Aberdeen Bon Accord MBC Turns 40!

Aberdeen Bon Accord MBC Hockey Club celebrated 40 years
of being a club having provided hockey to the Aberdeen and
Aberdeenshire areas since 1972.

‘Bon Accord’ is the motto of the City of Aberdeen meaning ‘Happy
to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again.’   This is
something that is strongly reflected in the club, many members have
made many new friendships and have a strong connection with former
members.  Player development and further development is
foremost in their minds and as such gain many returning members
when players come back to the city or otherwise.  A tradition
they wish to always maintain.

Aberdeen Bon Accord Ladies Hockey Club originally merged with 2
clubs, firstly Nomads in 1989 and latterly with MBC Hockey Club in
2001. These mergers brought about one of the largest hockey clubs
in Aberdeen, with a membership split between both youth and senior
players. The club is a fully integrated family oriented club in the
North East of Scotland and only one of a handful in the country who
provide hockey for both sexes and all age groups, hence our tag
line “Club for all ages”.

On Saturday 25th August 2012, the club celebrated with members
and former members by having some fun games at Rubislaw Astro Turf
pitch, sticks were dusted down and thankfully no muscles pulled! In
the evening they had a lovely 3 course meal at the Palm Court Hotel
and had invited 3 esteemed guests to give a speech pertaining to
the era they played.

First up was Carrie Welsh who joined the club around the late
70’s into the 80’s and she delivered a fabulous speech about the
wonders of grass hockey and the fact we communicated via
letter/postcards to inform players of the games! She also alluded
to one of our greatest achievements of that time, getting to the
final of the Club Championships 1983 where we were up against
Glasgow Western, the prize was Europe, sadly we lost 3-0 but gave
the club the belief to go forward to National League in 1984, the
only north ladies club to do so for many years.

Second up was their Olympic hero Wendy Stewart, who was fresh
back from umpiring for her now home Canada, the club is so proud of
her gaining this great achievement.  Wendy was cheered in with
a guard of honour by the youngest members, a special moment indeed.
Wendy’s era was to talk them through the “Naughty 90’s”, she
herself was a driving force behind the merger from Nomads. They had
success winning National League Division 3 in 1995 and then
straight through Division 2 in 1996, getting back to Division 1 was
a major achievement for the club and they all had worked hard to
get there.

Last but by no means least, Iona MacDonald stepped up to talk
about the early years of the MBC merger, having been an MBC girl
herself, she recently has come back to the club having been away in
Glasgow.  The move from a ladies club to a mixed club was huge
and gave them more scope to attract new players and to develop as a
club.

It was not only an honour for them to have these people within
the clubs during the various eras but having them with the club to
celebrate their 40th birthday was truly special.  Speaking to
most who attended the event the club’s ethos hasn’t changed, simply
providing a sense of belonging for everyone who has been involved
at any level within it.

The clubs future is bright, and has been running the school
hockey club for the past two seasons and gained a solid partnership
with Cults Academy, which they are keen to promote and
develop.  They currently have 3 sponsors, Adecco, Jamiesons
Book-Keeping and Accountancy and MTM Homes along with an
affiliation to Aberdeen Physiotherapy.  They are always
looking to promote their profile within the community by providing
training and taster sessions, flyer drops, social and charity
events which means they are always on the look out for volunteers,
both non-playing and playing, all parents, friends, sponsors
welcome

After the excitement of the Olympics and hockey being one of the
sports, we hope to keep the momentum going towards the Commonwealth
games in Glasgow 2014 and beyond.

For more info visit their website or email

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