Old Sils HC celebrated another successful season over the weekend of 18-19th April, highlighted by the Annual Dinner and awards on Saturday evening, with the Junior awards presentations and the traditional Captains XI vs Presidents XI match following on a sunny Sunday morning.

At the Dinner, after an excellent 3-course meal (thank you to Rupert Davies’s team), the toast to the Club was proposed in clever and amusing verse form by David Higgins, and reports on the Juniors, Ladies and Men’s sections’ seasons were given by Steve Tabb, Jim Goldstraw and Tom Harrison respectively.

President Murray Creed thanked the club’s volunteers before introducing the guests: Solihull School Headmaster Charles Fillingham and Head of Hockey Chris Mayer, School captains Murray Watts and Scarlett Pugh, and OSA President Simon Westwood. Murray then highlighted the huge contribution that Jason Dalby had made to the club, welcoming him as an honoured guest after his ten years as Club President.

A highlight of the presentations was the award to Tom Harrison, by the Men’s 1st XI, of a framed club shirt to mark Tom’s retirement from the captaincy after a record breaking 10-year stint as M1 captain.

A full list of all the award winners is below and…

• Photos from the weekend can be found here

• a full statistical report of results and individual achievements for the season (thanks to Steve Tabb) is here

• and the slideshow of photos from the season which was shown throughout the evening (thanks for your fantastic work David Burton) is also uploaded here

On Sunday morning, Head of Juniors Etienne Blatt hosted the awards for the Junior section, with Murray presenting medals to all the boys and girls in the age groups from Under 6 to Under 12, and trophies for each of the Most Committed, Most Improved and overall Player of the Year to a girl and a boy from each of the age-groups from U8 to U12.
The Award for the Junior Coach of the Year went very deservedly to Mackenzie Hill.

The Captains XI and Presidents XI – both strong on family connections and with ages ranging from 6 (six!) to 77 – then fought out an enjoyable (and entirely predictable) 4-4 draw, before Bucks Fizz and bacon buns rounded off a memorable weekend.

And finally, and most importantly, the AWARD WINNERS at the Dinner were....

Heather Linley Memorial Trophy for outstanding contribution from a schoolgirl: EMMA CHAN
Colts Award for outstanding contribution from a schoolboy: CHARLIE LUNT

Tinker Shield awarded to the Ladies top goal scorer: DELPHINE TCHAKHOTINE
Lev’s Lump awarded to the Men’s top goal scorer: DAN BRIDGES

Joe Wood Trophy for the most improved Men’s player: FINLAY DAVIES
Ann Wagstaff Memorial Cup for the most improved Ladies player: LOIS CONDUIT

Victor Hawley Bowl for the Junior team of the year: BOYS U14s
Presidents Shield for the Adult team of the year: LADIES 2nd XI

Roger Flood Award for services to running Ladies hockey: TRISH NEWMAN
Captains Cup for long service to the club: MATT NORTHCOTT

Shorthouse Salver for the Club Player of the Year: HARRY BRAY
Presidents Cup for the outstanding 1st XI Player of the Year: ADAM FRESHWATER
Chairman’s Shield for services to the infrastructure of the club: INDI MANN
Cutler Award for the outstanding all round contribution to the club: CRAIG FFITCH

CONGRATULATION TO ALL OUR WINNERS!!