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• View From the Chair - Paul Linaker
  • View From The Chair - No 1
  • View From The Chair - No 2
  • View From The Chair - No 3
  • View From The Chair - No 4
  • View From The Chair - No 5
  • View From The Chair - No 6
  • View From the Chair - No 7
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View From The Chair - No 6

Firstly I hope that you and yours have had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas and ask you to accept my best wishes for a happy and fulfilling New Year.

Just before Christmas the weather was sufficiently frosty for us to lose a couple of the early morning League games (4^th Xl and 5^th Xl), but these have been played this weekend to catch-up before the second half of the season gets underway. This small inconvenience was of course as nothing compared to just twelve months before, when both November and December were badly affected by snow and numerous games were put back into the second half of the season. Despite the dire warnings from some of the weather pundits and the media, the threatened repeat of similar weather has not happened ………….yet, at any rate. I just have a feeling that all those huge Local Authorities’ salt/grit reserves and extra vehicles lined up ready at the airports have frightened the snow away. Mind you, high winds can bring problems too, and there could be more of them.

The second half of the season looks set to be a busier one for the Club than the first half on several key fronts. Hockey-wise we have the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd teams particularly in strong positions to challenge for top league positions. There are social functions to firm-up, not least of which will be the Annual Dinner/Dance at a new venue – I hope we can organise for tickets to be available in February to get you all booked in early. The Club’s Fund Raising Officer, Lyndon Davies, will be continuing his work to identify funding sources, which will include decisions on whether to pursue CASC or Charitable Status.

Meanwhile Iain Simmons will be continuing his work getting our list of successful examinees watched in order for them to qualify as Level 1 Umpires. We have recently seen Lewis Mitchell, Rupert Humphrey, Chad Henderson and Aaron Davey added to the list, and Steve Back and James Stanford were recently successful examinees from a course run by Maidstone Hockey Club. Congratulations to all of them.

Beyond that we need to make a start on the Club’s 5 year Development Plan and we will have the AGM to set up. As I said a bit earlier, all in all a busy period ahead, but one in which we can all play our part. I hope to continue my efforts to get round watching some of your games.

Here’s wishing you a successful but above all an enjoyable second half of the season.

Paul Linaker

Chairman – Sutton Valence Hockey Club