Friends’ School opens new state of the art sports facility

Several hundred wellwishers were present at Friends’ School on Thursday evening for the opening of the School’s two floodlit Astroturf hockey pitches.

The Chairman of the Board of Governors, Margrit Grey, welcomed pupils, parents, members of staff, Old Scholars, Governors, and many associated with sport locally, including representatives from the Ulster Hockey Union, South Antrim and Lisnagarvey hockey clubs and Lisburn City Council.

Margrit Grey paid tribute to the School’s consultant, Ciaran Hanna, from Hanna and Hutchinson Consulting Engineers, who had overseen the project, and the contractors, Tony Patterson Sportsgrounds, who had done such a magnificent job in putting down the two sand dressed, FIH certified floodlit pitches, completed to the highest specification. She thanked also all who had contributed to the School’s Astroturf Appeal, launched in June 2012, saying that it was a joint effort reflecting the strong sense of community at Friends’.

Friends’ counts many past Irish and Great Britain hockey internationals amongst its former pupils and a large number were present on Thursday evening to mark the occasion and, indeed, to play on the two Old Scholars’ sides which took part in matches against the current boys’ and girls’ 1st XI teams. Four of their number, Caroline McGall (Craig), Olympic Gold Medallist Jim Kirkwood, Jonny Bell and Brown Shaw joined in the opening ceremony, cutting the two ribbons held by the captains of the current 1st XI teams, Jemma Walker and Matthew Sullivan, and the captains of the Old Scholars’ teams, Judy Getty and Julian Stevenson.

After the opening, the large crowd enjoyed the two closely contested matches played between the past and present pupils. Each of the captains of the 1st XI boys’ teams from the last twenty years had travelled to play and the ladies’ team included a large number of those who had played on Friends’ two last Ulster Schools’ Cup winning sides.

Such was the enthusiasm to take part in the opening event a squad of some 25 ladies took to the turf. No-one had lost their competitive edge. Caroline Craig, playing for first time in 15 years, was rumoured to have been out practising with son Jack, a Year 9 pupil at Friends’. Karen Alexander, captain in 1998, had lost none of her skill despite retiring 10 years ago and Judy Getty, Schools’ Cup winning captain in 1999, had travelled from Geneva. On the men’s side, Julian Stevenson showed he had lost none of his skills playing alongside past or present Lisnagarvey stars Kevin Lunn. Kyle Lunn, Jonny Bell and Robert Cumins, whilst MLA Alastair Ross showed plenty of tenacity on the pitch. It was fitting that past and present pupils should join together on the pitches and on the sidelines to mark the opening of a new chapter in the sporting history of Friends’ School.