PGSOB Hockey Club News Articles

Merger FAQs

Paul van Beveren — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 09:22:42 +0000

Dave Uden

Paul van Beveren — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:24:23 +0000

A statement from the Uden family 25/1/22:

Early this morning, our beloved father Dave Uden passed away following a short but devastating battle with cancer. He spent the last few days in our family home and was with his wife and four children who held his hands and surrounded him with love and reassurance as he passed.

My Dad was a man who made a difference to everyone he met, from his first students at Whitleigh and then St Boniface, to his friends in the hockey community after years of playing and coaching. He thrived on helping others to develop into the best versions of themselves with kindness and compassion and we will miss him dearly.

We are in the early stages of planning the next steps but our Mum Heather has asked that anyone who would like to speak at his cremation service please reach out and get in touch. We will reach out regarding arrangements once these have been organised around covid regulations.

Dave was a stalwart of the club for over 35 years as a player, umpire and coach, an inspiration and role model to many of us both young and old he was an absolute gentleman who will be sorely missed not only at this club but within the wider South West Hockey community.

Our Love and best wishes go out to his family at this difficult time.

An open letter to the PGSOB HC membership and the wider Plymouth Hockey Family

Paul van Beveren — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 10:13:56 +0000

Dear Hockey Family

I want to start my notes by saying I hope you and your loved ones are well after what has been a challenging, often overwhelming year – and one that has called for a fair bit of resilience.

The early termination of the 2020/21 season gave us an opportunity to evaluate our current offer as a club and what we can do to help hockey continue to thrive in Plymouth.

At the start of the 2021/22 season, we published on our social media channels that we would be looking to start a project to rejuvenate hockey in the city and ensure participation well into the future. We received a number of enquiries from the wider Plymouth Hockey family as a result and we have also reached out to a few clubs as well.

Single sex sports clubs are becoming a thing of the past. Stories of exclusivity, accessibility, and ease of participation very quickly gain traction in today’s media. To be a single sex sports club in 2021 is to almost ostracise yourself from what is socially acceptable in the modern world.

England Hockey and Sport England want to see sports clubs that are sustainable both in terms of participation levels and financially. For hockey, that means a community-based club with a family focus, or more specifically a club with a men’s, ladies, junior and vets section which is open to all levels of participation.

To help ensure the future of hockey in Plymouth, we are currently in discussions with 4 other clubs to potentially create one of the largest clubs in the city. At this stage we are not able to name the clubs involved and I'd politely ask that you don't engage in speculation and rumour as this may be detrimental to the project. That said, please rest assured that we have the best interests of hockey and hockey players at heart and as soon as we are able to update you further, we will.

Our aim is to provide a club that is accessible to all with a focus on inclusivity and enjoyment. To do that, we aim to have a newly laid pitch with an on-site clubhouse and our committee members are working hard with local authorities to make sure we can provide you with this.

We want to provide the right club for you and working together with other stakeholders, we will strive to achieve this for you.

In terms of facility locations, we are working on 4 possible venues which are Brickfields, Lipson, Marjons and Sherford. Each location brings its own set of challenges, but we want to assure our membership that we will not be moving the club to a sub-standard facility.

Brickfields
- Everyone Active giving back control of outside facility to Plymouth City Council on 31 March 2022
- Plymouth City Council recognise outside facility in need of significant capital investment
- Luke Pollard MP has taken an interest in making Brickfields a multi sport hub for PL1
- Requires pitch re-lay
- Requires arrangement for clubhouse
Lipson
- Good quality pitch
- Requires arrangement for clubhouse
Marjons
- Pitch due to be re-laid over the next 2-3 years
- Requires arrangement for clubhouse
Sherford
- Pitch yet to be operational
- Pitch quality may not meet expectations
- To be linked with leisure centre
- No option for on-site club house
- Potential for facility share with Sherford Cricket Club Pavilion

This club is going to be formed of a conglomerate of existing sides, each of whom has their own identity. For us to form the new club and to ensure that it stays true to those inclusive values, we will be looking to create a new identity that reflects the founding members and the history of the respective clubs. In time we will come to you as the membership to collect ideas on names which we will then produce a shortlist from and it will come back to the respective memberships to be voted on.

This will be an exciting period for hockey in Plymouth and I’m sure that many will take a keen interest in what happens next.

I will aim to provide a monthly update on the website which will indicate how far we are along our roadmap to a formal proposal for you; our membership, to vote upon.

Your interests will continue to be held at the heart of our endeavours and should you have any questions about what happens next, please feel free to contact me.

Lastly I want to wish all of the PGSOB Membership and our wider Plymouth Hockey Family a very Merry Christmas as we look forward to an exciting 2022.

Tristan Andrews

PGSOB Co-Chairman

Preseason

Paul van Beveren — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 20:14:28 +0100

Dates for your diary

Paul van Beveren — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 20:11:19 +0100

PGSOB back at the Olympics

Paul van Beveren — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 12:06:04 +0100

For the third Olympics in a row PGSOB have made their presence felt on the international stage. Spirit of volunteering continues in Tokyo

90th AGM (Virtual)

Colin Wood — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 16:52:37 +0100

Tonight’s Covid Delayed AGM will be held Online for the second year in a row. Lots of planning behind the scenes, hoping for a better year for everyone in 2021-22 🏑🏑☀️☀️

Rebate on 2020/21 Subscription

Stephen Brown — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:32:24 +0100

The Committee have agreed a 50% rebate on 2020/21 subscriptions. Rebates will be applied by reducing 2021/22 subscription payments. If any member would prefer to receive their rebate in advance of 2021/22 season then please contact Brownie (trefrize@gmail.com) by end July.

Final Sessions 2021-22

Colin Wood — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:03:14 +0100

With May now around the corner and imminent arrival of the Plymouth Mixed Season, this week will see the final activity of the 2020-21 Season at PG’s.

A season that showed some future promise and definitely some Club resilience, will hopefully be replaced by the new EH led restructure, including teams moving up in the league structure. The committee have met regularly throughout to keep this year as full and safe as it could have been but also with an eye on the 2021-22 Season.

We’ll offer another full Pre-season schedule in the coming months and confirm the Club AGM date (expect mid-Summer) to look forward to a full hockey resumption! Feel free to share ideas and comments to the current Committee on the season past and the season ahead, feedback always helps us improve our offerings across all our sides and players.

In the meantime get involved in the final sessions as below and enjoy the summer break.

Wednesday 21st April
645pm-8pm Club Session - McCormick
7pm Dev Services v PGSOB 1XI Dev - Bull Point

Saturday 24th April
2pm Dev Services v PGSOB 2XI - Bull Point
4pm Dev Services v PGSOB 4XI - Bull Point

PGSOB Committee 2021-22

Hockey Update

Colin Wood — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 17:28:29 +0000

The Return to Play guidance has recently being announced the committee have been looking at how to continue hockey into the Spring and possibly beyond, building up to EH led re-structured West leagues and pre-season in 2021-22.

The recent news that both Men’s & Women’s leagues are now cancelled, we are hoping to confirm a subscription rebate, after assessing any additional pitch time we may offer. Our focus will be on a social return and looking forward to a successful 2021-22 season here at PG’s.

To increase awareness of PG’s and hockey in general we are looking to offer a range of upcoming activities to both members and non-members, opening up to the wider local community including ladies & juniors. More details on all of these will be announced in the coming weeks as safe play guidance allows.