Club 3 of 11

3. About the club


History

Since its establishment in 1912 the Club has been based at the Victory Ground in Bury St. Edmunds. The Victory Ground was and remains the home of Bury St. Edmunds Cricket Club and until the 1990's the Club used the cricket outfield for its pitches. The Club subsequently hired the town’s local authority owned artificial turf pitches at Nowton Park and King Edwards School. However, by 2011 the school pitch was deemed unsuitable for the Club's needs so it arranged with Culford School, a private school four miles from the town centre, to hire its floodlit sand filled pitch.

The winter fixture list and training schedules were subsequently split between the Nowton Park and Culford School pitches with changing and post match teas still using the Victory Ground, which re-developed in 2015 and now has a modern pavilion and indoor sports facilities.

For the past twenty or so years the Club aspired to have its own pitches and pavilion. A scheme to build on land at Rougham Hill was nearly realised some years ago. However when this option became unviable a new project to work with Culford School site to create a two pitch facility, by building a new second pitch within its unused walled garden, was born.

Following 3 years of hard work and fundraising by the Club's Development Committee, the Culford Hockey Centre officially opened on 3 September 2016 and is now the permanent home of the club as well as an England Hockey Talent Academy.