Joy highlights hockey club's glorious 125 years
The story of Newtown Hockey Club's 125 years has been told in a new booklet by local historian Joy Hamer, who was actively involved in the club for half a century.
Joy, from Newtown, joined the club in 1948, and over the years has written several histories of it. She remains a life member.
"Now in 2021, while trying to find something to do during the Covid-19 lockdown, I decided to produce this booklet to commemorate some of the successes of the club over the past 125 years," she said.
"You can be sure I shall not be producing anything to commemorate 150 years, even though I firmly believe that Newtown Hockey Club will be flourishing in 2046."
In the illustrated 32-page booklet "Newtown Hockey Club 125 Years, 1896-2021" she tells how the earliest record of the club goes back to 1896.
In 1902 the ladies' skirts were shortened from five inches to six inches from the ground "so that the ball should not be lost from view."
The early team played on a Dolfor Road pitch at the home of the Smith family, of whom Edith, Lily, Gwen and Flossie were regular players. The club moved several times over the years, until Maldwyn Leisure Centre opened in 1985 with an all-weather pitch.
In the aftermath of the Great War a shield competition was started to promote hockey in Montgomeryshire, and Newtown met Chirbury in the first final in the 1919 to 1920 season and won thanks to goalscorer Flossie Smith whose shot was so hard it went through the net.
"Members of the Newtown team still talked about that game for at least the next 60 years," says Joy.
She recalls going on tour with other club members to America in 1963, although the sailing of their ship was held up as the Great Train Robbery had taken place the previous day and it had to be thoroughly searched.
Other highlights included the Newtown club becoming the North Wales champions in 1970 for the first time, but there have been lowlights as well, such as the burning down of the club's old pavilion on the recreation ground which saw some mementoes and photographs lost.
The club's greatest success came, says Joy, when it won the Welsh Cup and was runner-up in the European Cup in the 2000-2001 season.
The booklet concludes with a list of hundreds of club members from the entire 1896-2021 period.
Joy is a former deputy head of Newtown High School and in 1996 was presented the MBE by the Prince of Wales for developing links between education and industry.
