THM's Curatorial Assistant Holly Parsons.

Holly Parsons completes the Museum’s curatorial team. She joined as Curatorial Assistant in February.

Since leaving the University of Portsmouth in 2011 she has been volunteering at museums in London and the South, including the Old Police Cells under Brighton Town Hall, Marlipins Museum in Shoreham-by-Sea, the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, the World Rugby Museum in Twickenham Stadium and at Culture24.

For the past two years she has worked in Visitor Services at the Royal Pavilion and Museums in Brighton where she has worked in the Youth Group, in the booking office, represented the organisation at the Museums Association Conference and planned a conference on the Workforce Development programme.

In the rare time when she is not working or visiting museums she enjoys swimming, reading or completing craft projects.

Christabel Russell Vick comes from a committed hockey family.

She is a Vice President of Sevenoaks HC following in the footsteps of both her parents. She has played for the club for over 25 years and scored 300 plus goals, as well as a spell as a junior coach.

Her mother Mary was President of the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) and Chairman of Great Britain Women’s Hockey.

Christabel admits tennis was her stronger sport at which she played for and captained Kent until a back injury put paid to further active sport.

Using her statistical and IT skills she worked for Transport Studies Group at UCL, Henley Centre for Forecasting, NOP Market Research, Association of Commonwealth Universities and latterly as a Workforce Information Analyst in the NHS for 17 years.

Her activity with the Museum will involve collections documentation as well as editing the ‘Wembley Story’ using the detailed research done by Nan Williams and adding valuable information from her mother’s archives.

John Hurst has had a distinguished hockey career, on and off the pitch.

A goalkeeper, he represented England, indoors and out, and Great Britain between 1977 and 1988 and captained England on several occasions between 1979 and 1981.

He was in the GB squad leading up to the Seoul Olympics and ended his career as non-travelling reserve for the gold medallists, before taking up a position of consultant goalkeeping coach which he held until 2017.

In this time John has been a member of the management teams for GB and England squads, men and women, at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games as well as World and European Cups and Champions Trophies as goalkeeper coach and videographer.

He regards England men’s gold medal at the 2009 European Cup, GB men’s and women’s achievements at London 2012 and the women’s Olympic triumph in Rio as the highlights of his coaching career.

John is now gradually retiring from coaching activity and, in his role as THM volunteer, he will concentrate on the history and development of protective equipment in hockey.

Philippa Hurst is an Honorary Life Member of St Albans HC and, with husband John, recently retired from the Hockey Centre which they co-owned for many years. She joined Abbeyside Ladies, which later became St Albans Ladies Section, in 1975.

Starting colts’ hockey with the club around 1990, she eventually took them to the national semi-finals of the U15 girls club competition. She then became involved with East hockey, launching the U14s and then the U13s. The highlight of the year was the three or four day annual residential East camps at which she was either Manager or Welfare Officer. She later became manager for the U15s for three years, retiring from the role in 2012.

Philippa was a member of the East group involved in the development of England Hockey’s Single System.

Philippa began her career in teaching, having graduated from Birmingham University with a History degree. She and John met in their first teaching roles at Durrants School, Croxley Green. They have two daughters, Stephanie, who plays at St Albans, and Jen, whose daughters Emily and Chloe also play for the club.

She is a prominent member of the local historical society and co-wrote a book, published in 2016, entitled St Albans: Life on the Home Front 1914-1918.

Her activity for The Hockey Museum will be researching Hockey’s Military Stories.