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The TigerTurf is now Open
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What a day we had!
Last Saturday we finally opened the Astro. A dream that has been 25 years in the making. Players past, present and future assembled to witness Rupert Schoolbred and Miles Poulton, representing the History and the future of our club, cut the ribbon.
We heard speeches from Sally Walton , Ex GB player ("Make the most of it an build your future") and John Clarke, Northchurch Parish Council ("Thanks for my new football pitch"), who contributed funding, brought into focus what a big deal our new pitch is both locally and on a broader scale. Annamarie, as our Chair, reinforced how important this new facility is to the club's future, how it brings so many opportunities and critically gives a place for all the BHHHC hockey family to come together.
Annamarie had special thanks for the astro committee and all that they had achieved and, of course, the membership, the 'Big Dealers' and donors that made it happen financially.
Nick Burles acted as MC for the opening, reminding us of how we had got to this point over so many years, so great that Sally remembered him as a ball boy at the Olympics.
An Exhibition game followed, well, more of a run around with some occasional hockey breaking out. Those not selected went for coffee & cake from the wagon at the pitch entrance. Mixed games followed bringing all of the club together and everyone got their own piece of the astro to take home, hand crafted by the Dubenski Craft Club!
A band, souvlaki and a dance finished off a real milestone day for BHHHC along with request to do it again next year!
Special thanks to all involved in organising the day, our fantastic bar staff and the car park marshals Emma, Swampy, Rocky and Vicky.
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Red and blue lines have appeared on the TigerTurf. At some point on Monday, persons unknown (I was busy fishing Eskie out of the canal) have painted the red half pitch hockey pitches and two blue 7 a side football pitches. Yes, we can now accommodate a fantastic six teams working on their penalty corner routines at the same time. Oh dear, we are running out of excuses for not knowing what “Red 48 Offset” means and acting accordingly.
Needless to say, the lines are looking rather brand new and shiny at the moment so we rely on the time honoured confrontations between full backs and wingers to wear them in a bit and “subtle them up”.
Once Eskie was out of the canal, we were able to witness some electrical fine tuning - presumably inserting the electrons donated on Saturday. Thanks for all the donations. Rumour has it that the current economic climate requires us to turn the lights off as soon as possible please and this is currently achieved by a select few key holders and a manual switch. At some point in the near future a futuristic remotely administered timing system will make these special people obsolete. It will be in good company since the main padlock also uses some form of hocus pocus to inform Mr Dubenski who has been operating it.
A combination of flags and a massive rope have appeared next to the path to the astro, presumably in further efforts to persuade visitors to use the path rather than grass to access the pitch. Hopefully the rest of the rope will appear soon to stop them cheating.
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The floodlighting of the Astro is not actually quite finished. What we have at the moment is just on and off for the various banks of lighting.
What we will have is 6 different settings which will include illuminating the whole pitch for hockey and half of the pitch for hockey and half for football (the two sports need different levels of lighting). This is key because the electricity bills are, as you can imagine, going to be pretty high. By reducing the illumination levels we can reduce the power consumption.
The controls are also going to allow us to change the settings and the timings via a web-page. If you want to know more about the system go to https://www.lighting.philips.co.uk/systems/lighting-systems/perfect-play#case_studies.
The new controls will be up and running in a week or two.
As you may be aware we are going to be tarmac-ing the road and the carpark very soon to add the finishing touches to the Astro project. We have not had the dates confirmed by the contractor but will let you know as soon as we know.
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A gift that money cannot buy
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Some months ago the Astro Opening Day Working Group wanted an idea for a special Astro Opening Day gift for BHHHC Club Members on 10th September 2022. A gift that would both commemorate the opening of our magnificent Astro pitch and recognize the part you play as a member in financing, owning and maintaining this amazing facility for the benefit of the club and our Dacorum community for many years into the future. We decided to create the “BHHHC My Astro” gift from TigerTurf off-cuts left over from construction of our pitch.
If you have paid your 2022/2023 annual subs and did not receive a mini astro on the Opening Day then please contact paul.dubenski@outlook.com to arrange collection of your mini Astro(s) (one per club member).
