History and Honours

From fairly humble beginnings in 1945 the Club has developed into one of the most respected clubs in Kent and now runs 5 mens teams, one ladies team in addition to veterans and youth teams.

Central to our playing arrangements is the use of the School all-weather pitch by kind permission of the Headmaster for games on Saturdays and training on Wednesdays. This has recently been extended to include Sunday mornings for Youth Hockey as the result of which the Club runs teams at both Under14 and Under 16 level.

The Club has always prided itself on being friendly and hospitable. After games teas and social gatherings are hosted in the Clubhouse which was built from funds provided by the School Trustees to benefit the School and Old Williamsonians. The Club’s sociability is further evidenced by the enormous number of tournaments participated in over the years both at home and abroad.

Membership of the Club was extended in 1989 to include a number of Associate Members who are not former pupils or members of staff at the School. Many of these members have played, and continue to play, major roles in the administration and playing strength of the Club.

As can be seen from the Honours Board, the Club has been successful over the years but it is particularly proud of the Ladies Team which started out getting thrashed every week. However, they stuck to their guns to record a succession of league promotions to put them currently in the Ladies Division 3 – a truly astonishing achievement.

The Men’s heyday was in the early 1980’s when the 1^st XI reached the last 8 of the best teams in the country. The pinnacle of the weekend was narrowly losing 1-3 to Slough, then the best team in the country and which included Ian Taylor and Paul Barber who were later to win Olympic gold medals in Seoul. The following year we lost narrowly 2-3 in the Kent Cup Final to a star-studded Beckenham side.

No club would exist without those characters who give of their time and themselves in order to enrich the game and their club. The OW Hockey Club has had an abundance of these people but, for the purpose of this synopsis, we will mention just one. His name is Alan Medhurst; the main instigator behind the club’s formation. He acted as Secretary, Match Secretary and Treasurer and was given the nickname of “The Bishop” because he went around “confirming” everyone for the next game.