Lindum Hockey Club was formed in the June of 2015 through the amalgamation of Lincoln Hockey Club and Lincoln Roses Hockey clubs. After a successful first season sharing our purpose built facilities at the Lindum sports ground, members of both clubs saw the benefit of coming together to create a centre of excellence for hockey in Lincolnshire.

Both Lincoln Hockey Club and Lincoln Roses Hockey club have a deep and rich history – something that we feel is important for us to celebrate. The story of both clubs is captured below.

Lincoln Roses Hockey Club

1932 was the year when the Hockey Section was founded as part of the Sports Club of Rose Brothers (Gainsborough) Limited – a world famous company in Gainsborough manufacturing wrapping machines and the like.  In those days the club comprised a men’s XI and a mixed XI and this situation continued until after the Second World War. An extensive sports field existed in North Warren Road, Gainsborough including a very good grass hockey pitch which after the war was considered to be one of the best in the County.

After the war local young men returned from the services in which they had played hockey and were encouraged to take up the game again by the old stalwarts who had continued to play whilst working in “reserved occupations” making armaments of all kinds including rear turrets for Lancaster bombers.

These chaps and young women were the “founding members” of Roses Hockey Club and they continued to play friendly men’s and mixed matches against other local teams from Lincoln, Doncaster, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Brigg.  As travelling became less difficult, horizons widened to Rotherham, Newark, Woodhall Spa, Skegness, Alford, Boston and Spalding.  Highlights of successes during this period were winning the Appleby Frodingham Festival in 1966, Lysaghts Festival 1970 and 1976 and the Lincolnshire Club Championship in   1976/77 season.  Other festivals attended were Digby Sixes (a RAF side) – succeeded by Woodhall Spa Sixes; Brigg Sixes; Skegness Easter Festival and North Lincolnshire Summer Festival.

League hockey commenced with the formation of the Lincolnshire League with 13 clubs participating and after its demise, the Lincolnshire clubs divided, with the northern clubs joining the various divisions of the Yorkshire League whilst the southern clubs moved into the Eastern Counties Leagues. One of the major changes brought about by league hockey was the insistence of the Hockey Association that all league matches must be played on artificial pitches.  This meant that Roses had to travel to Lincoln to play on approved pitches, starting with Yarborough School facilities.  At this time 2 men’s teams regularly turned out with a third on occasions.  Ladies hockey was provided by Gainsborough Ladies H C, a separate entity.

A major step forward was taken when the splendid facilities at Lincoln University were made available and Roses made the University their new HQ, with the Gainsborough Ladies HC amalgamating with Roses when a new constitution was established.  The name of the Club was changed to Gainsborough Rose HC to maintain the links with its founding fathers.  The influx of male and female students from the University interested in playing Club hockey as well as University fixtures enabled the Club to grow to a size where it fielded 4 men’s XI and 4 ladies XI. During this period of growth and establishment the standard of hockey played improved year by year as the men’s teams gained promotion through the ranks of the Yorkshire League Divisions and the ladies in the East Hockey League and Lincolnshire Ladies Hockey League. Because of the firm links now with Lincoln, it was decided to change the name to Lincoln Rose H C. In 2014 the men’s first XI secured promotion to division of the North Hockey League .

Lincoln Hockey Club

Lincoln Ladies Hockey Club was founded in 1898, but, due to a poor transport system, few matches were played during the early seasons on the grass pitches at their base at Swanpool, south-west of Lincoln. They soon fielded two teams with players representing the Eastern Regional side.

In the early 1930s until the outbreak of World War 2, mixed hockey was also played at Swanpool, although this ceased when the men were enlisted and had to go off to war, but the ladies continued to play.

In 1946 the Club moved to the Lindum Sports Ground in Lincoln where the men’s club was also formed and called Lincoln Imps Hockey Club. The Lindum became both hockey clubs’ base for the next 43 years, although Lincoln Ladies played some of their matches at the Bishop Grosseteste Teacher’s Training College.

At this time Lincoln Ladies played in sky blue tops, navy skirts and sky blue socks and Lincoln hockey Club played in royal blue and white quartered shirts, white shorts, with royal blue and white hooped socks.

In 1980 the men’s club was approached by the lady’s club with a view to merging, as the economical side of running a hockey club was proving much more expensive. Extraordinary General Meetings were held in both clubs and it was unanimously agreed that the two clubs should merge, with the one club being called Lincoln Imps Hockey Club. A new General Committee was formed containing both male and female members, who would work efficiently together and plan out the running of the club each season.

In 1989 the importance of having a synthetic turf pitch was becoming more and more apparent and, unfortunately, Lincoln Imps had to sever the playing side of the club away from the Lindum base. This was disappointing, as efforts to obtain a synthetic pitch at the Lindum fell on deaf ears. The hockey club had to find a new base to play hockey and approached the North Kesteven Sports Centre in North Hykeham, near Lincoln, to adopt their new synthetic pitch as their “home” venue. All was agreed and Lincoln Imps Hockey Club had its synthetic pitch at last, only to find that the nearer Yarborough Leisure Centre, at the north end of the City, was to have one some two years later!

The hockey club tried desperately to keep its ties with the Lindum, but the efforts of spending 20 minutes travelling from the NKSC through Lincoln to the Lindum proved a major problem. It was decide that the club should use the NKSC for teas, but this proved unsuccessful and they eventually found a new base for teas and after match socialising in 1997, when they moved to the North Hykeham Playing Fields Association pavilion on Newark Road. This has proved a very similar atmosphere to the one that they had at the Lindum. In 1998 the club held an Extraordinary General Meeting to change the name of the club and it was renamed Lincoln Hockey Club.

In 2009, it was decided to make a move towards returning Lincoln Hockey to The Lindum, with home matches now being hosted at Yarborough Leisure Centre and with post-match teas and beverages being provided by Lindum Sports Club. These plans came to fruition in 2014 when the club returned home to The Lindum Sports Association, with home matches now being hosted at the purpose built hockey facilities that have quickly become a centre of excellence for Lincolnshire hockey.