On 4th June 2026 I had the privilege of representing BHHHC at the BSG Sporting Excellence Awards 2025/26. I was delighted to accept the prestigious ‘Club of the Year Award’ on behalf of the club and our members. You can read more about the wonderful evening of celebration, recognition and community spirit by following this link Sporting Excellence Awards 2025/26 - BSGCA. I was particularly pleased to be presented the award by Councillor Sally Symington who has been very supportive in recent years to help BHHHC obtain planning permission for both the Astro and the Padel Courts.

The Club of the Year Award was assessed on a number of criteria including: Sporting Excellence, Sporting values, Community impact and Inclusion & diversity. I’m sure BHHHC scored highly on all these categories. Apart from our very active adult and youth hockey programmes, I think the judges were particularly blown away by the range of activities we support (6-a-side football (on the astro), rugby, adult and youth grass football, archery, dog training, pilates, paragliding, occasional hot air balloon launches and we hire our clubhouse for local parties, weddings and events ). BHHHC is now more than just a hockey club – we are a self-financed, sports-hub allowing over 50,000 people p.a. from the local community to benefit from playing sport and other activities (which are widely recognised for being so beneficial for health, mental health, making friends, teamwork and community spirit generally). You can read our full entry in the nomination form linked above to remind yourself what an extraordinary club we are.

I hope you feel as proud of this Club of the Year Award as I do. The award would not have been possible without the amazing contribution from our past and present volunteers – so a big thanks to them all. And finally, I hope this award may inspire you to volunteer in 2026/27 for one of our many volunteer roles where you can use your skills and passion to pick up the baton from your predecessor and help continuously improve BHHHC as a club into the future.

Congratulations and thank you for your contribution to making us the extraordinary hockey club that we are.

Paul Dubenski Chair BHHHC Ltd