When I discovered your web site I was particularly attracted to the “History”, and it was to provide some more information and to correct one or two errors that I was prompted to contact you. In particular I wanted to correct the error as to the origins of the club.  There is a certain irony in claiming that a club formed by members of a Methodist Church should have been established in a pub! Still, there will be no offence caused, the Methodist attitude to alcoholic drink having mellowed over the years. (No that I am an authority on such matters, so don’t quote me on that one.)

The only other obvious error is the reference to the pitch at Burnage High School  on Yew Tree Lane. The pitch was at Yew Tree High School, approached by Moss Hey Drive a short cul de sac off Sale Road on the Northenden / Wythenshawe border. I am almost certain that the school was known as Yew Tree at the time East Didsbury played there, although it changed its name to Arden College soon after.

Having said I would give you some info. on the origins and history of East Didsbury Hockey Club I remembered my terrible weakness for remembering dates.  Thus I have resorted to referring to” late fifties”, “early sixties” etc. I also realised that many of my memories of and related to my hockey playing days are of little interest to others. However, I have had a go.

I started off avoiding the use of “I” or “We” - like a proper historian! Reading through this I realise that I slipped into it later. I haven’t bothered changing this. I assume the editor (if that is the correct title) may want to select some bits to include in the “History” section on your web site and will probably wish to rephrase things. Please feel free to use …or not use…any of the information I have given. If you have any specific questions for me do ask. I did make a list of people who I can remember playing in my earlier days, about fifty of them, you can have the list if you like. Some of these names should certainly be in your list of “noteable players”'

Obviously I have no idea how much time you wish to spend on the updating of your web site. If there is someone who is really serious about delving into the history of the hockey team I may possibly be able to dig up a few people who have more information than myself about the early years. 

The club was formed in the early fifties by members of the Youth Club at East Didsbury Methodist Church. The hockey club soon established its own identity whilst retaining strong links with the Youth Club. Both had their ups and downs, but their independence meant that even when the Youth Club ceased to function for a period the hockey club continued. Its title was East Didsbury Methodist Youth Club, although eventually the “Youth Club” was dropped from its title. For many years however there was a strong connection with the Church. Up to the 1980s there were always hockey club members who either attended the church or who had family members who did.

 In the late 50’s the original team began to break up. Probably because many of the original members were at that time of life when they had other commitments or moved from the area. It is probable that the hockey team would have ceased to exist had it not been for the efforts of Albert Hutchinson. He was a member of the early team and also a leader at the Youth Club (and the sort of person who willingly put himself out to help others). The youth club itself had probably ceased to exist at around this period, but had opened up again with a large number of very young teenagers. Albert Hutchinson organised hockey sessions in Fog Lane Park for these youngsters, no doubt in order to find new players for the hockey team. At around the same time South Manchester & Wythenshawe Lacrosse Club also recruited many players from the East Didsbury area and several boys who sampled hockey at this time eventually decided to play lacrosse rather than hockey. However, enough players came through to keep the team going and to put it on a more secure footing for several years to come.

For some time the team consisted of very young teenagers led by Albert. Possibly because so many players were so young he was left to do most of the organising. When he organised those sessions in Fog Lane Park he provided sticks and balls…and if my memory serves me correctly he managed to transport the lot by bike, although he was soon after to get a car. As few of these young players possessed their own sticks Albert would roll up to matches with a kit bag full of sticks, as well as all the other necessities – balls (which he would have painted white for each match, no plastic coating in those days), first aid kit, oranges for half-time etc. His children. Clive, Kay and Moira were all to play for the team in the next few years.

Despite a hard core of enthusiastic players there were spells when it was difficult to field a full team. A problem that was to recur several times in the years that followed.

 In the late 50s/early 60’s the sticks were of the old fashioned style with the large head, although the Indian head as it was called (is it still called that?) soon became more common and quickly the norm. The club provided the shirts - blue and white stripes (although if there was a colour class with the opposition players were expected to provide their own white shirt.) Other than that we wore what ever we wanted, so there was a variety of socks and shorts colour. Some players, particularly the girls wore ”hockey boots”, constructed from canvas and rubber and not particularly good for playing in the Fog Lane mud. Others wore football boots. Trainers hadn’t been “invented”.

Most teams came from around the south side of Manchester. The league was called “The Youth Clubs Mixed Hockey League”, so not surprisingly many of the clubs were, as East Didsbury, from youth clubs connected to various churches. The teams included Ladybarn Methodist Y.C, Saint Paul’s, Levenshulme, Levenshulme Lynx, Hanover (who I think became Simon’s Engineering) from Manchester; 70 Club, Norbury and Norbury Nomads from the Hazel Grove area, several clubs around the Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Heald Green and Bramhall area and somewhat out on a limb Old Mellonians from Disley. Several “Young Farmers” clubs soon joined the league including Altrincham, Stretton and Knutsford.

Transport to matches was generally by bus or bike, at least for most East Didsbury players. East Didsbury to Disley was a bit of a treck by bike, up hill all the way with a particularly steep climb at the end as the club played on top pf a hill above Disley village centre. The reward was to play on probably the best pitch in the league…….. and the ride home was downhill al the way. The league handbook of those days included directions on how to get to grounds  - consisting mainly of a list of buses passing near by.  

