Priorians stalwart hailedfor 40 years at the club

Lesley Buchanan has played every position for Priorians and held every position behind the scenes. She has been given a special accolade for 40 years service.

“I have enjoyed every minute of my time at Priorians, I have got so much out of the game over the years so I have, it was just second nature to put something into the game,” stated Buchanan. “The great memories were the progressing through the leagues with the teams and winning promotion all the time. We got up as far as Senior One, then when the club continued to progress we started a Seconds team and a Thirds team, in fact the Thirds were pretty impressive they won promotion for five or six years in a row. Those days were great and it was also great to see the club progressing with so many young players moving through each set of squads. I started playing hockey when I was 12 and started with Priorians when I was 14 and right up until a year and a half ago I was playing, now I’m doing some coaching with the Juniors, so I’m still working with in the club. I have always loved the game. I was over at the Olympics and other European competitions watching, but playing and the crack over the years with the girls was the best part of the sport.”

Although she no longer plays she is bringing through the next set of stars at Prior.

“I have been coaching for many years, I suppose it all started in 2001 when at Priorians we really pushed the junior hockey. Although we had junior hockey going before then, we really pushed it to help that we ensured we could get the astro turf pitch at St Columb’s Park.

“We had around 70 junior and youth hockey members back then, which was a big achievement and the pitch came in 2007, so I have been really working on the junior side of hockey at the club since then along with obviously all the rest of the girls at Priorians. In September we had 90 junior members on the books.”