Past internationals reunited at Friends’ School

THE rich heritage of sporting talent at Friends’ was evident at a reunion recently of senior international hockey players who attended the Lisburn school over the last seven decades.

Thanks to Arthur Chapman and Brown Shaw, a unique record of the sport at Friends’ has been preserved in the school’s archive room, and there was much laughter and reminiscence as the visitors looked through a display of old photographs, newspaper articles and the detailed handwritten notebooks kept by coaches J A Benington, F G Shier and Brown Shaw himself over the years.

Also on view were photographs of this season’s 1st XI, Burney Cup Finalists, and players, coaches and members of the Board of Governors were all present to welcome the internationals to School.

There was particular pleasure in welcoming Ken Haughton, who travelled up from Dublin for the reunion. Ken played for the 1st XI when he was in the First Form at Friends’ and, remarkably, was given a trial for the Ulster interprovincial team in the same year, being nicknamed ‘The Mighty Atom’ in the local press.

The notebook on display kept by J A Benington from 1939 to 1943 recorded the team members for each match, the opposition and the score line, with the season summary regularly noting K Haughton as top goal scorer.

It was evident that the 67 years that have passed since Ken Haughton left school had dimmed none of the pleasure he took in playing hockey at Friends’.

Also present were Brown Shaw, Walter Mercer and Peter Wilkin, who played for Ireland in the 1960s, Julian Stevenson and Brian Waring, who played for Ireland in the 1990s and the 2000s and Caroline McGall who, as Caroline Craig, was capped for Ireland 84 times.

Jim Kirkwood’s tally of caps for Ireland and Great Britain tops 170, including playing for the Great Britain side which won Gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and he was delighted to meet up with others who had begun their hockey playing careers at Friends’.

Current Irish international Jonny Bell was unable to attend as he was away on international duty and best wishes for the occasion were sent from abroad by Derek Shaw and Eric Priestley.

The Old Scholars had particular pleasure in meeting up with this season’s 1st XI hockey Captains and Vice Captains at Friends’, Kirsty Walker and Victoria Kirkwood and Robert Cumins and Haddyn Cartmill, making the link between past and present and providing plenty of inspiration for the future.

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