HNY 🙂 Yes - it’s a bit late for new year chat - but your BackPost editor has been busy trying to smash her new year resolutions, and forgot about her one true purpose: bringing you the hottest hockey content in the form of a mega monthly email newsletter.

First up: something really important that we need your help with urgently.

Tower Hamlets Council has proposed plans to build residential flats around the John Orwell Sports Centre hockey pitch. The Council has indicated that work on the plans could begin as early as March. This development would affect hockey at John Orwell as well as all other leisure and community activities that rely on the site.

We need as many people as possible to object to this in writing, as soon as possible. Email contact details below.

Beyond that important action, the good vibes continue to flow on and off the pitch - particularly today, as it’s Women’s Day over at Lee Valley - with a social in the Northcote tonight!

For now, read on to get your monthly dose of Wapping Hockey Club news…

Coming up in this month’s issue:

Dates for your Diary
Action: challenge re-development of John Orwell Sport Centre
Club Finances Update
Upcoming Socials
Action: Exec Team Updates & Opportunities
Wapping Players selected for Country and County
Volunteers of the Month
Action: Volunteer for CAWHL
Results RoundUp

Dates for your diary

Women’s Day: Saturday 7th Feb (today!)
Six Nations Final Day Pub Crawl: 14th March
E1 CrossFit to support the Women’s 7s: 14th March
EOSD: Saturday, 18th April

Action: challenge re-development of John Orwell Sport Centre

As some of you may already be aware, Tower Hamlets Council has proposed plans to build residential flats around the John Orwell Sports Centre hockey pitch (see image below).

Although initial consultation meetings have taken place, the Council has indicated that work on the plans could begin as early as March. This development would not only affect hockey at John Orwell, but also disrupt all other leisure and community activities that rely on the site and significantly affect the local area.

As a club, we strongly object to these proposals on the following grounds:

During the proposed two-year construction period, games, training sessions, and general access to the facility would be significantly disrupted and pitches in Tower Hamlets are already oversubscribed.
Any disruption to the facilities will dramatically reduce the activity levels in the community. Huge effort has been made to improve diversity in hockey and make it accessible to all children - interrupting it risks those children breaking a new habit and not returning to sport.
Once built, the flats would be extremely close to the pitch, making future complaints from residents about floodlighting and noise highly likely.
The proposed buildings would block light from three sides of the pitch, casting it into near-constant shadow; in colder months this would prevent the pitch from thawing properly and render it unplayable.
The plans raise serious concerns for the wider community who support, coach, and spectate from the sidelines — with flats drafted to be built right up to the edge of the pitch.
This proposal affects not only our club, but also Tower Hamlets Hockey Club and the London Royals (the UK’s only LGBT hockey club).
It will also impact all other clubs that train and play at the centre, including the Wapping Warriors.
The land to the rear of the site is protected by a covenant stating it should only be used for car parking related to the leisure centre.
The plans remove all car parking for the centre, which will inevitably lead to the loss of senior and junior members, and will disproportionately affect disabled users and families. There also appears to be no parking spaces planned for all the new properties.
The scale and positioning of the development are entirely out of keeping with the local character and look of the area.
In terms of heritage, and due to the underground geology (being former docks), St John’s Chapel (with clock tower) built 1760, may have its base brickwork further compromised by the piling of deep foundations nearby as has been documented with work on London Dock. Parts of its base brickwork are already cracked by just over an inch. Also, St. John’s churchyard (circ. 1615) - one of the most important local history sites in Wapping - directly borders the proposed development.

John Orwell Sports Centre is a vital sporting and community facility. The proposed development threatens its long-term viability and the inclusive sporting environment it supports.

“We need as many people as possible to object to this in writing, as soon as possible.

Please email: mahp@towerhamlets.gov.uk , envoy.support@towerhamlets.gov.uk , and Hanna.afolabi@towerhamlets.gov.uk with your concerns and objections. It doesn’t need to be long - one or two points is fine. If you are a Wapping/Tower Hamlets resident please state this in your email and please BCC wappingchair@gmail.com and johnorwell2026@gmail.com (a local community group email address that is tracking the number of objections).

A strong and rapid response from our members really does matter, so please take a few minutes to add your voice.

Thank you for your support

Club Finances Update

Club income is currently slightly below budget, primarily because membership numbers are lower than at the same point last year, we are following up with individual members to ensure all subscriptions are collected in full. Additionally we have collected slightly less in match fees than expected due to smaller squad sizes across the club. We are not proposing any changes to match fees which will stay at £11 for the remainder of the season. From a costs perspective, pitch hire, teas and other operating costs are in line with budget, with England Hockey fees and other affiliation/subscription costs increasing on last year.

Results round-up

Upcoming socials

14th March: Six Nations Final Day Pub Crawl

Want to catch the 6 nations rugby final with your hockey mates? Join us for a pub crawl through some well known haunts and ending up at the Dog in Aldgate for one of the best pints of Guinness going.

Route: MoreTownBelle, Feeney’s Mark Lane, Lloyds Avenue, and ending up at the Dog for England France at 20:00.

