Looking back, I have a photograph of the Millers team, that played at the Thanet Hockey Festival in April 1965. There were seventeen of us, from older players such as Harley Sherlock, Bob Stokes, Howard Aplin, John Berkeley (apologies if I’ve mis-spelt his surname) Ian Briggs and Peter Pruden, to youngsters like John Driver, Quentin Spurring, Ian Johnson and me. One must not forget Tony Lycett, who was about five years older than us four.
That year, as usual, we stayed at the Albion, a B & B on the seafront in Ramsgate. The proprietor was an excitable fellow, by the name of Jack Rice. From the moment Lycett and Spurring entered the establishment, Jack’s life was a misery. The two of them teased him unmercifully, to the extent that we all thought he would have a heart attack.
The Thanet Festival was an annual event, with teams from France, Germany and Holland taking part, as well as clubs from all over England. The pitches were used primarily for football, so that by the end of the season, there was little grass and the ground was either muddy, waterlogged or rock hard. Such conditions, allied to players suffering from lack of sleep and hangovers, often resulted in scrappy, ill tempered matches.
Prior to us playing a team from France, Tony Lycett presented their captain with a hockey stick. Not long afterwards, Lycett was being chased around the pitch by the same said Frenchman, wielding the very stick he’d just received, as a result of something, probably rude, that Lycett had muttered.
Another hockey festival we attended was the annual Torbay event each Easter. Like Thanet, this festival was mainly played on football pitches at various places, including Queen’s Park and Victoria Park in Paignton, school pitches at Churston Ferrers and the Torre Valley North Sports Field, Torquay.
As the Millers, we stayed at the Ebor Tower Hotel in Torquay. After a day of hockey – four days in all – we’d return to the hotel for dinner and afterwards games. They were usually silly ones, which invariably including drinking alcohol. One game was particularly horrible; it was called “Cardinal Puff.” It was a structured game, where players performed a series of ritualised toasts and taps, while consuming beer, with mistakes requiring the player to restart. It could quickly lead to intoxication, which was the main aim.
One evening we invited some OMW’s to join us. Not many did, since they seemed to be early to bed, non drinking types. Those that came included David Jackman, Norman Vaux, Roger Hammond, Mike Fleet, John Gale and Barry Gough.
On the Saturday evening, led by Karley and Folly Sherlock, we trundled off a pub at nearby Stoke Gabriel, where the crowded bar, with a resident pianist, a lady of many years (I can’t remember her name) was full of hockey players, intent on singing ribald songs, while consuming vast quantities of beer.
As a slight aside, in the late 1960’s, Quentin Spurring and Roger Whittaker, set out to produce a club magazine (The Miller) with the aim of improving the Club spirit, by keeping everybody informed about the social and playing activities of the then three sides. The venture proved highly successful, thanks to the hard work and wit of the “co-editors” and the contributions from other club members. For two seasons “The Miller” was produced regularly, with a witty style and played a significant part in developing a warm and friendly club atmosphere. Unfortunately the editors then found it impossible to continue, for various reasons they would not go into.
