4 mins
“We’re just girls doing fairly well, aren’t we?”
Pinehurst Netball Club recently celebrated its 80th anniversary and one amazing woman has been there for all of it
War was already tearing through the country when Doreen Wilcox, then aged 11, first attended Pinehurst School in Swindon. It was the early 40s, resistance was in full cry, and staff numbers had been decimated. Doreen recalls that Pinehurst practically “had no teachers” beyond a lady taking PE and another doing geography. The boy she would later marry was also at Pinehurst at the time, digging for victory. “All they did was dig!” she recalls. It was a hardscrabble time. “And that,” she says now, on the eve of her 96th birthday, “was when I started netball.”
This summer, Pinehurst Netball Club has been celebrating its 80th anniversary, and Doreen has been present through every single year. Since co-founding the club in 1944 as a 15-year-old – alongside her lifelong friend Jean Neville, who sadly passed away last year – she has seen the club establish itself as a pillar of the local community.
BELOW: Pinehurst, a thriving club
A gifted organiser, she has, over the years, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity. In recognition of her commitment to the sport and her charity work – much of the money raised having come through netball events – she was presented with an MBE “by the old Queen” in 2009. She had also, in 2008, picked up the Torch Award, presented to her by Sir Bobby Charlton. As the daughter of a former Sheffield Wednesday footballer, Doreen particularly cherishes meeting the great man.
Doreen still attends Pinehurst games today, her devotion to the game undimmed, and this summer, she channelled her indefatigable spirit into organising an anniversary reception at a local hotel.
Along with the current club Chair, Laura Goodchild, and various other volunteers, the event attracted some 130 people, including the son of Bill Bryant, who had been instrumental in helping get the club off the ground all those years ago. Bill’s son joined Jean Neville’s daughter in representing two titanic figures in the history of the club.
“I tell you [from netball] there’s lots of friendships made. Real, real friendships. The girl that we lost three or four months ago, Joan, bless her, she was a great friend of mine. A great friend. Friendship is a wonderful thing with netball.”
“There were people there that I hadn’t seen for many, many years,” Doreen says. “I didn’t recognise a couple of them! If you haven’t seen them since they were about 30 and now they’re about 60 or 70, it makes a lot of difference!”
With a little assistance from her two daughters, Doreen got up on stage to present an award on the night, named in her honour. She decided that it should go to a senior member of the club who works in an intensive care unit, and who worked from 6am to midnight on Christmas Day so her colleagues could spend some time with their families. The selflessness that marks that story carries echoes for Doreen herself.
To commemorate the anniversary, England Netball brought two Future Roses players to visit Doreen and Laura. Over a cup of tea, Phoebe Maslen and Celena Appleby-Prince were able to sit down and enjoy the company of a netball legend who has seen it all.
Phoebe says: “Meeting Doreen and Laura was a really inspirational experience. The club has achieved so much to reach its 80th anniversary! Their passion and contribution to the netball community is incredible.”
Asked for her most cherished memories of a lifetime at Pinehurst, Doreen instinctively talks of the achievements of others. “Watching Jean [Neville, club co-founder] play for England. That was wonderful.”
Doreen and Jean both had trials for England but it was Jean who managed to break through to the national team. “It was just wonderful to see. Long time ago now.”
Laura is one of countless people to be inspired by Doreen to give back to the club. A Pinehurst player since primary school and a committee member since 18, Laura has taken on the mantle of Doreen’s work. The challenges remain the same: integrating new players, choosing and purchasing new kit, buying new netballs, booking and allocating training slots, keeping on top of the admin costs. “We genuinely have some kit and some bibs that must be 60 years old!” Laura says.
BELOW: Phoebe and Celena meet Doreen
Doreen remains closely involved, still living and breathing every aspect of club life. “At the present moment,” she adds, “we really haven’t got the coaches and we haven’t got the umpires either. We definitely need umpires. I think we’ve got just two or three at the most and it’s not enough.”
She remains as enthusiastic as ever about the positive benefits of netball. When Phoebe asks her for any tips for people who might want to branch out into netball for the first time, Doreen urges anyone to give it a crack.
“We always say to them, come at least two or three times before you decide what you want to do. If you’d like to stay with us, we’ll be more than happy. I think we’ve got two or three people now who’ve never done netball in their whole lives.
“Come and try it for two or three weeks! Come along for free and see how you get on. It’s all our babies. I still call them babies. And if they don’t like it, that’s fine!”
With the afternoon drawing to a close, Doreen Wilcox considers those she’s seen, met, befriended and in some cases lost. “I tell you [from netball] there’s lots of friendships made. Real, real friendships. The girl that we lost three or four months ago, Joan, bless her, she was a great friend of mine. A great friend. Friendship is a wonderful thing with netball.”
With a few more bonds made, the Future Roses get ready to leave Doreen to her afternoon, but not before they share a final hug and thank Doreen for letting them join her as she reminisced on her remarkable netball journey.