On the Saturday evening the Annual Veterans Dinner was held at the Bull in Bisham, hosted by our tour organiser, Theodorus Brekelmans and was attended by players and partners from The Abrahams (Netherlands) , S.T.K. Berlin (Germany) and (ex) Maidenhead H.C. Veterans. Our special guest was for the evening was Lionel Connor, who stepped down 2 years ago, as organiser after 42 years at the helm.

Jim Harris Memorial Trophy
The Jim Harris Memorial Trophy was presented by Maidenhead Hockey Club Colts in Memory of Jim’s commitment to Colts and Veteran’s Hockey and was first awarded in 1997. This year the trophy was awarded to Adrian Robertson for his contribution to veterans hockey over many years at Maidenhead & Reading HC.

Tournament
On Sunday the tournament was hosted again at Maidenhead & Bray Sports Club with 8 teams taking part, including a Dutch Team (the Abrahams) and a German team (S.T.K Berlin), together with teams from Amersham & Chalfont, Maidenhead, Newbury and Windsor. South Berks joined us for the first time this year and we are sure will attend again. Each of the teams playing 4 matches over the 4 hour tournament.

The cup was first presented by Lionel Connor on Saturday 14 April 1979. The tournament was part of the club's celebrations for the 75th anniversary of Maidenhead Hockey Club’s founding. However , the cup itself dates from 1976 and was used at the occasion of three friendly matches (1976, 1977 and 1978). It was handed over to Lionel to use it as a Challenge Cup for the Maidenhead Veterans and remains so. This years winners were the Rusty Nuts (Newbury HC) with the Wooden Spoon being awarded to the Old Goats (Maidenhead HC).

Huge thanks to all the teams that attended, our amazing Umpires, Maidenhead & Bray Sports Club for hosting us all and to the players and supporters for another fantastic festival of hockey.

We look forward to seeing many of you next year on our 45th Anniversary.

Check out all the photographs on the website and article published by the Maidenhead Advertiser https://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/section/65/hockey