Oral History Interview: Patricia (Pat) Ward

Partial Transcript: WARD: Patricia Francis Ward, spelled W-A-R-D. I know I'm in my 80s and my birthday is 08-12-1934.

Segment Synopsis: Ward states her name and date of birth for the record.

Keywords: Date of birth

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: Tell me where you started playing.

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her early experiences of hockey at school in Nottingham and High Wycombe. She touches on playing work hockey for her Father's manufacturing business before recounting her move to Cornwall and playing club, county and (once) territorial hockey.

Keywords: Ann Flann; Bodmin--United Kingdom (UK); Buckinghamshire (county); Cornwall (county); Devon (county); Director; Evacuation/Evacuee; Exeter--United Kingdom (UK); Father; Goalkeeper; Half Back; High Wycombe--United Kingdom (UK); Hilda Bothamley; Illness; Inside Forward; Liskeard Looe Hockey Club; Liskeard--United Kingdom (UK); Luxulyan--United Kingdom (UK); Meridian; Newquay--United Kingdom (UK); Nottingham Girls High School; Nottingham--United Kingdom (UK); Nottinghamshire (county); Par--United Kingdom (UK); Public Transport; South Wales (territory); Tamar Bridge; The Garden School; Welfare Officer; Weston-super-Mare--United Kingdom (UK); Winger; World War 2; Wycombe Court School

Subjects: Captaincy; Education and Schooling; Life Outside of Hockey--Family--Childhood; Recollection of Others--Coach & Manager; Teams--Girls--County; Teams--Girls--School; Teams--Women--County; Teams--Women--Work; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: WARD: Well, I was President of the Western Counties for five years and...
SOMERVILLE: Tell me how you got to that position.

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her incumbency as President of the Cornish and West Hockey Associations and reflects on the friendship formed from travelling long distances as a hockey player and administrator in the west of England.

Keywords: Cornwall Hockey Association (CHA); President; Western Counties Womens Hockey Association (WCWHA)/West (territory)

Subjects: Administration & Finances--County; Administration & Finances--Territory; Associations--County; Associations--Territory; Social & Friendships

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: Tell me about the tournaments at, at Weston. What were they like?

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her experiences of the women's county tournaments at Weston-Super-Mare that took place annually around the New Year and early January.

Keywords: Bereavement; Football (Soccer); Grandmother; Grass; New Years Eve; Recreation Ground; Weston-super-Mare--United Kingdom (UK)

Subjects: Playing Surfaces; Teams--Women--County; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: So, you carried on playing, erm, at...
WARD: Quite.
SOMERVILLE: ...For Cornwall for a long time.
WARD: Yes.
SOMERVILLE: And when you stopped playing for Cornwall did you carry on playing club after that?

Segment Synopsis: Ward discusses her club hockey career in Cornwall and recalls the local council's introduction of an innovate, but ultimately flawed, post-grass, gravel hockey pitch.

Keywords: Cornwall Guiders Hockey Club; Goalkeeper; Gravel; Liskeard Looe Hockey Club; Liskeard--United Kingdom (UK); Local Council; President; Redgra; Redruth--United Kingdom (UK); Shale; Truro Hockey Club; Truro Ladies Hockey Club; Western Counties Womens Hockey Association (WCWHA)/West (territory)

Subjects: Administration & Finances--Territory; Associations--Territory; Playing Surfaces; Teams--Women--Club; Teams--Women--Masters & Veterans; Tournaments--Masters & Veterans

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: Did you miss it when you stopped?
WARD: Yes, but of course I, having, I was President of the West.

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her administration career as President of the Western Counties Women's Hockey Association (WCWHA). She fondly remembers her role in the creation of a league system for clubs in the South West England that was considerably ahead of its time.

Keywords: Computer; Fixtures; Friendly Match; Hockey Field Magazine; Lancashire League; Margaret Slade; Penzance--United Kingdom (UK); President; Secretary; Taunton--United Kingdom (UK); Tim Horsfield; Western Counties Womens Hockey Association (WCWHA)/West (territory)

Subjects: Administration & Finances--Territory; Associations--Territory; Media; Recollection of Others--Administrator; Tournaments--Club; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: So, when did you finish being President of, of the West?
WARD: I can't remember.
SOMERVILLE: And was their a big gap between that and moving into Hockey Field?

