About Wychwood Ladies Hockey Club
Where the club began
Having originally played as part of the Shamrocks team at Banbury Road North in Oxford, some of the club members branched off and created a team in the small Oxfordshire village of Shipton-Under-Wychwood in 1973. Training was held on the cricket green in the village as hockey was still played on grass at this time. Players soon realised that Shipton-Under-Wychwood was a very long title to shout during games so the name quickly became shortened to Wychwood.
Our Locations
In the early days fixtures were played on the AstroTurf pitch at Banbury Road North in Oxford. With the increase in AstroTurf pitches came the opportunity to move closer to Shipton. The development of a pitch at Carterton Community College in 1997 allowed the club to train for the first time since it's formation and also move their home games to the pitch. In 2006 the club was able to move to Wood Green School for training with the building of a new AstroTurf pitch there, they also developed a partnership with Cokethorpe School to hold all the home games.
Our League Structure
Initially the club didn’t play in a league so played friendlies against teams from Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire such as; Chipping Camden, Morton in the marsh, Blockley, Ilmington, Oxford and Witney many of whom they still play against today. After years of building in numbers and capacity the club joined the Trysports Three Counties League in 1998.
The 1st XI had a very successful first few seasons in the league and won Division 5 and Division 4 in successive years, with further success in 2004 with promotion from division 3. The success and progress continued in the following season culminating in promotion to Division 1 in 2005. The 1st XI enjoyed 7 years at this level before being relegated to Division 2 in 2013.
In 2007 the club had grown with the success of a Junior section and had enough players to field a team into the Girls Development League along with Banbury, Henley and Witney. They finished a close second to Banbury. Following this success, the decision was made to enter a 2nd XI into the League in 2009.
Building For The Future
The club has served the community since 1973 and still has some players and active members that have been playing since the club was formed. It is currently a very exciting time for the club as we continue to grow and re-develop adding a 2nd XI team who won promotion on their debut in the 2019/20 season . We continue to grow and look towards starting a junior section in the next 5 years.