With lots of exciting developments over the past few years and more to come in 2024, the committee has been developing ideas to update the branding of the club. Prior to our end of season Awards Dinner - the final selection for a new crest and kit for the 2024 season were put to a poll for club members to choose the winning design.
On the day of our 2024 AGM, we can now announce the winning designs and our plans to kit-out the club, ready for the new season.
The Crest
The Kits
Pre-Order
Pre orders will open shortly to secure your new kit for the start of the season. Thanks to support from sponsors our Danco, Bryant Associates, and T.A Bayliss we are able to offer the first delivery of kits at a huge discount for our members. The standard price of the individual items of kit is expected to total approximately £56, but on pre-order all our members will be able to take advantage of a price of £21 for a shirt, shorts/skort and socks!
Stand-by for more information on Spond in June.
The Design
In 2008 North Bristol and West Gloucestershire hockey clubs merged to form Bristol & West Hockey Club. The committee settled on our iconic orange, and the rest is history! So much has changed in those 16 years.
1893
Our new crest design reflects where we are in the present, but pays respect to our origins. Consultation with “The Hockey Museum” has unearthed reference to West Gloucestershire HC back to the 19th century. Records show that in the 1894 season, West Gloucestershire “carried all before them” winning 15 of the 17 games that season!
The Winged Lion
Our existing emblem was carried from West Gloucestershire. Visually ambiguous, some argue its beak-like nose point towards a gryphon, while others see the form of a lion. While the history books speak of our triumphs, they are less occupied with our branding!
Searching through Gloucestershire heraldry for references of lions and gryphons might offer a clue. The Gloucestershire coat of arms which carries a “rampant lion” bearing a “mural crown” and arm aloft (perhaps reaching for a hockey stick?!).
Our primary goal was to merge the identities of the Bristol & West logo with Jaspers’ wasp. We settled on the winged lion as a majestic creature, evoking a synergy between our parallel pasts and representing the qualities we strive for together in the future. We are loyal, proud, fearless but fierce.
Born in Bristol
Until proven otherwise, we might reasonably claim to be “Bristol’s Oldest Club”! We may have been born in West Gloucestershire, but we are bred in Bristol. From our early days playing on the Clifton Downs, we’ve called many places around Bristol our home. Bristol is in our DNA and our members span the city and beyond.
Our brief for developing a new kit was to choose a design which was simple and classic, to lend itself to longevity, but weave within it a pattern which felt uniquely Bristolian.
Inspired by Bristol’s iconic street art and traced from the geography of its cityscape, a custom geometric print will be applied to the flanks of our new home and away shirts.
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