Changing facilities were often on the primitive side. Fog Lane changing rooms consisted of benches and clothes pegs in a small room without windows, water or electricity. Other clubs were slightly better, but many players arrived for matches ready to play with a tracksuit over their kit. At Bramhall the changing rooms were somebody’s garage across the road from the pitch, at some grounds changing rooms were some distance from the pitch and clumps of bushes proved to be more popular. When the young farmers teams joined the league they seemed to specialise in derelict buildings to serve as changing rooms. (And playing on their pitches was, well, like playing on a farmer’s field. To be fair, at Knutsford they did have an electric fence to keep the cows off.)

For many years East Didsbury played a Fog Lane Park. There were three pitches in the park. One on the Parrswood Road side, two on the other side of the duck ponds nearer to Wilmslow Road. Most years the Parrswood Road side pitch was used, but there were odd periods across the park where the pitches were generally less muddy, but more bumpy. Our usual home pitch was often waterlogged. It was not uncommon to fork the pitch before a game in an effort to get rid of surface water. We used to play in ridiculous conditions. The ball would become virtually lost in chaotic scrambles in patches of deep mud – the solution often being for one team to simply give up and allow the opposition to hook the ball out of the mire, alternatives were to pick the ball up and throw it onto a better patch (resulting in a free hit of course if the umpires could see what was going on – although many a goalkeeper got away with this strategy) or openly kick the ball to give away a free hit and at least get the game going again.

That particular pitch must have been a hazard for passers by. A footpath ran along one side and behind one goal. One or two passers by certainly had to take evasive action, a few gave their opinions on the dangers of hockey in loud voices, but bar one or two minor bruises I don’t think anyone was seriously hurt.

There were couple of moves away from Fog Lane. The club played at Cringle Fields, Levenshulme for a couple of seasons and spent a short time at a school on Darley Avenue, Chorlton – this didn’t last long as the school didn’t like the pitch to be used during or following wet weather. 

The team had its ups and downs over the years – the ups were never very high though. The quality of play improved towards the end of the sixties when it came about that several players began to frequent the Old Cock, an establishment that came to be a source of players for many years. Tony Hickson was the leading light in recruiting new players at this time…and a good job he made of it too. Eventually the bulk of the team would be in the Old Cock on a Friday night – very handy for checking up on peoples availability, or to find replacements if necessary. The next big step was a move to an all weather pitch at Yew Tree High School. At around the same time the club had what I think was “affiliated membership” of the Teachers Club at Manchester Teachers Centre which used to be on Barlow Moor Road in Didsbury  - only a short distance from Yew Tree High School. The attraction of course was the bar. Civilised behaviour at last, a drink in decent surroundings after a home match.The link with the Old Cock continued for some years, but then you know the story from then on……..

Club History - Part II

East Didsbury Hockey Club was founded in 1953. The team played at Fog Lane Park in East Didsbury. It was a grass pitch - well it was if you exclude the goal areas which were earth on good days and mud the other 95% of the year! The changing facilities were primitive, no lighting, heating or running water and, when conditions got too grim, the team moved to the luxury of a gravel pitch at Burnage High School, Yew Tree Lane, where there were 'facilities'.

At this time, the Manchester Mixed Hockey League had only a handful of teams. Some came from Church groups: St. Phillips & St. Cuthberts; others from the young farmers of Stretton and Altrincham. Subsequently we were joined by the Icicles from ICI and Cheadle Nomads who seemed to get most of their players from the Swizzels toffee factory.

In the 80's, when the Yew Tree pitch began to more closely resemble a bowling green as the gravel became overgrown with weeds, the team moved on again. This time the home pitch was Ridge Danyers College, Cheadle, where a second team was formed by recruiting players from the college itself.

Finally we moved into the 21st century and relocated to a brand new astroturf pitch at Newall Green High School where we presently play. A long journey from the grass of Fog Lane.

Our first players back in 1953 were recruited from the Old Cock pub in Didsbury on Friday & Saturday evenings, usually when all common sense and reasoning were numbed by alcohol! Our team was then, as it is now, composed of family and friends. The captain for many years was Tony Hickson, a natural and prolific goal scorer. He, together with wife Lynda, were the hub of the team. Friends David Lane, Mike Richardson, Colin and Elaine Boothman and the Drummond brothers were the core of the first teams. The Jones sisters, Kath & Sue, were soon added to the staff and in later years, Tony's niece Paula joined the club.

Over the years many players have come and gone but notably were:

• Tony & Lynda now in Brighton
• Nigel Irwin emigrated to Norway
• Peter Crossley living in Leicester

The family commitment still continues with two generations of members of the families Hagon, Capel, Taylor, Seabury and Entwistle currently playing for East Didsbury.

Some of our more senior members are:

• Dennis West - Played in the league since 1967/68
• Judy Taylor - Played for East Didsbury for 32 years
• Pauline Capel - Played for East Didsbury since 1975
• Brian Jones - Played in the league for 30 years

We have been in existence for nearly 50 years. We have fought cup, league, relegation battles: some we have won some we have lost. Some years have seen us League Champions and some seen us relegated, but in most years we have been in the running for the most sporting team in the league. Players and fixtures have come and gone but East Didsbury Mixed Hockey Club remains well liked and respected wherever it plays.