The Mayor and Mayoress of Worthing, clutching the Penguin HC
mascots at the inauguration of the glass panel on Worthing Pier.

The emergence of a piece of art relating to hockey is a pretty rare occurrence.

We have a good and growing collection of art at The Hockey Museum, but the glass panel depicted in our photograph is a piece of public art that has been installed on Worthing Pier. It was commissioned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Penguins Hockey Club which was founded in 1948 by servicemen returning from WW2 who were in search of sport and recreation.

Although originally a men’s and subsequently also a ladies’ club, Penguins are probably better known up and down the country for their annual Mixed Hockey Festival over the early-May Bank Holiday weekend. Teams from all over the UK flocked to (quite often) sunny Worthing and at its height well over 100 teams participated. To its credit, it is now one of very few festivals that has survived, albeit much smaller these days.

Mike Smith, 2 October 2018