Brian arrived at Brooklands Hockey club in 1966 having been a junior member of the tennis section, where he met his wife to be Jill. He soon made his mark as the likes of Ian Taylor & John Goulding (ex-captains) were contemplating retirement. Along with his friends Roger Wickens & Adrian Hallett they formed the new blood!! In the early 70’s he was appointed captain of the 1st XL which led to great success for the club with his enthusiastic, encouraging team talks. Under his command the team won the county cup & leagues as well as twice “North of England Champions” (73 & 74), in 74 the team scored 127 goals & only let in 17 & had you asked Brian who scored the goals I expect he’d say, “me”! In fact, he probably would have scored plenty as he was our short corner specialist. The lead shot drilled into his stick helped!
It was not just on the field that we had fun but off it as well - meaning we rarely got home before midnight!! Back in those days we had some prestigious fixtures with Army/Navy/RAF, Spencer/ Southgate/ Purley /Cheam. On a trip to Purley Brian introduced jugs of G&T to be drunk left-handed, this went down so well that very quickly they ran out of gin & their club manager dashed out to the off licence for more! In the Army/Navy/RAF away fixtures we often had to send a cheque to cover certain damage, one occasion being when Roger Wickens decided to cover Brian by shooting a fire extinguisher at him unaware that the foam would have a chemical reaction with the Lino flooring which it just demolished!! On another trip for a game with the Navy we were in Marlborough & our keeper Fergie decided to leave his room via the window unaware that the conservatory roof would not take his weight! So, he arrived in the bar through the roof!
At our home games we would all (wives/partners as well) go out for a meal & we would visit Chinese/Indian restaurants in Sale the only snag being Brian liked to take some sort some of trophy home (e.g., an elaborate ornament or a piece of furniture or something) which meant we very soon ran out of places by the end of the season! A favourite dining place was The Forts of Bengal, formally the Balaka, gangs of Brooklands players would finish the evening off there sometimes, led by Brian, pretending to be from Bowdon so they got the blame!
After his playing days were over Brian used his enthusiasm for the club to become hockey Club Captain then 1st team manager leading the club into the national league for the first time ever. He took over a young 1s XI mid-season who were losing games and barnstormed to the National league the season after as North champions. He raised morale by hosting bacon sandwich breakfasts for the boys at his house. Not the ideal athletes’ diet but it worked!
His love of Brooklands extended to him supporting the teams up and down the country and he was right in the thick of events as his 'boys' won Brooklands first ever national age group title as they were crowned u18 champions at Beeston in 2021. Needless to say, he was first to the bar to toast everyone's success. He was proud that his daughters and grandchildren began playing hockey for the Club.
He was a stalwart of the Brooklands in every sense of the word and his loud shouts on the touchline will be really sadly missed.