SAFETY MEANS BEING CLOSE TO YOU

Recognising that time and distance to the nearest defibrillator is crucial on the sports field has been the driving motivation for Saffron Walden Hockey Club to acquire its own defibrillator, thanks to a grant from the RALPHH charity.

Situated within the estate of the Joyce Frankland Academy, the Club has its own pitch and clubhouse, where the new vital piece of safety equipment is housed in a weatherproof container. There are eight men’s and four ladies’ teams, as well as a very active junior section of 350. There are two pitches, and each Friday, youngsters from 13 nearby primary schools receive coaching in the sport. The senior men’s team play in the East of England Premier League, whilst the women are in Division One South. One of the club’s players also features in the England Under-21 team.

As well as recruiting young people, Saffron Walden has also been successful in attracting people back to playing hockey from when they were younger. Sixty-three of these have signed up in the last year alone. Martyn Webb attributes much of the Club's success to its great committee.

Martyn is pictured seated, acknowledging the Club's thanks to the RALPHH charity, when Richard Allen came to visit to see how the RALPHH grant had been implemented. The active charity has been busy over the later summer months trying to meet the requests for help from so many hockey clubs.

“We would like to do more in all of the sports we support,” said Richard, “but we do need to raise more resources to come close to meeting demand. Donations to increase the number of defibrillators across all types of sports clubs would be especially welcome. “