The 1st X1 hockey and Y9 netball teams have just returned from a fantastic 2 week tour to South Africa. We spent a week in Cape Town where we played 4 schools and then moved up to stay at the High Performance Centre for 3 days in Pretoria where we played our 2 remaining fixtures. Team performances were excellent with the 1st X1 and Y9 “A” team winning all 6 games comfortably and the Y9 “B” team losing just 2 of their 6 games.

The girls had the opportunity to visit Table Mountain, Buffelsfontein Game Reserve, Cape Point, Boulders Beach, Seal Island and the Wild Bird Sanctury in between the fixtures in Cape Town. Once our 3 days in Pretoria were over we spent 2 nights at Bakgatla where the girls enjoyed a 4 hour game drive in the Pilansberg Game Reserve and a day at Sun City splashing about in the Valley of the waves.

The highlight of the tour however was the day spent in the township of Fisantekraal. We had raised a £1,000 including a £500 donation from Ludlow Thompson, to help both the Trevor Emanual School buy much needed hockey and netball equipment and to buy equipment, toys and books for the newly opened crèche in the community. Some of the money was also spent on repairing the roof of the small “retirement” home that had been set up by one of the women in the township for the terminally ill to try and make their lives more comfortable. The home at present can only hold 5 patients.

The girls spent the morning having a tour of the township, meeting the children and handing over the equipment . We then played the netball fixtures at the school and the township teams were supported by all the local school children. It was a fantastic experience for the girls and they thoroughly enjoyed the day. Some of the girls are now keen to continue with the fund-raising and to maintain our links with Fisantekraal.

To view more photos of the hockey tour, visit our Gallery.