We, as your committee, are currently in the process of reviewing the club’s options for it’s playing arrangements for future seasons. There has been a number of rumours and sources of speculation over recent weeks so hopefully this statement will help to clarify some of them.

We have enjoyed a very long-standing relationship with the Cheshire Sports Club and have been extremely fortunate to enjoy a venue with two synthetic pitches surrounding a clubhouse. Over the course of last season funding was sought to replace one of the two hockey pitches with an improved surface to ensure the club can continue to grow and improve at the current venue. In conjunction with the Sports Club, a number of members of the committee spent a large amount of time writing these funding bids and were successful in securing significant grants to contribute towards the replacement of one of the surfaces. However, once the grants had been awarded the Sports Club board decided to turn down the funding whilst they undertake a full review of their strategy, which includes the nature and number of artificial surfaces that they will install. This process is still ongoing and we, as one of the larger stakeholders at the Sports Club are engaged with this review.

Due to the uncertainty around our future at the Sports Club we have been exploring all our options. However, at this point in time NO DECISION HAS BEEN MADE with regards to our future. Any significant changes to where play our hockey in the long-term will be presented to yourselves, the membership, where ultimately you will inform us, the committee, of the direction you want the club to take.

Currently we are gathering all the information with regards to these options, which includes remaining at the Sports Club, a potential partnership with Abbeygate College in Saighton and utilising the pitches at Chester University and Catholic High School. Once all the relevant details have been gathered we will present this to the membership at an Exceptional General Meeting (EGM) where you will have the chance to ask questions and guide any decisions to be made.

At the moment we do not have all the specific details around these options and therefore we apologise if you still have unanswered questions. We do not want to add to rumour and speculation by providing incorrect or incomplete information at present. We hope to answer all you questions when we present our findings at the EGM.

We will be in touch as soon as possible about details of the meeting when we have finished gathering our information. In the mean time, we would like to wish you all a very happy and successful New Year.

Jane Bills
Chester Hockey Club Vice-Chair

Simon Jones
Chester Hockey Club Chairman