The history of Bishop’s Stortford Hockey Club…

The Club is proud to be entering its eighth decade, having originally been formed in 1948.

Little hockey was played prior to this when the then local club played as East Herts HC. Home games were played at Cricketfield Lane, Hockerill Athletic Club and Sawbridgeworth. Barely able to raise a team in the early days, players had to rely all too often on getting to away fixtures by train and taxi due to the lack of motorcars after the war.

In 1969 we were elected to the Hertfordshire County League and the East Central League in 1972. Promotion to the East League was gained in 1975. Our successes over the years include County Champions in 1974, 1981 and 1986, East runners-up in 1982 and H.A. Cup quarter finalists in 1982 and 1986.

Later successes include the integration of the Ladies Hockey Club and our long-term pitch partnership with Hockerill Anglo European College and more recently our partnership with Herts & Essex High School. The Ladies’ section won promotion to the National League for the first time in its history in 2022.

The Club now boasts 15 adult teams, including 9 Ladies sides, 6 Mens sides, as well as indoor and mixed, in addition to our thriving junior sections.

See more of Stortford’s Hockey archive photos here.

A note on the club history

Colin Barber commissioned Tom Saul to produce his recollections of the early years of BSHC reproduced here along with his own manuscript of the middle years of the club’s history to date. His son, Duncan, our current Men’s Club Captain arranged for these manuscripts to be transcribed in 2017 and Mark Surridge added his section to bring the history up to the end of the 1980s.

The History of Bishop's Stortford  Hockey Club paper

We are now seeking help from members and friends of the club to build on the bones of this history: either to add their recollections to enhance the existing sections or to contribute to more recent history – particularly the period 1990-2010 and to reflect the enormous contirbution of the Ladies’ section in this history. We are also keen to receive any photos, scanned or otherwise, and any other memorabilia worthy of capturing in this document.

If you have any material that you would like to submit, please do contact the Chairman.


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