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her time editing influential, monthly women's hockey magazine, "Hockey Field". She discusses sourcing stories, the editing and publishing processes and working with fellow editor Majorie Pollard.

Keywords: Bereavement; Editor/Editing; Graphic Design; Hockey Field Magazine; Journalist/Journalism; Joyce Whitehead; Letter; Margaret Glossop/Margaret Lewis; Marjorie Pollard; Memorial; Photography; President; Printing; Proofreading; Publisher/Publishing; Subscription; Taunton--United Kingdom (UK); Typewriter; Western Counties Womens Hockey Association (WCWHA)/West (territory); Winger

Subjects: Associations--Territory; Media; Recollection of Others--Media Figure; Recollection of Others--Player

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: Did you get invited to Wembley and to the internationals?

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls being invited to attend the women's international matches Wembley Stadium as a journalist and photographer. She discusses her photography technique and her personal photographic archive as well as recalling anecdotes from the Queen's attendance at Wembley.

Keywords: Buckinghamshire (county); England; Greyhound Racing; Hockey Field Magazine; International Match; Letter; Mary Russell Vick; National Anthem; Penalty Corner; Photographic Film; Photography; Queen Elizabeth II; School; Single-lens Reflex Camera (SLR); The Hockey Museum; Wembley Stadium

Subjects: History & Heritage; Hockey Homes, Venues & Stadia; Media; Recollection of Others--Celebrity; Teams--Women--International

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: What about the players? Did you have any favourites?

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her favourite players to watch over the course of her journalism career.

Keywords: Dorrie Arkell/Dorrie Sadler/Doris Arkell/Doris Sadler; England; Gloucestershire (county); Margaret Glossop/Margaret Lewis; Mary Eyre; Western Counties Womens Hockey Association (WCWHA)/West (territory)

Subjects: Recollection of Others--Player

Partial Transcript: WARD: You probably know I did edit this. Well, Nancy Tomkins is the main author of this...
SOMERVILLE: Yes.
WARD: ...And did all the donkey work. I put it all together and sorted out all the photographs to go with it and everything.

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her involvement with a book celebrating the centenary of the All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA) and how she came to be the custodian of the AEWHA archive prior to its donation to the English Hockey Association (EHA). She recalls how the archive was lost following the liquidation of the EHA and then recovered by The Hockey Museum.

Keywords: All England Womens Hockey Association (AEWHA); Archive; Author; Book; Centenary; Editor/Editing; England; English Hockey Association (EHA); Milton Keynes--United Kingdom (UK); Nancy Tomkins; Nappy Rash; Photography; Proofreading; Skirt; The Century Makers: A History of the All England Womens Hockey Association, 1895-1995; The Hockey Museum; The National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes

Subjects: Association Liquidation & Mergers; Associations--National; History & Heritage; Media; Recollection of Others--Media Figure; Teams--Women--Touring

Partial Transcript: WARD: ...To me. Those are some pictures of the pictures, of the pitches at, at Weston.

Segment Synopsis: Ward revisits her experiences of the Weston-super-Mare counties tournament including playing on the beach when the grass pitches were unusable.

Keywords: Beach; Grass; Minehead Hockey Club; Sand; Weston-super-Mare--United Kingdom (UK)

Subjects: Playing Surfaces; Teams--Women--Club; Teams--Women--County; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: So, how long did you edit Hockey Field?

Segment Synopsis: Ward revisits her time editing "Hockey Field" magazine and reminisces about her journalist travels across the country with her dog Smutty. She recounts the dismissive attitude of the All England Women's Hockey Association (AEWHA) towards "Hockey Field" and covers the winding up of the publication including the role played by "Hockey Digest" magazine editor Peter Luck.

