (£5 up on last year), but the quality is evident.

To order your jacket:

MEN
See Martin Cartledge (martin.cartledge@compass-group.co.uk) 07736 089584.

LADIES
See Sarah Cartledge (scartledge@pentland.com) 0780 1759741.

Please make cheques payable to "TPS Merchandising"

PLEASE PRESENT CHEQUE WITH ORDER, TO ENSURE PROMPT DELIVERY.

SPORTS CLUB LOAN DRAW

The latest draw was held on 24th January 2004 during the middle of the Quiz Night. The lucky winner, with number 36, was Erika Schelshorn as witnessed by Bob Hance. Thanks again for the continued support of all the Loan Scheme members.

SOFTBALL TRAINING

As you read in the newsletter a couple of weeks ago, the Sports Club is starting up a mixed softball team to run in the local Windsor and Maidenhead League this summer. The league starts in April but there are going to be some training sessions and practice games before then to get the team into the swing of things.

The first training session will be held at the club on SUNDAY 15TH FEBRUARY AT 11AM (This gives us time to train and still make the home mixed hockey cup game in the afternoon). Everyone is welcome to come along and to find out what it's all about... it doesn't matter how good or bad you think you'll be, whether you've played before or whether you are a hockey or cricket player as everyone will be starting off from more or less the same level.

Feel free to just turn up and give it a go.

If you would like further information please contact Martin Cartledge (email address is in the Kit Section above) or Neil Turner (neil@code-uk.com).