Well that was a long week wasn’t it….seems like an age ago I was sat here last watching those super enthusiastic youths in high vis running around with boxes in Blyth Valley…..they didn’t even end up fastest on the night, after all that!

Is everyone feeling festive yet? 6 days to go until the big day…..I’m rapidly running out of places to conceal the elf, can’t believe I’ve committed to that for the next however many years!! I’ll be sure to forget tonight until about 11.35 and then spend the next 20 mins cursing and trying to think of random places to hide the little pest! If anyone believed the elves were real I’m really sorry…..they are of course, we don’t have one that visits our house so we’ve had to purchase a plastic guy…….(phew!!)

Now I’ve started tonight at a far slower pace, so you’ll be pleased to know I’ve decided a word buffer isn’t required! Although I’ve written this paragraph now, so I guess I’ve buffered you all…..what a waste of effort that was!!

There obviously isn’t much to cover off in terms of games this weekend, but there is one major thing happening……there are 12 reasons to get involved in it (why 12 boss? Does the number have a special meaning?), it occurs at the club this Sat, there are lots of Christmasy things to do…….that’s right…..its the clubs massive big huge massive Christmas bash isn’t it!! Come and meet Santa, he’s popping in at about 5.30 I’m told, its great he can be so precise, I bet he has plenty on with four days to go, really great lad that one, bleeds blue under the red coat!

Hockey stuff – Last Saturdays’ results
Ladies 3’s v Knutsford 1’s – 4 : 1
Ladies 4’s v Winnington Park 2’s – 10 : 1 (Wowsers!!)
Ladies 5’s v Norhtrop Hall 2’s – 3 : 0 (a clean sweep of results! Great work!)

Mens 6’s v Mens 7’s - 5 :4 (I heard great things about the spirit in which the match was played and the hockey the 7’s played, well done everybody!)

Badgers v Deeside Ramblers – 6 : 3

Congratulations and commiserations to all involved.

And what happened in the cup games on Sunday?!?!
Well I’ll tell you what happened…..

If you follow Timp Hockey on Instagram you’ll know it all got very exciting over in Sheffield for the M1’s, they took 14 across the pennines, but that included two surprise names on the team sheet going by the names of Gaz Tucker and Albert Macarno!....and they only went and came away victorious, winning 7-6 on flicks. Massive shout out to Ollie Evans who was a hero in the flick competition, and obviously Gaz and Albert, who would have thought they still had it in them!! An away draw against Bowdon on the 1st of March in the next round is the reward!

The Ladies Over 45s also took another step towards Lee Valley with a solid 5-1 win v Wolverhampton and Tattenhall providing the home crowd with some champagne moments. A bye in the next round means both sets of Vets are through to the Quarter Finals

The Ladies 2’s had another trip to Garstang for their second round game, and unfortunately went down 3-0 to end their cup run for this year. They’ll be pleased to see the back of Garstang after two loses in the league to the same opposition too!

Parish notices!
Congratulations to Chris Young, another new qualified whistler in the ranks! Chris, I owe you a nice flouresant umpiring top, give me a shout with your lurid colour choice!
Over the Christmas period the Club and Bar will be open pretty much non stop - we'll be sharing opening times (reduced on some days) in the next day or so, I said that last week, it must be a logistical puzzler!

With the dawning of 2020 (didn’t Busted sing about that, it sounds very futuristic doesn’t it….or was it the year 3000?!) on the horizon, we’ll be dusting off the memories from the last decade - from 21st December we'll be counting down to the end of the decade with a trip down memory lane on facebook. You can get involved, go to https://www.facebook.com/timperleyhockey to share your favourite THC memories and photos! There will also be activity across our other platforms too, I know….we are very 2020 here at Timps, watch out for stuff on Twitter, Pitchero and Instagram.

And Finally
That’s it I think, time to go try and conceal the Elf!! Have fun guys, see you down at the club on the 21st!

Merry Christmas all,
Love Lots
Kieran