|
Back in the eighties and early nineties, girl's hockey was under the wing of the boy's organization. At that time, the chairman was Bruce Applegarth. Bruce came to Canada from Durham, England and had friends who were also involved with girl's hockey in his home town. In February of 1992, Bruce's contacts brought a lady's hockey team to Burlington from Durham. They played several games against the Burlington Girls Intermediate team. In addition, they played games against teams in Brantford, Glanbrook and Stoney Creek. Their ten-day trip proved to be a vastly enjoyable and educational experience for both the visitors and hosts. Following this trip, British Girls Hockey warmly extended an invitation to us to send a team to England. A small group of parents viewed this as an excellent opportunity for a cultural and sportsmanship exchange and undertook the monumental task of raising the necessary funds to send a twenty-two-member team in March 1993.
The team's center of operations in England was the Country View Guest House in Durham. This is a bed and breakfast in a 300-year-old house. From the outside, it is hard to believe it could house almost all of the team and twenty-two supporters. The proprietor, Margaret Palmer, is very interested in hockey and a strong supporter of the Durham Wasps men's team. She made the stay very enjoyable.
Female hockey in England is not what we are use to here. We have several rep teams in various age categories. In England, a city generally has only one team. This means it is not unusual to find 10 year olds playing with 30 year olds. A long trip for a rep league game here is two hours. For the ladies in England, two hours is a short trip. However, the games are generally longer to make the extensive travel worthwhile. Burlington played five games during their stay and won all five. The toughest game was against Scotland's national team. The team spent many hours on a coach traveling from game to game. They saw a great deal of the north east part of England and a small part of Scotland. Most of the trips included a stop to learn a small part of England's history. The following year, 1994, the Durham team came back to Burlington and competed in our Friendship Tournament. Following this visit, there was once again some interest in return trip. However, a committee of parents was never formed to keep the idea alive. Many years past before another group of parents decided it was time to make the trip. In the spring of 1998 a committee was formed. They got in touch with the contacts from the first trip and found a few things had changed.
The Durham men's team had moved out of the city and the historic Durham ice rink had been converted to a bowling alley. This forced the lady's team, who hosted the first trip, to disband. However, the Country View Guest House was still there and Margaret was very willing to have the team again. There were numerous teams who wanted an opportunity to play a Canadian team. Therefore, the endless hours of fundraising and planning meetings began. The team that traveled over in March 1999 was the same size as the first team, twenty-two players. Although, the total entourage was much larger numbering 54. They also played five games including one against a newly formed Scottish National Team. This group also spent numerous hours on a coach and visited many of the same historical sites as the first group. Two notable additions were side trips to Stirling, Scotland (Home of Brave Heart) and London. On both trips the teams were successful in winning all the games, but most of all they were successful in getting a real feel for the people, culture, and history of the areas of England and Scotland they visited. The schedules were certainly hectic, with many hours spent on bus travel getting to the games and sightseeing spots. All the girls expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to represent Canada, and the consensus of both groups was that it was truly the "trip of a life time", one they would never forget. A special thanks goes to our English friends who made these trips possible. Margaret Palmer, Colin Skelton, John Morris and Ken Hall. Both of these trips came about because of the organizing efforts of a small committee of parents. On both trips the spear heading committee numbered less than six. However, it was a team effort with the players and their parents providing countless hours of fund raising. The Club encourages other parents to organize similar trips. They are extremely educational and something the players will tell their children about. While the club cannot provide monetary support for these trips, it will help with things like getting approval from the OWHA and CAHA for an international trip. We can put you in touch with the people who organized the England trips so you can learn about some of the problems. We hope another six years does not pass before the club sends another team to England.
|
England Bound 
