Westcott Pitch Opening

Friday April 16th saw the official opening of the new artificial-surface Westcott Pitch – the first of the Cranleigh Foundation’s capital development projects. To mark the occasion, a host of sporting celebrities – including 10 hockey Olympians and six national players – converged on Cranleigh to take on the School’s finest, past and present (having taken the time to give some of the Prep School’s budding young players a few top tips first). An enthusiastic crowd watched as the OC/Cranleighan side, boasting four of their own internationals, won an exciting encounter 6-1, with spectacular goals from Mark Pearn and Cranleigh pupil Tom Batchelor (recently selected for the England U16 squad), who was playing against his gold medal-winning father, Steve Batchelor, Deputy Housemaster of Loveday. The ‘Invitation’ side, including four of the 1988 Olympic gold medal team, responded with a well-taken strike from current G.B international, Richard Mantell.

The pitch is named after David Westcott, a former pupil at both Cranleigh Prep and the Senior School and a current Governor, who captained Great Britain in the 1984 Los Angeles Games, guiding the team to the Bronze Medal. Five years earlier, he also captained Oxford in a record win against Cambridge, scoring a hat trick at Lord’s during the era when the game was played on a rather different surface from today’s Westcott Pitch.

As Michael Wilson, Head of Cranleigh Prep, remarked: “Today is a very important day for the School, and it seems only fitting, bearing in mind the long-standing associations we have with the sport – including having produced several high-profile players over the years – that this new pitch be opened by such an illustrious line-up of figures from the world of international hockey.”