Hockey ladies’ success
Anne Watts, Lorraine Hewie and Pauline Reid of Arran Ladies’ hockey team swapped their sports kit for glamorous outfits when they attended the Scottish Hockey West District awards ceremony in Glasgow where they were presented with the trophy for winning the fourth division.
The red carpet was out for Arran Ladies hockey club as they received their division four winners’ trophy at the annual West District hockey awards presentation night.
The Marriott Hotel in Glasgow played host to the event on Saturday April 29 with the club’s Lorraine Hewie, Anne Watts and Pauline Reid attending the glamorous event.
A chance to exchange hockey kit for glamorous gowns, the ladies had a meet-and-greet social with a glass of bubbly on arrival and a chat with players from throughout the four divisions.
‘The warmth of responses from new teams we met was so encouraging. So many of the ladies we met have said they can’t wait to come over to Arran to play next season,’ said Anne, following on from her chats with the third division team players.
Called into the spacious and elegantly furnished function room, the 140 attendees were comfortably seated around the dance floor and presentation platform. Pam Roulston, the president of the West District hockey division, welcomed everyone to the evening and thanked those who had travelled from ‘even as far as Arran’.
Awards were then given out to the winning teams of the first, second and third divisions, with the winner of the most voted for ‘player of the match of the year’ also collecting trophies for their individual contributions to the games they had played in.
It then came the turn to present the trophy to the winning team of the fourth division. When Arran was called out by Christine MacDonald, the honorary secretary for the West District committee, enthusiastic applause and cheers came from around the room, especially from the Western Wildcats team members who were sharing a table with the Arran ladies. Lorraine, Anne and Pauline all went up to collect the team trophy and the official event photographer was there to record the moment. A special mention also went to Abbie Mckelvie, who was nominated in joint second place in the ‘player of the match of the year’ section in the fourth division.
Congratulations were not only kept for their performance on the pitch, the compere and DJ for the night also noticed that the Arran ladies made a significant contribution on the dance floor, being the first on and rarely leaving it.
Rhona Ogilvie, the fourth division representative, with whom Lorraine has shared much correspondence over the last year, made a point of going over to congratulate the team on their promotion to the third division.
League statistics show Arran is the second most successful club in the whole of the west district, and for holding the fourth highest number of goals scored in one match.
The Arran team will now be welcomed into the West District third division next season. ‘New club members would be very welcome to be part of our next exciting period in the new season,’ said club coach Lorraine. ‘We are always looking for new players to come to training on Thursday nights, even if they have never played before - like Pauline before she joined us - or since leaving high school, or just wanting to get back into the sport. Our current club and team has a diverse age range from 12 to 60 and over with varying skill levels and abilities so everyone is welcome to come and give it a try.’
Pauline added: ‘The club members who don’t all sign up to play official match games enjoy our fun and friendly atmosphere and training sessions which help them get fit and to become part of an island club, meeting people they otherwise would never have done.’
The club are also looking to start and develop a boys’ and men’s hockey team, giving a place for the young and talented male players of the Arran junior hockey team the opportunity to go on to develop their skills at adult level.
The club AGM will be held in the Ormidale Pavilion on Thursday May 18 at 7pm and all people and parties interested are very welcome to attend. Anyone who wants an item on the agenda should write to the club captain, Cat Galbraith on bryce.cat@btinternet.com