History
Whitley Bay Ladies Hockey Club was formed in 1950 and consisted of a 1st XI - played at Hillheads Grammar School (now Marden Bridge Middle School and our present base!). Founder members included Joan Walker - Secretary, Marjorie Sutcliffe, Jean Stockdale and Beryl Privett ( who is still President of the Club). Club colours at that time were white tee shirt, navy shorts and the famous red and yellow hooped socks, all topped off with a lovely red blazer!
After a few seasons, the Club moved its base to Churchill Playing Fields in Whitley Bay and stayed there until the mid 1980s until astro-turf took over and then the Club was forced to move with the times and left the Coast to play at Wallsend Sports Centre. During that time, the Club set up a second XI and played in the Northumberland League and various County Tournaments with great success. The Junior Section trained bright and early on a Sunday morning at Valley Gardens and through this development saw the rise of some of our present Senior players such as Sophie Berry, Katrina Barber, Angela Millen to name but a few.
Through the 1980s and 90s, Whitley Bay continued to develop as a Club and from the 1st XI winning the County League, they got promoted to the North Feeder League, then to North Division 2, Division 1 and in the 2005-2006 season to the National League Division 2. A first for any womens hockey club in Northumberland! Unfortunately this has meant that the 1st XI have had to travel quite afar for their away matches and they are always looking for sponsorship to help out with the expenses. Another notable success in the Clubs history occured in April 2000, when the 1st XI won there way through to the EHA Knockout Cup Final down in Milton Keynes and played Birmingham University. Although we lost 4-1, great experience and pride was gained from having got so far!
The Club has continued to grow and has had to move home base again and for the last 6 years have gone a full circle and ended back up at the Hillheads site which is now Marden Bridge! We now run 3 Senior teams and an Under 19 team which competes in the Harper League at Westgate College. The Under 19 team has recently won the County Under 19 Clubs Tournament and now represent Northumberland in the North Tournament. Well done to Ruth Gordon, Shona Smith and Nikki Wood for organising the team!
The Club is keen to develop and expand further and plans are in place to merge with Tynemouth Mens Hockey Club - which currently boasts 5 teams and a Junior Section, to become the largest and most successful hockey club in the North East.This is due to happen at the end of this current season-all being well and should be the start of another chapter in the Clubs long history.