Norman Hughes collecting his GB honours cap.
Although it is now some four decades since the Great Britain (GB) teams won medals in the 1980s at the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympic Games, amazingly there were still nine of the players who had not received their GB honours caps.
In February 2024 a reunion in Henley-on-Thames saw many of the two squads meet up again. This enabled four more of them to receive their GB caps. David Westcott and Norman Hughes from LA 1984 received their caps, followed by Sean Kerly and Paul Barber who played at both Games.
This still leaves five players from the era to receive their caps. It perhaps underlines the difficulties that we have encountered in getting GB caps to the 581 players entitled to them. To date the figure is still well shy of 450 and discovering further recipients has almost dried up.
Returning to the ‘84/88 squads, we are hopeful of presenting to a further four players this year. However, one has completely eluded our efforts. The missing player is Bob Cattrall formerly of Southgate HC. We know that he moved to Australia and some years ago was known to be playing in the Perth area. If anyone knows of his whereabouts, please let us know – we have his cap ready to present!
Captured in a four-image collage, athletes receiving their GB honours caps with pride from GB captain Richard Dodds. From the top left, moving clockwise: Paul Barber, Sean Kerly, David Wescott, and Norman Hughes.
