DONAGHADEE Ladies Hockey Club held their second Charity Sixes tournament at Bangor Grammar last Sunday in memory of 1st XI player Sarah Hooks who passed away earlier this year.
Born last year from a desire to show support to Sarah who had been recently diagnosed with cancer, and to other club members whose friends or family had been affected by the disease, the 2024 Sixes tournament was a great success with all proceeds from the day going to Sarah’s chosen charity, Friends of the Cancer Centre.
Although not well enough to play last year, Sarah was cheerleader-in-chief during the games and was on hand to present the winners with their trophies and, following the conclusion of the tournament, elicited a promise from the committee that the tournament would run again in 2025.
Members of the club were heartbroken to say goodbye to Sarah in February past but true to their word, this year’s tournament was pencilled in for the first weekend of June with proceeds from the event to be split between Marie Curie and local charity Fire Lily, which provides boxes filled with beautiful pamper items along with a message of hope to women journeying with cancer.
The club was also delighted to receive a beautifully engraved trophy donated by Sarah’s husband Keith to be presented to the winners of this year’s tournament.
Twelve squads including teams from Antrim, Ballyclare, Bangor, North Down, Knock Old Girls, Ulster Masters and Ards Pickleballers, along with a number of DLHC-based teams all congregated on a (mostly) dry day at BGS. With the pitch divided into three, six players a side and each game lasting 10 minutes, the action was non-stop from the opening bell at 1pm.
With only five minutes between games there was constant rotation of personnel on the three pitches and the action was fast and furious. Yet off the pitch, where each team had set up base on the adjacent rugby pitch, there was much laughter, chat and catching up as hockey friends old and new renewed acquaintances.
The barbeque and tuck shop did a roaring trade and was a welcome pitstop for many, including the good crowd of spectators who came along to enjoy the action with all proceeds going into the donation boxes.
As the afternoon wore on, and each team having played five matches in the group stages, the action got down to the business end and knockout hockey for the coveted spots in the final commenced.
On one side, Donaghadee’s ‘Goals Aloud’ made up of a number of Sarah’s team mates were progressing steadily, with Antrim on course in the other half of the draw. It came down to these two in the final with Goals Aloud playing some lovely hockey and ultimately proving the stronger of the two, scoring several goals to ensure the first trophy in Sarah’s name was presented to a team from Donaghadee.
With Sarah’s parents watching on, Keith was delighted to present his sister and Sarah’s sister-in-law, Helen, with the trophy, much to the delight of the large crowd which had stayed on to support the final. All in all, a fitting end to a wonderful afternoon’s hockey played in the best spirit and for two extremely good causes.
The club would like to thank all the teams for their participation, good spirit and contribution, Ards Fireplaces for sponsoring the barbeque and tuck shop, Murdock Builders Merchants who sorted the between-pitch boards and Bangor Grammar for use of the pitch. Donations can still be made at https://www.justgiving.com/page/dlhc-sixes2025.
