Welcome to the second season of the Ulster Hockey Union.  I am honoured and proud to be President of the UHU and I am looking forward to the new season which I hope will not be as badly affected by adverse weather as last season.

We have come a long way since amalgamation in May 2009 and I would like to thank the members of the UHU Management Board and Standing Committees for the many hours of work they put in during the past season.  It was not easy for anyone to be thrust into a completely different operating situation and the commitment given by all volunteers was much appreciated. 

We now have our full complement of staff in place under the supervision of our Executive Manager, Angela Platt.   Among her many duties Angela will be continuing to lead the Board in the production of policies and procedures required by Sport NI for the modernisation of our sport in order to fulfil our obligations regarding the receipt of grant monies without which we would not be able to progress.   I would extend our appreciation to Sport NI for this funding and, in particular, to our liaison officer at Sport NI, Norma Bowman, for her continuing assistance.

We have also ‘moved house’ twice since June 2009 - from the House of Sport to a portacabin behind the Maynard Pavilion at NICS, and then in April 2010, at the busiest part of the season, to the new ‘Playball’ building at NICS overlooking the new water-based hockey pitch.  This could not have been accomplished without the help of volunteers and I would thank them all.

No sport exists without sponsorship which is becoming more and more difficult to acquire and on everyone’s behalf I thank ONE1918 as the official sponsor of Ulster hockey.  Please give all the support you can to them when acquiring hockey kit. 

This season we look forward, with your help, to excellent hockey, the development of players, coaches and umpires – at all levels of the game.  I wish everyone success, but most of all enjoyment and look forward to meeting you at the side of a hockey pitch during the season.

Best wishes

Jennifer Patterson