Very jolly hockey sticks (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

3:56pm Thursday 7th May 2009

Hockey club founder member Ann Webb has fond memories of the game which has become part of her family.

Mrs Webb, 71, was one of the first members of Wootton Bassett Hockey Club which celebrated its 50th anniversary last month.

She opened an anniversary game on April 11 against the England Ladies Masters dressed in her original club kit and using a stick 50 years old.

Hockey has shaped her life ever since that first game when the club was founded.

Mrs Webb, who lives in Shakespeare Road, Wootton Bassett, said: “We didn’t have an umpire back then, so I asked my boyfriend Albert to umpire for us.

“He ended up being my husband and umpired for the next 40 years.”

Her son, Gary, 47, and daughter, Tracy, 45, have both played hockey, although Gary now plays golf.

“All their childhood memories revolve around hockey, and getting dressed up in hats and scarves and coming to watch me on a Saturday,” she said.

Mrs Webb, who played her final hockey match just two years ago, said the game has changed dramatically since she began playing.

She said: “We started off playing in shorts and then changed to skirts, but they were a different style to the ones worn now.

“The game has become so much faster and the players are much younger.”

Mrs Webb has high hopes for the future of the club.

She said: “I never imagined, when I went to the first match, that 50 years later I would be starting the game in my original kit.”

The Ladies joined the Men's club in 2008.

Mrs Webb said: “We both train at the same ground and all the fundraising we do is put together so it was a lot easier."

“There are so many youngsters playing and the coaching is fantastic, which is something we didn’t have in our days.

“I think the club is in very safe hands and I can see it surviving for another 50 years from now.”

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