KSHC have been successful in an application to receive a grant of £1300 to go towards paying for a defibrillator, outdoor lockable and heated cabinet and associated accessories.

Following the introduction to RALPHH, by club member Ewan Hendry, KSHC will have the new defibrillator installed at the pitch ahead of the 2023/24 season, which anyone using the facility or locally, will have access to. The kit will be on the national register and its location registered, so if needed, it can be accessed by calling the Emergency Services.

Richard Allen, the founder of RALPHH, met with Matt Sharp recently for a site and pitch tour, and agreed to the location, the needs of the Charity and the extended grant amount of £1300, as KSHC are the first hockey club in the country to partner with the charity and he identified that with the huge growth potential of the Club, it was something that they just had to get involved in. RALPHH are also in talks with England Hockey now to extend the cover across the hockey community and we will be used as a case study for this, giving us more fantastic exposure and publicity, both locally and nationally.

Rob Allen (Richards son) was a National Schools Rowing Champion in 2003; he was involved in international competition and was a Henley Regatta participant before becoming a coach at Kingston Grammar School. Although no longer directly active in rowing, he was still physically active. However, on 10th August 2018, Rob died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition. In order to avoid other young people having the same catastrophic outcome, RALPHH was formed. The founding Trustees of RALPHH are those who knew Robert well and had considerable respect for his commitment to competitive sport.

The kit will be installed in August and there is planning underway for an unveiling ceremony, at which RALPHH trustees will be in attendance. This will likely happen at the Club Day on Saturday 2nd September.

More details on RALPHH and what they do can be found HERE.

A huge thank you to Ewan Hendry, for the introduction. A big thank you also to K Sports Cobdown who will get the relevant power supply and installation completed, ready for the start of our season.