More About our Area Award Winners for 2026 (1 of 3)

The winners of the East Area Awards were announced on 8^th May. We thought it would be good to profile our winners further - and why they were the winners, in this, the first year, of our Awards.

The details below are taken from their nomination form.

This is the first of three articles that will profile our winners.

Area / County Volunteer

Winner – Karen Wells

Karen is truly an unsung hero within Essex Hockey, both on and off the pitch. Her dedication, resilience and selfless commitment make a lasting difference, particularly to the young players she supports.

Club of the Year

Winner – Blueharts HC

Several years of deliberate and dedicated work at Blueharts have resulted in an inclusive, well-run, values-led club, which culminated this year in a phenomenal season of results and growth. This year the club fielded 15 adult sides on a Saturday, of which, eight teams were promoted. Five were crowned champions, including championships for their top three men’s teams (collectively only failing to win 6 games all season) and their Men’s 1s reaching the National League.

Lifetime Achievement

Winner – Norman Hart

Norman started with UEA Hockey in 1971 as a coach. Since then Norman has held a number of roles including, Club Captain (President), which he held from 1972-1987.  In 1987 Norman became Honorary President which he holds to this day. Norman has been involved with UEA for an incredibly 54 years and his other big hockey passion has been the development of Umpires across the East.

Nik Bentley, one of the Area Award judges and a Director of East Hockey commented: “It was wonderful to see so many people, teams and clubs nominated in this inaugural year of our regional awards. We plan on running them again next season and hope to have even more nominees.”