Special thanks to our creatives for their support with design, printing, cutting and glueing: Paul Dubenski, Roger Payton, Stef Langdon, Nigel Edwards, Charlie Michie, John Goddard (Pitch Printing - Colour Crew Bletchley) and Peter Spivey (Tag Label Printing - Hemel Hempstead).
We very much hope you like your My Astro and have imaginative ways in which you would like to use it / display it at home.
Paul Dubenski
BHHHC Astro Opening Day Working Group
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In-school programme Autumn Term
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The BHHHC In-School Hockey Programme is off to a great start this academic year. Our amazing coaches are currently delivering dedicated hockey PE in six schools in our community over the Autumn term. That is enabling approximately 360 children to play hockey in our committee per week. Schools are booking the sessions through Schools Sports Premium Funding and we only provide sponsored gumshields to children under the Pupil Premium scheme. We will continue to market and liaise with all schools in and around our community, to enable as many children as possible to experience hockey. We are always looking for coaches and the club offers support and funding towards coaching qualifications. Therefore, if you can spare a couple of hours per week to join our In-School Hockey Programme, develop your coaching skills and start working as a paid hockey coach on flexible part-time hours, do get in touch with Annamarie via chair@berkohockeyclub.com.
Welcome to Pete Gale (from Leighton Buzzard), Jenny Hates Sprouts and Shrina Patel (both from our Ladies Performance Squads) who recently joined the team as coaches.
Thank you to Louise Rhys-Davies who continues to deliver coaching at Collett School and Potten End Primary School as well as Natasha Goodwin, for coaching over summer and filling in where we need her. We are wishing Cookie a speedy recovery and quick return and are very fortunate to have her as coach on our team.
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Congratulations to our former Treasurer and formidable Ladies 2’s striker Robyn, who got married on the 3rd of September. Wishing both you and Jeremy a wonderful life of happiness and love and may you eventually convince him to give up the cricket for hockey.
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We offer fun, friendly and competitive hockey for all abilities and welcome new and experienced players. Whether you just want to enjoy the benefits of a team sport and practice sessions, or participate in local Herts and England Hockey Youth Leagues, our club is for you.
We offer:
Sunday Training
U6 & U8 9:30 – 10:15
U10 (and new U12 players) 10:30 – 11:30
U12 & U14 11:30 – 12:30
Dedicated Disability Inclusion Flyerz Sessions 10:30 – 11:30
Wednesday Training
Performance Academy Players U10 and U12 18:00 - 19:00
Free taster sessions – All abilities welcome.
For further information contact Louise, our youth hockey coordinator.
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The things you do after a game
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The Ladies 3s have been celebrating so much more than their weekly "Most Valuable Player of the Game". They also select "Clown of the Game", "Feisty Pyrate" and "Head Mistress" each week.
…and thanks to our new astro, we will all have far more opportunities to witness this spectacle!
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The Dubenski Maintenance Posse expanded slightly this week with the addition of a new Dubenski TigerTurf Brushing Device operator.
So, if you see me driving it I suggest you stay out of the cage!
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Sunday 18 September
Back to Hockey 09:30
U6-U8 9:30 – 10:15
U10 (and new U12 players) 10:30 – 11:30
U12-U14 11:30 – 12:30
Dedicated Disability Inclusion Flyerz Sessions 10:30 – 11:30
Monday 19 September
Club Training starts 19:00 - 21:00 ALL UNDER 18s MUST BE WEARING A LEFT HAND HARD SHELLED GLOVE AS A MANDATORY PIECE OF PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT, BOTH GLOVES PREFERRED
Tuesday 20 September
Walking Hockey 13:00
Team training Mens 5xi, 20:00 - 21:00
Wednesday 21 September
Youth performance academy U10 & U12 18:00 - 19:00
Ladies & Mens 1xi & 2xi training 19:30
Meanwhile, fixtures are starting to appear on the website www.berkohockeyclub.com. The details are a bit dynamic at this time of year, but the amount of info will increase over the next couple of weeks.
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18 September - First Aid Training
19 September - Club Training starts 19:00
26-29 May 2023 Hudito Hockeydays Tour (Holland) keep an eye on website for further info
23-25 June 2023 BHHHC Mixed Festival keep an eye on website for further info
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If you have some club related news that you would like to share with our big hockey family feel free to send it, ideally with a photo, to newsletter@berkohockeyclub.com.
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