Crowborough Hockey Club
MEET OUR COMMITTEE
Hilary Brown
Club President
Hilary has been a member of Crowborough Hockey Club since its inception in 1968. In that time she has seen it grow to provide teams for all ages for both men and women. You can always see Hilary up at the pitch early on a Saturday morning to help out with junior training or supporting all the teams league matches. She describes Crowborough Hockey Club "A great Club of which I am proud to be President." Hilary won the England Hockey Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 for her dedication and devotion to Crowborough Hockey Club.
Lucy Smith
Club Captain
Lucy has been playing hockey for Crowborough Hockey Club for about 10 years and is an important member and presence for the Womens 1's side. She is always up at the hockey pitch whether that is to play, train, coach or umpire. In her words it's "the best sports club" she has ever been a part of. As Club Captain Lucy works with all of the captains across the whole club, men's, women's and the youth development coaches. This is to ensure the best outcomes not only for individual teams or members within the club but the collective club.
Danielle Newitt
Chairperson
Danielle has been playing for Crowborough Hockey Club since 2011 and soon after joined the committee for the club she loves. She was the Club Secretary for a dedicated 7 years working with multiple different chairs. Now in her first year in her new role as Chairperson her focus is building on the success of the new pitch and getting us new, good quailty equipment like dugouts. Danielle is also a strong and key defender for the clubs Womens 1's team and our clothing officer which includes coordinating the clubs kits and playing shirts.
Caroline Webb
Club Secretary
One of our newest members of the committee is the lovely Caroline. Her daughter joined Crowborough Hockey Club 3 years ago from another club and Caroline watched from the sidelines before being persuaded into playing for the then new Womens 3's side 2 years ago. Caroline always has a full car taking people to games all over Sussex and further, she is just a great team mate. This season will see her take a leadership role within the now new Womens 4's team, she will do an amazing job as she is so naturally nurturing. Her new role on the committee will entail managing all communication between committee member, taking committee meeting minutes, replying to emails, and so much more. So if you have any questions Caroline is your person!
Keren Loder
Club Treasurer
Keren has played at a variety of levels for different clubs as a goalie for many years, recently she made it into the South East England Hockey over 35's masters team. Keren has been treasurer for a year and has settled in really well into her committee role. When she isn't in goal Keren is either umpiring, helping out with junior tournaments or supporting young umpires.
Mikey Orchard
Mens 1st XI Captain
Mikey has played in goal for the Mens 1's for a few years and has now stepped up to being Men's 1's captain. He has a huge presence in the 1's team and is an encouraging personality for the young talent in the team who are the future of our club. We wish him luck in his first year on the committee overseeing all the men's section team selection.
Sam Williams
Womens 1st XI Captain
Sam has been at Crowborough Hockey Club since school, once returning from living abroad 5 or so years ago she rejoined the club. She captains the Womens 1' s and led them to promotion a few years ago into the Sussex Premier Division. With this role comes the responsibility of overseeing all the womens section team selection but don't worry she will still make time to reprise her role once or twice a year as the Quizmaster at our fundraisers.
Justin Singleton
Training, welfare, Growth & Development
Justin joined the club to work with juniors in 1999 and 2 years later became a player an coach, he has coached many sides including for Sussex, Beacon school, Bennett school, mixed hockey and many more teams. He has captained all the clubs men's sides and played over 400 games for Crowborough Hockey Club. Justin is a valued member of the club which was shown through his status of Vice-president at the Club. If Justin is not coaching, going to committee meetings, captaining, training or playing you will see him still at the hockey pitch umpiring lots of games for the club.
Amanda Catling
Fixture Secretary & Umpire Secretary
Amanda has played hockey from the age of 11 and captained the Under 16's & Under 18's at Sussex level. Although she took time out to have a family once her girls where old enough to hold a hockey stick they where encouraged to play at Crowborough Hockey Club. Amanda watched her daughters for a few years from the sidelines before taking over their girls development team and leading the to win a cup. Now they are grown up and she picked back up her hockey stick and is playing for the Womens 1's as well as umpiring every week, taking her daughters to their games, supporting other Crowborough sides and holds 2 committee roles. Amanda lives and breathes hockey!
Vicky Dennett
PR Officer
Vicky has been playing hockey for the past 20 years after making the transition from football where she played for Coventry City. Her highlights at Crowborough Hockey Club are captaining the Womens 2's in the Vase Final in the 2015-16 season, gaining promotion with the Womens 2's to division 2 as title winners in the 2019-20 season and seeing both the Under 10's & 12's sides win medals at Sussex tournaments. Vicky does so much for Crowborough Hockey club including captaining, playing wherever she is needed, umpiring, coaching juniors and organizes opportunities for young umpires. If she is not doing all of these things she can be seen behind a camera taking pictures of everyone for our social media pages so watch out!
Hamish Marr
Bar Manager
Hamish has played hockey since youth at Crowborough Hockey Club and has also represented county sides. He has coached at the Club for many seasons and volunteers to umpire reguarly even if it means he doesn't get to play. At club events Hamish runs our bars for the Club out of his own free time in order to raise us money. His kindness meant we where able to raise a good amount of money from our own bars at fundraiser events and was a great contribution to the pitch relay.
Kate Baxter
Social Officer
Kate has played at Crowborough Hockey Club since she was 13 and is always one of our top goal scorers each season, regularly scoring hattricks. Her committee role includes organizing social evets for the club members to enjoy and she played a key part in organizing the fundraisers which helped us raise the money to get a pitch relay. Kate plays for Womens 1's as there main center forward, she brings experience to the young forward line and we all can't wait to welcome her back from injury very soon.
Charlotte Richardson
Membership Officer
Charlotte has been at Crowborough Hockey Club since the age of 13 and since returning from university she has played for the Womens 1's & 2's and even girls development when they need an adult. She has been the Club's Membership Officer for a few years now and gives up a lot of her time to make sure DBS's are up to date etc. If Charlotte isn't on the pitch playing she can be seen umpiring or helping out any team that needs extra players, even making the odd stint in goal.
Bethany Catling
Digital Officer
Bethany has played matches at Crowborough Hockey Club since the age of 11 but has trained at our Saturday junior training since the age of 8. She has played in the Womens 2 & 3's but started out in the Girl's development team. This season sees her taking on a leadership role within the new Womens 4's in order to develop young girls coming through the club. Bethany thinks this is a great thing to happen to the club as it allows young players to develop quicker through the club but with the right support, which she hopes to give. Having just turned 18 she is the youngest committee member and through her role she plans to use different platforms to promote this amazing Club and gain many more new members.