General

Hi Firstly I would like to thank Chris Perry Jones for all his hard work in upgrading the Club web –site to such a high standard and without which I as Chair would not be able to communicate with you in this way.

I do regard being Chairman of the Club as a privilege and am keen to act in the best interest of all of our members. You must forgive me if I am unable to get to speak to you all individually but I do value your views and opinions and hopefully through this blog we can set up a useful and meaningful channel of communication.

I would appreciate your views on my thoughts on this matter through this media.

Please note: It is intended to publish the Minutes of your Management Committee meetings on the Club Web-site so you can be kept up to date on running of the Club.

 Both the Ladies’ and Mens’ teams have had a couple of very disappointing seasons and it is very important that the rest of the Club gives them there full backing as they both try to consolidate their positions.

All Clubs have an obligation in League Hockey to fulfil their First Team fixtures above all others and it would be nice to think that Shrewsbury had the best players available on the day in these two teams and the whole hearted support of the rest of the Club.

As I write the Ladies’ first squad have yet to resolve the problem of finding a successor to Zoe Mortimer who after countless years as Captain thoroughly deserves a break and be allowed the pleasure of just to playing hockey.  Today I have also had to reluctantly accept the resignation of Paul Floyd as Captain of the Mens’ First Team who feels he is in need of a complete break from the game.

If it were the ambition of all players at some stage of their playing career to play for a first eleven and captaining a club’s first eleven could be seen as one of the highest accolades in that club I am prompted to ask why at Shrewsbury are we struggling to find people to take these two prestigious roles?

Considering the recent weather we were extremely fortunate to get away with such a fine day and it is to your credit that so many of you turned out on the day despite the lousy forecast.

It was really pleasing to see not only lots of familiar faces but also to welcome so many new members who have chosen to throw in their lot with Shrewsbury HC. There were sufficient numbers to hopefully ensure that the Club should not have any difficulty in fulfilling all our fixtures next week.

Thanks on the day on your behalf go especially to Ian and Garry S, Flo and John F for organising the senior sessions and Tim and Duncan for their long stints on the whistle.

In addition to around 40 men in action at Roman Road a further squad of 14 were playing in Telford representing the Club in the Shropshire Star Cup for the County First Teams.

Drawn against Telford the Club were leading 2-1 up with only 5 minutes to go thanks to goals from Matt silence and Chris Burden but were unable to stop the National League side scoring twice near the end to lose 2-4.

Playing for 3rd or 4th place against Bridgnorth of the Midlands Div 1,who surprisingly lost 1-0 to Ludlow, Shrewsbury, with goals from Matt Sillence(2) and Chris Davies, lead 3-0 at half time. An injury to Stu Young and the tremendous effort against Telford took its toll and eventually Bridgnorth scrambled to a 4-3 win. For the record Telford beat Ludlow 10-0 in the final.

Next week it is the turn of the ladies to play in their County Cup Competition at Oakengates in a round robin with Telford and Oswestry before the finals on the same day involving Whitchurch, Wem and Bridgnorth and we wish them well.