Welcome to the first London Royals newsletter of the 2011/2012 season. It’s an exciting year for hockey generally with London 2012 coming up and even more so for our Club, as we will be competing in a new league this season, and have a Pink Hockey tournament in Dublin to look forward to next summer.
We wanted to update you as to everything that is going on in the Club and what the Committee has been busily doing behind the scenes since the AGM. Some of you may have seen our article in QX this week. We may also have an opportunity to do a slightly larger article in QX with photos, so if you (male or female) are interested in being the face of the London Royals please contact Tom Evans. We have also contacted a number of student organisations letting them know about the Club in time for the new academic year.
As a Club we’ve grown to the point where we need a proper constitution, to be able to provide trained umpires, and to have adequate insurance for our training sessions. It was therefore agreed at the AGM to draft a constitution based on the model versions provided by England Hockey. You will find a copy attached to this email. Please can you feedback any comments to the Secretary, Sam Ford Gething, by no later than 27th September.
Coaching and Training
Our First Session Caroline Mockel, assisted by Stuart Craig, has put together an amazing training plan which will be posted on our website so that you can see what we are working on at training each week. Training commences on Sunday 25th September and we will only have two sessions before our first match. For this season, the Committee would like us to maximise our training sessions. We are sure that everyone in the Club will greatly benefit from this – personally as a player and with the London Royals as a team. We can now promise you a consistent coaching plan for the entire season and at least one qualified coach present at every session. Please get in touch if you are interested in helping out with coaching. We are expecting a great turnout for our first session from both existing and new members. Please be there for 12:15 for our warm-up, as the session starts at 12:30 and our pitch time is valuable. This week we will be covering basic skills and techniques to get us all back into hockey after the long summer break and we will also have a quick ball game so everyone can learn names of anyone they don’t know. We will as always be heading to the Captain Kidd for post-training drinks.
Membership
Our current subs only just cover the cost of pitch fees each week, with kit paid for out of our residual funds from the 2010 sponsorship deal. This year, we have therefore decided to introduce an annual membership fee of £20 which will contribute to training for four umpires, essential liability insurance for our coaches, and basic kit (such as balls and cones etc). The subs will remain at £5 per week. We think you’ll agree that £20 is still a very small annual membership fee for any sports club, let alone a fantastic one like the London Royals, and hope that it won’t prevent anyone from playing. Everyone will be able to come to two training sessions without paying the membership fee, to ensure that newbies get a chance to see if they like us before they commit, but Matt Hill will be chasing you for money after your third session. Please note that any insurance the Club acquires will not cover injuries and all members should consider taking out their own insurance if they want it.
Umpires
We need qualified umpires as a requirement of the Mixed League. We are therefore looking for four members of the London Royals (preferably two guys and two girls) who would like to gain the England Hockey Level 1 Umpire Award, and who would then be willing to commit to umpiring at London Royals matches over the course of the season. With four qualified umpires this responsibility would be shared so that each umpire was not required at every game. The next available course is on Sunday 16th October at Brentwood – running from 9:30am to 3:30pm. Following this, prospective umpires are then required to umpire at three practice games and finally be assessed whilst umpiring a competitive hockey match. More details can be found at: http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/page.asp?section=290§ionTitle=Level+1+Umpire+Award The cost of the course would be covered by the London Royals. Please get in touch with Tom Evans if you are interested in taking the course. Should we receive significant interest from the Club the committee will chose from the applicants based on suitability and experience.
Socials
In addition to our usual post training drinks, Sara Byrne and Greg Richardson have being putting together a programme of social events for the season. The next date for the diary is 29th October. Details of what will be another amazing evening to follow. Thanks to everyone who helped us enjoy our pre-season/post-summer catch up drinks last Friday at Benugo.
Getting in touch
All of our events, training and matches will be put up on the Club’s website (www.londonroyals.co.uk) and reminders will be sent out on the Facebook group site. We will be deleting the Facebook page shortly. If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe from the Club’s newsletter please email and let us know.
Indoor Event
For those of you who want to attend a great day of hockey Richard Chere will be making a block booking for the National Indoor Finals (Maxifuel Super Sixes Finals), which take place at London’s Wembley Arena on Sunday 29th January 2012. Starting at noon is the two men’s semi-finals, then the Women’s Final and the last game is the Men’s Final finishing about 6pm. For those who haven’t been before this is a great day out and a real showcase of good hockey. As a block booking we can get 1 ticket in 6 free and don’t have to pay any booking charges – the discount will be passed directly on to you. The reserved blocks are also some of the best seats. We will be going for the better seats (face price £20 for adults). This is not an official club event although there will be quite a few of us going. Please email richardchere@hotmail.com by no later than 23rd September if you want to go, with Indoor tickets in the subject field of the email and stating how many tickets you wish to buy. Please note that you are responsible for settling the price of the tickets directly with Richard and will need to do so immediately once the final price is sorted.
Community Events and Film Night
One of the things the Committee has discussed is the Club becoming more involved with the wider community. We are supporting Manchester’s bid to host the Eurogames in 2015 and looking into other projects. As such a few of us will be attending the Curzon Soho on 17th November for the movie premiere of Between the Silence, a film adaptation of a stage play shown at The Soho Theatre in 2009. It’s written and directed by a young gay actor and details the lives of seven strangers entwined by a Mother’s illness. The film’s trailer can be found here: http://www.betweenthesilence.co.uk/CSS/downloads.html As it’s a private screening tickets are on sale here (note don’t use a work email address to sign up): http://www.wegottickets.com/event/133935.
That’s all we have for this newsletter. If you would like to see additional topics covered in future newsletters please let one of us know. We look forward to seeing you on 25th September.
Best regards
The London Royals Hockey Club Committee 2011 / 2012
Richard Chere – Communications Officer
Matt Hill – Treasurer
Sam Ford Gething – Secretary
Sara Byrne – Social Secretary
Greg Richardson – Social Secretary
Sam Whale – Captain
Cathy Holloway – Captain
Caroline Mockel – Head Coach
Stuart Craig – Coach
Tom Evans – President