Keywords: All England Womens Hockey Association (AEWHA); Austin-Healey; Claire Liddell; Dog; Edinburgh--United Kingdom (UK); Editor/Editing; Grassroots; Hockey Digest Magazine; Hockey Field Magazine; Hockey Sport Magazine; Journalist/Journalism; Nancy Tomkins; Newbury--United Kingdom (UK); Pet; Peter Luck; Publisher/Publishing; The Hockey Museum

Subjects: Associations--National; History & Heritage; Media; Recollection of Others--Media Figure; Recollection of Others--Player

Partial Transcript: WARD: And I tell you the thing that I, I am most concerned about for the future [pause] is on the photography side, so many pictures are now being taken on a phone, mobile phone, digitally, put in a computer. Where do they go from there?

Segment Synopsis: Ward discusses her concern about the transience of modern, digital photography worrying that contemporary records of hockey could be lost for future generations.

Keywords: Archive; Computer; Digital Camera; Mobile Phone; Photography

Subjects: History & Heritage; Media

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: Can you think of anything else in your past that we haven't covered that you...
WARD: Probably one of the things that I was involved in and so was my friend Mary, erm, she was, as I said was county Secretary.

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her involvement in setting up the Penzance Easter Festival when she was President of the Cornwall Hockey Association (CHA).

Keywords: Cornwall (county); Cornwall Hockey Association (CHA); Fundraising; Penzance --United Kingdom (UK); Penzance Easter Festival; Penzance Hockey Club; President

Subjects: Administration & Finances--County; Social & Friendships; Teams--Women--Touring; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: WARD: I have a Great Niece who, when she was six, she was in the under eleven team at Tavistock.

Segment Synopsis: Ward discusses her current recreational interests that have seen hockey usurped by gardening and photography.

Keywords: Boconnoc--United Kingdom (UK); Cornwall Garden Society; Digital Camera; Flower Show; Gardening; Hobby; Hockey Field Magazine; Membership Secretary; Niece; Photography; St Austell Hockey Club; Tavistock Hockey Club; Tavistock--United Kingdom (UK); University of the Third Age (U3A); Womens Institute (WI)

Subjects: Administration & Finances--Personal; Recreation; Social & Friendships; Teams--Women--Club

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: So, when you look back, erm, you've told me several things you've be proud of, w--what's the most important thing to you that's come out of your ho--career in hockey?

Segment Synopsis: Ward revisits her role in the creation of a league system for clubs in the South West England citing it as the thing she is most proud of. She speaks of the difficulties of organising hockey in the traditionally larger counties of the UK.

Keywords: Cornwall (county); Devon (county); Dorset (county); Gloucestershire (county); Herefordshire (county); Nottingham--United Kingdom (UK); President; Somerset (county); University of Nottingham; Western Counties Womens Hockey Association (WCWHA)/West (territory); Wiltshire (county)

Subjects: Administration & Finances--Territory; Associations--Territory; Teams--Women--County; Tournaments--Club

Partial Transcript: SOMERVILLE: And what about all the friends and relationships?

Segment Synopsis: Ward reflects briefly on her friendships within hockey, lamenting the passing of many of them.

Keywords: Bereavement; Christmas; Letter

Subjects: Social & Friendships

Partial Transcript: WARD: I did also go the press work for Great Britain...
SOMERVILLE: Oh, right.
WARD: ...Hockey.

Segment Synopsis: Ward recalls her work for Great Britain Hockey liaising with the press and her memories of the EuroHockey Nations Championship in Brussels in 1991 which she attended as a photographer. Reflecting on being at the tournament in Belgium at all, Ward speaks of the difficulties she faced with travelling throughout her career.

Keywords: Barbara Holland; Brussels--Belgium; England; European Nations Championship/EuroHockey Nations Championship; Fax Machine; Germany; Goal; Great Britain; Great Britain Hockey; Hockey Field Magazine; Illness; International Match; Ireland; Jane Sixsmith/Janet Sixsmith; Journalist/Journalism; Photography; President; Press Secretary; Scotland; Sue Slocombe; Vertigo; Wales; Yvonne Horner

Subjects: Associations--National; Media; Recollection of Others--Administrator; Recollection of Others--Coach & Manager; Recollection of Others--Umpire; Teams--Women--International; Tournaments--International