Girls' South Africa Hockey Tour

With charity work, 12 hockey matches and a packed tourist itinerary, the group were excited for their trip. Upon landing in Cape Town the group were treated immediately to a tour to the top of Table Mountain before making their way to Stellenbosch for the evening.

The hockey played was outstanding and both the U16 and 1st team produced the same results over their respective six matches. Both teams lost three, drew one and won two matches each. For the 1st XI, Niamh P, Miranda M, Gigi C and Libby G were outstanding. For the U16 team, the Olivia B, Tt B, Martha M, Jasmine S and Hebe W were regular performers. However, the entire group developed in their matches, especially as all the schools played were coming to the end of their hockey season. The tourist highlights included a cheetah sanctuary, a safari in a luxury game lodge, a Knysna Lagoon boat cruise and the trip up Table Mountain.

The highlight of this tour and a major purpose for it was not just the hockey. This group of 33 girls raised almost £10,000 in aid of charity. The group visited the Pebbles Project, where funds raised are being used to build a new creche in the Cape wine farm area. The girls also played with orphaned children in an already established creche and helped volunteers pack over 250 school bags (a job that usually takes two weeks, took a couple of hours). The second outreach project was in Langa Township, but the biggest impact was in the Oakhill School Community Project where remaining funds have been put to funding an annual cricket festival in the local township. In addtion, an identified player will then be given a 100% scholarship to attend Oakhill (a school like Bryanston). Within this community, the girls also donated footballs and wish-listed items to children who have been outcast from society and have nowhere to go but the youth centre we supported. The work done by these remarkable 33 Bryanston girls will change thousands of lives for years to come! 

We are so proud of every single girl! They represented the school impeccably and their efforts on and off the field cannot be faulted.