Contented Codgers Cogitations

Sixty years ago, almost to the day, saw me playing my very first game for Halifax Hockey Club against Ben Rhydding, where often enough, changing in the old pavilion by the river had to be hurried up before the Wharf overflowed its banks!

 In the early months after the war, as Clubs were re-starting their fixtures, there was virtually no Club that could boast more than one team yet in a year or two, after you could raise two sides, this was a sure sign that you were a big club and going places.

Soon after that initial game I was drafted into H M Forces and spent the first 6 weeks doing my rookie training and square bashing at would you believe, Wellesley Barracks with the Duke of Wellington Regiment, where last year the club played  most of its fixtures.

After that I was soon posted overseas to suffer terribly under Mauritian skies for another 18 months.

I left behind some stalwarts of pre-war days, such as the Westwood brothers ( North & Yorkshire), Jim Payne (Worcester), Harry Walton (Yorkshire), the Dodds brothers, the McCluskeys, Phil Starke-Jones (England), Jim Helliwell, Brian Schofield, Ronnie Haworth, Leonard Hoyle (remembered on a Club tour in Germany as “Herr ‘oyle) & Leonard Haigh as the remembered few. Tony Ellis and Jack Lisle (North & Yorkshire) were the younger lads then, having already served their time in the forces.

Most of these players had been schooled, coached and trained at the private New School in Halifax and in their younger days had carried all before them with some fantastic results which I dearly wish we could emulate.

Returning back home I was introduced to new members of the club, like John Siddall, Derrick Spencer, Peter Walker, Geoff Capener, Pete Dyson and Phillip Eastwood.

Derrick was the general organiser and factotum of the tremendously successful Halifax Hockey Ball, run annually around February time in the Alexandra Hall in the Halifax Building Society’s

Premises. In these sumptuous surroundings we held the ultimate “must         attend Black Tie” function on the Town’s social calendar, which sadly sometimes clashed with the Mayor’s Ball. But the dance bands that were engaged to play for us were of the very best.

Our home ground was at Elland C.C. where the first & second team played. Other teams played at Spring Hall on Huddersfield Road though I believe our very first ground was at the old Peat Pitts pub at Ogden, followed by Thrum Hall (first time round) until someone decided to build a greyhound track thereby making the area too small to warrant a full sized hockey pitch. It was not until the greyhound track was dismantled that we returned to Thrum Hall before beginning our nomadic wanderings to Bradford, Keighley , Brighouse and Hipperholme.

First recollections bring to mind after playing on grass pitches, with every game starting at the same time, that the bar at Elland always seemed to be full with the home teams eagerly awaiting the arrival of the away teams with their news.

As you will be aware, Halifax Hockey Club, is the first ever Yorkshire club and having been founded in 1891 has celebrated several keystone anniversaries since its inception. What happened for the 50^th. celebration is shrouded in mystery as this would have been during the war, but I did attend the diamond party which consisted of a dinner at the

Old Cock, where Leonard Hoyle said that his brother had an endless supply of stories to keep us entertained after the meal. This was a very low key affair compared with the 75^th celebrations when dignitaries from the hockey clientele of Yorkshire and the North were invited to attend matches between a selected County side against our first team and a team organised by our good friend Bernard Green from Bramhall against our second eleven. However on the appointed day, I, as secretary, went up to the ground at Elland early to discover at least 8 inches of snow covering everything so there was no possibility of staging any game. All hands were called in to telephone all the invited guests telling them not to travel and that the event would be staged at a later date, which it was.

David Oates was the principal organiser of the 75^th and he also had the dubious record as captain of the first eleven of not having won one game during the season. This fact was listed in the brochure along with loads of other data, and the fact that we did not try to hide the “annus horribilis” details won us many friends.

Some of you may have seen the little red book which was compiled for the occasion and this I augmented and brought up to date for our Centenary, but sadly the draft mysteriously disappeared and was never published, so if someone comes across it in their attic or wherever, please let us know so that I can admonish the culprit!

The Centenary celebrations of course went off at Thrum Hall as planned by such luminaries as John Nelson, Chris Bowers, Martyn Jones and was such a success as a money spinner that the cricket club insisted that we keep on running it, and it is now into its money spinning 16^th year thanks mainly to Alison McManus and Carol Hellewell.

At one time Halifax was one of the very few clubs to boast hot showers; very intimate with only two showerheads in the one cubicle, however, this never stopped Jack Lisle from smoking his pipe upside down on a regular basis. One can recall the bath tubs being carried into the changing rooms at Bradford and the very scratchy circular concrete bath at Sheffield’s Abbeydale ground.

Sadly, relations with the Elland Cricket Club were not always of the best, and there were recurring criticism that we did not use the bar facilities enough. Eventually, as a compromise for becoming so-called equal partners, we were obliged to re-name the club “Elland” and not Halifax. At least this put a stop to the annual wrangling over a new lease and the rent.

Eventually Martin Black and others entered into discussions with Halifax Cricket Club who in those days were a power in the Yorkshire cricketing world who at times included Derek Randall, no less in their ranks. Relations with the Cricket Club have always been of the best with us supporting them in many ways to keep them viable.

Prior to moving to Thrum Hall, a Ladies section was swiftly formed by Angela Riley and Sue Schofield, who in what seemed no time at all organised players and fixtures for two sides.

At the time, the name, “Elland”,  was no problem but when the men reverted to “Halifax”on moving to Thrum Hall, as there already was another Ladies club called Halifax, we were re-named “Halifax & Calder” until such time as the two Ladies clubs merged.

At Thrum Hall, such was the co-operation between the two sports that it resulted in the proceeds from the Asda takeover being put to the very best advantage to both clubs as witnessed by the magnificent pitches and facilities that  is now our new home. By dint of hard graft on the pitch and hard cash in the bar, please make our progress mirror the surroundings.

 To hark back to former members do not under estimate the time and effort that the older players have put in to make the club a power in the Yorkshire scene.

Older members have also fulfilled many a post in the higher echelons of County, Northern and National hockey in both the administration and umpiring worlds.

We have had many County and regional players in the past and I would like to think that some of our present members will eventually take their place in higher teams to give the club even more kudos.

The position we now hold, the pitches, the players lounge and all the excellent facilities have come at a terrific cost of endeavour, bickering, bartering, frustration, patience and persistence by a totally dedicated band of your committee members.

Do not let them down !

Compiled by Howard Spenser

If anyone else would like to add to the memories of the club page please forward your recollections.