AFTER a successful season on the pitch, City of York Hockey Club are stepping up their ambitious plans for a new £7 million base.

The club are looking for a site to house “top class” hockey facilities and the options are currently being narrowed down.

“We are still looking at potential sites, with one in particular starting to look very promising,” said Mark Moisley, City of York Hockey Club’s marketing manager and first XI player.

During the past season there has been success all across the board.

The men’s first team led the way, winning the North League division one championship with just two defeats all season.

“The mixture of experienced players, together with a number of additions coming through the club’s youth policy, enabled us to have the strength in depth we required and play a very attacking brand of hockey,” said Moisley.

There was also success for the second XI as they were promoted to the Yorkshire League premier division.

The ladies first XI narrowly missed out on promotion, after topping the North League division one for most of the season. Within City of York’s youth set-up, there has been great success.

Both the boys under-16s and the girls U16s were county champions.

Beth Worrall from the U16s girls was selected to represent her age group for England, while Callum Craig and Ellie Martin gained representative honours for their respective North U16s teams.

The veteran hockey teams at City of York also continued this trend of success.

Roz Ramli, Mike Couttie, Jules Bellerby, Paul Bolland, Neil Collinson, Tony Brimble, Phil Hamilton and Moisley all represented the North in their respective age groups and helped their sides to become national champions.

Roz Ramli was also instrumental in helping England over-50s to victory in the Home Nations tournament.

Moisley added: “This success on the pitch further reflects the continued effort and hard work off the field, which, following the club’s First Accreditation received from the England Hockey Board, culminated in international honours with the European Hockey Federation Merit Award awarded to the club.

“This recognised the progress the club have made with their development work, particularly involving young people.”

For more information on the club, log on to www.cityofyorkhc.co.uk