Dear Members, As you are all aware the UK has increased measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of the government’s announcement on Monday England Hockey, and subsequently, the leagues, have suspended all hockey activity until April the 15th; with the likelihood of an extension. This week I have met with both the CLTC and WHHC committees to discuss the current situation and its effect on club events. Thank you to everyone for their patience.  

League Fixtures

All three leagues have suspended fixtures. They are yet to communicate whether games will be played. The leagues have some hard decisions ahead of them, many without any precedent to help. As a club, we will be respectful and feed in whenever we have an opportunity. We will update teams and captains as soon as we know more.  

Training

Training ceased from Tuesday night with no more sessions currently planned. If games do resume, we will do our best to provide a training session for each team during the week preceding each game.  

End of Season Dinner

Lorna, Rachel, and Richard have been in regular contact with the hotel. Given the size of the event (we had 166 attendees) and current government advice, all parties have decided that canceling the dinner on the 28th is necessary. The committee has elected to transfer the deposit to be used for next year's dinner. As soon as it looks safe to hold events for large groups we will look at opportunities to either rearrange or host and alternative end of season event. In the meantime, we will be refunding all end of season tickets starting next week. Refunds will be returned to the card used to purchase the ticket this may take up to two weeks for all refunds to take place.  

Use of the CLTC and HCC facilities

The main (CLTC) committee has agreed to a 3 stage plan, and set up a sub-committee to review when to escalate to the next stage; this committee consists of the club chair, honorable secretary, comms sec and a medical professional. At the moment we are on stage one, which means that the bar and kitchen remain open to small groups. For more information please read the full CLTC statement here. The HCC/WHHC clubhouse is now closed for the foreseeable future.  

England Hockey AGM

The England Hockey AGM, and the resolution to restructure hockey, has been postponed to a later date.  

Summer Hockey

Our Delft tour host is monitoring the situation and updates will be shared via the WhatsApp group. We will continue to plan the summer calendar, but not commit to any events until it is safe to do so. Whitefield school is currently closed to external groups; when the situation improves Jamie will liaise with the school ready to set up summer activities.  

Finance

The committee doesn't expect any financial loss as a club, we are able to carry the dinner deposit to next season and expect credit from the school for unused pitches.  

Further Updates

We will continue to send out the weekly newsletter, as well as regular updates on social media. For any major updates, I will send another email. Please feel free to send any questions or suggestions to me at chair@whhc.uk. I will share them with the committee and aim to get back to you quickly. If anyone in your team doesn't receive the newsletter please encourage them to sign up at https://newsletter.whhc.uk.   On behalf of the committee, I wish everyone the best during the next few weeks and look forward to seeing you at the pitches and clubhouse sometime soon. Jared Club Chair