With all hockey cancelled this in the North West (the M1 are waiting for a Sunday morning pitch inspection in the tropics of Nottingham for tomorrows match!) we hope everyone enjoys their hockey downtime this weekend and gets all those jobs done so they can be raring to go for all things Blue in December on and off the pitches! Catch up with all the news, dates for the diary and some special shout outs !

England U16 Squad Selection
EH announced England Age Group Squads yesterday and we couldn't be prouder to see two of our #homegrown Blues - Josh Higgin and Molly Andrews selected for the U16's for the coming season. Huge congratulations to Josh and Molly and their families and everyone who has supported them along their hockey journey. Both go to state schools who don't have big hockey programme's and just show whats possible with hard work and focus and embracing all the club, county, TA and other hockey on offer.

Josh follows in the footsteps of other recent England Age Group Squad Blues - Ben Nicholson, Ben Entwisle, Ollie Evans - and Molly is the first Blue to be selected for the girls England age groups squad for at least 2 decades if not longer. This is a great hockey opportunity for both and we wish them all the best for the 23-24 Age Group Programme and support through the Timperley Talent Academy. Molly and Josh join 5 other players from our Talent Academy - congratulations to Josh B, Noah, Toby, Georgia and Fran and to our TA Lead Coaches Rob Turner and Zoe Sinclair and TTA Coaches, Carwyn Nash, Connor Miller and Matt Michie.

We know a number of our Masters Players are also back in the selection process for England age group squads (a little older) for next years Masters World Cup in New Zealand so we wish them all the best too.

THC Christmas Quiz and Social - 9th December

Join us next Saturday for our festive social - Quiz Night Karaoke and Social - so dig out those festive outfits, jumpers and gear and get your team(s) entered. Christmas Quiz Night -Book Here !

We'll be having a raffle too (so bring some cash) and we've a couple of tasty auction lots up for grabs - look out for details this week to send a bid in in advance or phone in a bid on the night!

Re-arranged games - help your captains and planning !
We're now backing up junior and adult league and EH Championship games to re-arrange and this becomes a major challenge with dates, pitch space, umpires and player availability. Please check Pitchero and make sure you update your availability for new dates / potential games. We're likely to have rearranged games on Saturday 16th December, potentially 17th December, Saturday 6th January and Sunday 7th January. We want to try get as many games rearranged as possible before mid January so we can manage any more cancellations.

THC Festive Gifts
New in this week we have our THC Crocs Charms - on slae now for £5. The ideal way for those who love a croc (other brands available) to show their THC colours. Even better with each Charm sold we're raising funds to go towards the Blue Pitch replacement. With tender due in before Xmas and a planned Spring start date we will be ramping up fundraising towards the cost of the replacement pitch so if you've any brilliant ideas to engage and involve folks across the hockey and TSC family in fundraising contact Shelagh or your you Club Captains in the next week or so. We need a big push and the benefit will be huge for us all with another new pitch !

Don't forget to visit the website shop (not the EV2 kit store) for socks, hats, charms, ties for those stocking fillers.
The Hats should be here w/c 11th December and the EV2 assessories orders https://www.timperleyhockeyclub.com/payments/category/merchandise

Thanks to Niall Scott for sourcing the charms .

TSC updates and news
Our friendly Christmas Tree sellers are back at the club and selling a range of trees from the Sotckport Rd car park over the next few weeks - and until stocks run out so don't miss out.

Big date to save - Saturday 16th December - TSC Christmas Social great family and friends informal social with entertainment for the youngsters, the legendary Tombola (donations needed from hockey folks) and a bumper 300 Club Draw. Festive drinks and food available and most importantly the opportunity to catch up with our amazing club family before Christmas

Food Bank Collection - will start this weekend. We're collecting for South Trafford Food Bank and an update will be shared with details of what donations can be accepted (and not). Please support this important collection and show our support for those in need in our local community.

Keep close to our social media accounts and Pitchero this week as we navigate through the weather to hopefully get hockey back on later this week! We'll be posting updates for Monday's u14/16 training and Tuesday Club and 1/2's training - hopefully we'll get some rain to help thaw the pitches and warmer temperatures !

Enjoy the weekend off !

Thanks to Louise Bangee for the photos