Puritans Hockey Club was formed in 1953 from members of the returned armed forces. Its founders often met in the Soho area of London to sing old army songs. Realising that several played hockey, they began to arrange invitation matches on Sundays. The assortment of founder members came from clubs in London, the Home Counties and Bristol: John Newbold, Noel Cardoza, Bob Cherry, Mickey George, Hugh Wickham and Dick Wilkins. They adopted a chamber pot as the Club’s motif and chose pink, pale blue and black as the Club’s colours.

At their first match the Puritans played in all white against St Peter’s Hall, Oxford on 23 February 1953. Afterwards, the evening’s entertainment ended a little ignominiously with the entire team being ejected from the local pub (and without the exhaustion of the beer kitty that was then re-distributed).

During the 1950s and 1960s Sunday hockey became a distinct feature of the social scene and the Puritans grew in strength and numbers. They were renowned for the songs they sang, which were old Army songs. These were never written down but learnt by heart and regular performances took place on Sunday nights.

The objectives of the club are usefully contained in Rule 2 of its constitution:
To bring together hockey players from all parts of the country, to play good hockey and to foster the spirit of good fellowship on the field and in the subsequent partaking of refreshment.

Fulfilment of these objectives came under pressure (in common with many touring clubs of the same persuasion) from the competing claims on players of league hockey, county and regional competitions, the availability of artificial playing surfaces and the progression of drink driving laws. As Sunday men’s fixtures became less frequent, the Puritans also turned to mixed hockey in a bid to retain its strong social philosophy and to provide consistent fixtures to its membership in the face of these mounting pressures.

The Puritans women’s side dates back to 1973 when Miss Deedi Malone’s select XI appeared at President’s Day at Walton Hockey Club, Surrey. Sundays had not then been dominated by league and cup hockey as much as with the men, which allowed the women’s side to continue the style and success of the original side. A veteran’s women side was also run, with a reasonably full fixture list attracting stronger opposition.

Puritans Ladies’ Hockey Club trophy vase from Ville de Lambersart at Le Touquet, France, 1981.

Silver tankard inscribed to commemorate Puritans HC’s silver jubilee (25 years) in 1978. An appropriate object for a club whose sociable bent is set out in its constitution.

A flag combining the colours and emblems of Puritans and Die Pittermänner Club, fashioned to celebrate 35 years of friendship and touring.

Festivals and touring

The Puritans established close links with many overseas clubs. The oldest association is with Die Pittermänner Club of Köln (Germany) whom they first met on their inaugural visit to the Le Touquet Whitsun festival in northern France, which Puritans regularly attended after 1958. In 1992, the trip to Le Touquet was attended by a party of 65. Other notable associations included the Raffleburg Club in Duisburg (Germany), the Tempeliers, and Kameleons (Netherlands) whose festivals Puritans enthusiastically attended.

Le Touquet: a photograph album created by Hugh Wickham which visually documents Puritans HC’s visits to Le Touquet festival in northern France.

Over many years Puritans enjoyed hospitality at other clubs’ festivals and in 1974, in celebration of the past 21 years, resolved that it should reciprocate by running its own international festival. This took place at Jackey Baker’s ground in Margate, Kent. Among the visitors were the Varsity Old Boys from Auckland, New Zealand, which the club believed at the time was unique in the distance travelled by a hockey club to attend a tournament. Other visitors included Raffelberg, Templiers, Pittermänner, and friends from England, Cygnets, Pistons, and Cliftonville. For the veterans’ tournament the teams were Equipe de Marc (senior members of the Iris Club de Lambersart), Rocheliers, Pistons Veterans and Puritans Veterans. Four women’s teams took part, Puritans, Westgate, Templiers and Dakins Darlings.

The published Diary of Events set the tone for the festival. After dinner at 10:00pm on the Friday there was an informal renewing of friendships. On Saturday at 10:00am hockey began and at 10:01am the bar opened! In the evening there was a ‘happy hour’ followed by a formal renewing of friendships, followed by dinner in the hotels “for those still capable” and then a Grand Jazz Jamboree. At midnight, it was “Cabaret Time (brief)”. After hockey on Sunday, there were “Musical Refreshments” at 12:30pm. Prize Giving was at 4:00pm, the bar closed at 5:00pm and 5:01pm was designated “Go Home”.

In 1896, Puritans applied to take part in the men’s World Cup Veterans Tournament and were in a group (of which there were eight, centred on London) based at Wimbledon Hockey Club. They finished third in the group.

The cover of the event programme for Puritans HC’s 40th anniversary festival at Folkestone, Kent in 1993.

The Club’s 40th anniversary was celebrated in September 1993 with Puritans able to call on players from 18 different hockey clubs to uphold the traditions of the founder members. They celebrated with a hockey festival at Folkestone (repeating earlier similar events in 1978, 1983 and 1988). The social programme continued the ebullient traditions laid down by their 21st anniversary festival in 1974.

The last surviving founder member, Hugh Wickham died on 18 May 2016. After his funeral service a gathering was held at Surbiton Hockey Club, where Puritan songs were sung in Hugh’s memory. Over the years Puritans have amassed a 180-strong repertoire of sporting songs. The Puritans’ theme song Come and Join our League of Purity regularly opens the evening’s singing. It is regarded as the ‘Grand Old Puritan Anthem’.

Cartoon of Puritans Hockey Club founder Hugh Wickham and, below, the Puritans’ theme song Come and Join our League of Purity.

Our Festivals Project

The information in this article is taken from The Hockey Museum’s festivals research project, specifically from a draft chapter of our forthcoming book which will chronicle the significant events and teams that have contributed to the illustrious history of English festival hockey.