Club Day is Calling ☀️🏑

Written By Wapping Hockey

Dear members, alumni and friends of the club,

We’re excited to unveil this year’s Club Day on 5th September – and it’s set to be our biggest yet 🎉

From juniors to alumni, social teams to the 1s, the whole club will be on show with a full day of hockey fun and the official launch of Wapping Kidds as a charity.

Whether you’re playing, supporting or catching up with old friends, this is the one day you won’t want to miss. Come for the hockey, stay for the community… and, of course, a massive night out like only Wapping does…

Schedule

  • 10:45 – Arrival @ Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre (stadium pitch)

  • 11:00 – 12:30 – Mixed tournament 

  • 12:30 – 13:45 – Kidds’ session (whilst the oldies hit the 🚿) 

  • 13:45 – 14:00 – Wapping Kidds CIO launch

  • 14:00 – 17:00 – W1 & M1 showcase games (🍻)

  • 17:00 – late – Party and fundraiser @ The Northcote

There will also be a food van from 13:00–16:00 for all your culinary needs 😋

What’s the Kidds CIO launch/fundraiser?

As most of you know, our 1s usually run an in-season fundraiser, but this year we postponed that in the hope your goodwill can help us celebrate the launch of Wapping Kidds as a registered charity and help us raise funds to secure the future of junior hockey at Wapping.

For the past 38 years, Wapping has been built on the dedication of volunteers – generations of people giving their time, energy and care to grow the club and keep pushing it forward.

Ten years ago, that same spirit created our junior section. Since then, countless hours of coaching, organising and volunteering have built a junior programme that is welcoming, ambitious, high-quality and affordable. And in the world of hockey, affordable junior hockey is incredibly hard to come by.

Wapping Kidds has always been about making hockey accessible for all. We want children in the east of London to be able to access the same joy, friendships and opportunities that hockey gave us.

After years of work, we're delighted that Wapping Kidds was officially registered as a charity this April. Combined with Gift Aid registration, every donation now goes further, helping us build one of London's leading junior programmes while keeping hockey accessible and affordable for families.

Thanks to the incredible work of Estelle and Steph, along with generous funding from Sport England and the Eastern City Community BID, we've been able to offer Kidds training sessions completely free of charge this year. Funding like this has made a real difference, but grants of this kind are often one-off and can't be relied upon year after year. To keep these sessions accessible for local children, we're now looking to our community to help make that possible. If we can secure funding to guarantee year-round free training, it changes everything. Instead of constantly worrying about keeping the programme running, we can invest in making it better:

  • upskilling our coaches

  • growing our coaching team

  • adding more sessions for players in teams

  • introducing team-specific training

  • building a pathway that gives local children the same quality junior experience offered by the biggest clubs

Of course, we’ll continue to ask parents of juniors who are able to support the programme. But we also know that, with Gift Aid, corporate matching schemes, alumni generosity and a wider club effort, we have a real chance to blast our way into a properly funded programme with just a little help from a lot of people.

Every generation at Wapping has left the club stronger than they found it. This is our opportunity to do the same. By backing Wapping Kidds, we can create a lasting legacy: giving more local children the chance to discover hockey and ensuring the club continues to thrive for generations to come.

How you can help

Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing details on how to make an annual pledge or support through corporate matching. 

We know the 1s fundraiser normally supports the adult club, and we’re very grateful for everyone’s understanding in making this year’s event a one-off push for Wapping Kidds. We’re hopeful that this can be the kick-start the CIO needs to become sustainably and properly funded for the long term.

Wapping has always been powered by volunteers, by generosity, by people giving a bit more than they had to because they cared about the place and the people in it. That spirit has carried the club for 38 years. We hope you’ll help us carry it forward again now.

See you there!

Member discounts:

Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:

  • 5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle

  • Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month

Wapping Hockey
Next

The Final Whistle