People can drop in when they like! Times etc. to follow (JVH)

14th March: E1 CrossFit to support the Women’s 7s!

The E1 CrossFit team are heading over to Lee Valley to watch the Women’s 7s at Lee Valley on 14th March at 10:30AM - and everyone is invited!

We’re grateful to have such supportive sponsors

E1 is where fitness meets community, and every journey is celebrated. Their mission is to help you build confidence, have fun, and feel strong whatever your starting point.

Want to give it a go? Sign up for a three week free trial exclusive to WHC members at the link here.

Save the date: End of Season Dinner

Mark 18th April in your diaries now!

It’s the legendary Wapping Hockey Club End of Season Dinner, with dinner, drinks and dancing, with the whole club - to celebrate the season that has been and dish out some awards. It’s a night not to be missed!

Wapping players selected for Country & Counties!

We’re super proud to share that Wapping Women’s 1 player - Caitlin Li, was selected for England’s Under16s! Leni Beard, another Women’s 1 player, was also selected to represent Wales at the U21 Junior World Cup.

An incredible achievement for two of our brilliant club members. Well done!

Volunteers of the month

It’s simple: Wapping Hockey Club wouldn’t exist without the many amazing volunteers who pitch in their time and skills to make things happen, week in, week out. From our committee members to our captains, our social secs and our kids helpers, we’re fortunate enough to have wonderful club members who want to give back.

This month, we’re shining a light on

Umpire liaison officers: Alex and Krystle!

We asked Alex to tell us more…

How long have you been at Wapping? This is my 4th season at Wapping.
What does fixtures sec entail? Organising and making sure every home game had an umpire. Basically just lots of messaging people, usually on a Friday evening when there's umpiring slots missing, nicely (usually) asking them if they will umpire.
On pitch highlight: Scoring from the top of the D into the top corner against East, whilst my girlfriend who plays for East was watching (she was looking away and completely missed this happening )
Off pitch highlight: Christmas social, being shattered from playing and umpiring, still going and having a good time, staying longer than I had intended to!
Hottest take for the 2025/26 season: That the W1 will stay up in the national league

We always need volunteers to lend a hand. Get in touch with Irini (wappingsecretary@gmail.com) or join our volunteers whatsapp group to get involved throughout the season, when you can.

Exec Team Updates & Opportunities to Get Involved

As we come to the end of the season, a number of Exec members – including myself (Rogers) – will be stepping down from their roles. From a personal point of view, after four years as Chair, and with work and family life ramping up, it feels like the right time for me to take a bit of a breather and focus my energies elsewhere. That said, I’m not disappearing! I’ll still be around to offer support and guidance to whoever takes on the role, and I’ll continue managing the business support side of things, so it should be a gentle and well-supported handover.

Alongside this, we have a few exciting opportunities opening up on the Exec:

Women’s Club Captain (co-role) – with Anna staying on
Men’s Club Captain (co-role) – with Aaran staying on
Club Secretary
Fixtures Secretary
Head of Press

We’re really committed to a staggered approach to handovers, as it makes roles far less daunting and ensures new Exec members always have someone experienced showing them the ropes. It also means people can step into a role for a couple of years, gain confidence and experience, and then pass it on in a healthy, sustainable way.

Being part of the Exec is hugely rewarding. It’s great experience to add to your CV, a brilliant way to meet more people across the club, and genuinely feels good knowing you’re helping support something you love and contributing to a club that provides hockey and community for 500+ people.

If you’ve ever thought “I might like to get more involved”, this could be the perfect time. Please have a chat with any of the current Exec members if you’d like to know more or are thinking about stepping forward. You can read a little about what each of the roles entail here.

Appeal for CAWHL Summer League helpers

It might feel cold, but hopefully your hearts are feeling warm at the thought of lending a hand to support the brilliantly fun City and Wharf Hockey League (CAWHL).

Each summer Wapping HC runs the CAWHL where 28 teams play fun and friendly summer hockey weekly on a Mon-Thurs. This year the league will be starting in early April, and it wouldn’t be possible without the league organisers who make it happen. Below are some roles that we need filling.

4x Wapping team captains (teams can be co-captained)
Umpire Liaison Officer (supported by UDO and CAWHL Chair)
6 a side tournament & bbq organiser
End of Season Dinner organiser
Scores helper
Social media helper

If you are interested and would like more info email cityandwharfhockeyleague@gmail.com

or send me a WhatsApp 07401227298 - thanks, James Budgen

Results round-up (Second half of the season)

*For a detailed breakdown of results and more action pics, check out our instagram page @wappinghc*
**Our lovely women’s club Captain Izzy Ringrose, shares her reflections on the second half of the season for our women’s side of the club.**
We're well into the second half of the season now with some big wins already in the bag ...and some losses we'd rather forget. Lots to build on to finish the season strong! The W1 were back last weekend and we're all sending them as many winning vibes as poss - please get down to LV for their games when you can! Our W3-6s are comfortable in their leagues, while the W2 and W7 are finding their groove in their first seasons in new leagues, each with some important points on the tables. We're all behind the W8 who have had some close games, and the Valkyries getting stronger each week.

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