Westbury and United Banks Hockey Club

The Westbury and United Banks Hockey Club is a field hockey founded by the bank employees living in Bristol in 1924.
When the club reformed after the Second World War a donation of £5/5/- was needed to buy equipment. The club throughout the first 50 years were a relatively unsuccessful side providing recreation in a semi-serious manner.
History
1970s expansion
In the mid 70s the club became much more pro-active in wanting to achieve higher standards of play. They were founder members of the Westbury Sports Club in association with Westbury-on-Trym Cricket Club. The ground at Passage Road, Westbury was developed to include 3 grass pitches and a shale all-weather pitch, the only pitch of its type owned by a club. All other shale pitches were administered by the Local Authorities. It established the club as one of the leading clubs in Bristol. From a small junior club of two sides in grew to 4 sides when the sports club was founded in 1975. A 5th team was added in 1978, a 6th team in 1984 and a 7th team in 2004. At each stage the club’s membership had grown, the extra teams were needed to ensure everyone had a game each Saturday between September and April.
1980s premier hockey
With the 1st XI acting as flagship for the club, the 1980s represented the start of a long period of domination of Bristol hockey. The team of 1987-88 under the inspirational leadership of Huw Ellison, were champions of their division and a significant spell of Premier Division hockey followed. In the mid 90s injuries and retirements saw Westbury lose their Premier Division place. A period of rebuilding followed in which promotion was narrowly missed in three different campaigns. Richard Beesley was appointed 1st XI captain in 2002 and led his team back to the Premier League with two successive promotions.
2003 - 2009
The strength in depth of the club has been continuous. In 2003-2004 of the 6 sides fielded each week the 1st, 3rd and 5th teams all won their divisions, the 2nd and 4th teams finished in 3rd place in the Gerrard West Hockey League. In 2004-2005 season four promotions were achieved with the 1st XI and 4th XI (with 18 wins out of 18) champions in their divisions, and the 2nd XI and 6th XI being runners up in theirs. A third successful season followed in 2005-2006. The 1st XI (now under the leadership of Phil Meakin) were promoted as runners up in Premier Division 2, back into the top flight of West Hockey. The 2nd XI were also runners up in their division, whilst the 4th and 5th team were both won the championship of their divisions in the Bristol and Weston District. The 1st XI successfully retained their Premier 1 position in 2007-8 under the captaincy of Neil Richardson. Since 2000 the club have won 15 winter and summer league championships throughout the club plus a further 15 runners up positions. In the 2008-2009 season Westbury relinquished their Premier Division 1 status after a difficult season losing a number of players and have spent the current 2009-2010 season re-building with a focus on youth development throughout the club. The 1st XI's 2010-2011 season thus far has proved promising and successful in their aims of bringing in a new youth focused aspect to the 1st XI and the club as a whole with the addition of a number of new players throughout the club, Westbury are once again looking to become the dominant force for hockey in Bristol and the South West.
Social
The foundation of Westbury & United Banks Hockey Club has always been the promotion of the social side, the development of young players, links with the ladies section (Westberries Ladies HC) and a friendly club atmosphere, where everyone is an equal member. These ties have never been sacrificed to obtain success, in fact they have been the building blocks of the club’s success. The coaching for young players has been fundamental in building the club as it is today. Many 1st XI players have worked their way from the youth team to the development side (the 6th team) and on up through the club. Coaching for youngster was re-established by George Banting and Duncan Armsby. They have introduced many new young players to the squads currently playing for the club. Coaching for young players on Sunday mornings at Coombe Dingle is now under the tuition of Dave Gardner with sessions starting at 9:30am. Senior coaching has been led by Ali Price since 2006. In 2009 for the 2009-2010 season, Joe Thomas took over the mantle of men's team coach after Ali Price was enticed back to his beloved Firebrands following their demotion from the National Leagues; ending a successful 3 year association with Westbury.
Joe's experience in coaching hockey has been extensive, based primarily in the South West and Somerset and having played for Westbury for many seasons prior to his appointment.
Organisation
Organisational excellence is another strength of Westbury. Since 1975 the loyalty and leadership of long standing club members has been augmented by a steady introduction of younger members into captaincy, committee membership and social events. Where other clubs in the area have folded because nobody has stepped forward to lead, Westbury has always had able and dedicated members ready to take the club further.
Easter, veterans and summer hockey
The club has also been active in other areas outside of regular Saturday hockey. During their 60 year stay at Passage Road the club ran its own Easter Festivals and Veterans tournaments for many years. A mixed team was regularly fielded on Sundays and indoor hockey was played in midweek. Westbury were also the leading members of Bluebottles Hockey Club who tour each Easter. The season extends all the way through the summer as well, with Westbury putting out five teams in the Bristol and District Summer League. The club's 5th Summer League side, called the Devils, introduced a larger number of the clubs young players to hockey as part of the development side run by Dave Ratcliffe. Many of the youngsters who took part, stepped up into the winter league teams in the 2008-9 season. Success has been achieved on a number of occasions by the summer sides. In 2007 the club revived its Veterans' Festival with Bournemouth winning the first event and Team Bath Buccaneers the 2008 competition. Mixed hockey has been played in recent years by Westbury members as 'The Goonies', whose playing membership in 2008-9 became exclusive to Westbury.

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