Harrogate Hockey Mens History

Records show that there was an active mens hockey club in Harrogate as early as 1913/14 with J Waddington appearing for Yorkshire in 1927. Little is known about the Club at that time apart from....

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Harrogate Hockey Ladies History

Harrogate Ladies Hockey Club pre-dates the second world war and there are records showing that the Harrogate Athenians Ladies Hockey Club were playing in the 1913/14 season....

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Harrogate Hockey - ClubsFirst Accredited

Accredited By England Hockey - learn more

The Granby Development

Hockey Facilities in Yorkshire

Harrogate Hockey Club moved to Granby in 1999, with the help of a National Lottery grant. This page gives the details of how this came about. For the history of both the Mens and Ladies sections, see the links on the left of this page.

In 1995 the Club made plans to create a hockey facility in Harrogate that would combine a synthetic pitch and clubhouse on one site. Various potential sites in Harrogate were examined which, in the Spring of 1996, resulted in Harrogate Hockey Club approached the Harrogate Granby High School, now Harrogate High school, to explore the possibility of the Club’s relocation, combined with the development of a new top class facilities comprising a synthetic floodlit pitch, warm-up area, clubhouse and car parking.

At much the same time the National Lottery announced a new scheme focusing upon local partnerships between successful community schools and successful sports clubs, which offered the possibility of up to 80 per cent lottery funding. Our discussions with the School began and we established an immediate rapport that was based clearly on the following shared vision that the proposed facility should:

• Enhance the full time education of all Harrogate Granby High School students.
• Promote the aspirations of the Hockey Club towards National League standards and status.
• Enrich the opportunities for sporting excellence in the wider community through specific coaching programmes for young players in hockey and soccer.
• Be accessible to existing associations, clubs and groups of users for their own sporting activities.

Having determined in June 1996 that an alliance between the Club and the School would be in their mutual interest, the Club committed itself to providing £200,000 of capital towards a total project cost of £940,000 and to underwriting the financial responsibilities of managing and maintaining the facility.

Backed by the strong support of North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council, all the associations within our Community District and the relevant sports governing bodies, our application to the National Lottery proceeded and was submitted in the Summer of 1997.

The detailed work was undertaken by a small joint committee consisting of Jonathan Edwards, Headmaster, Malcolm Howe, Community Manager, Robert Lawson, Club Treasurer and Geoffrey Phillips, Chairman of the Club's Development Committee. Following five sets of detailed enquiries from the National Lottery the application, which was judged to be outstanding, was successful in March 1998 with the award of a generous lottery grant of £752,000 representing 80% of the estimated project cost, the maximum possible.

The School and North Yorkshire County Council have made available the magnificent site the project now stands upon at no cost for the next 99 years for the benefit of the Club, the School and the community at large.

The opening of the Granby Hockey Centre in October 1999 saw the completion of the largest development to date by the Hockey Club and the establishment of a successful partnership with Harrogate Granby High School.