Press release by Festival Historian & Archivist, Mike Carter. Contact: morewine22@gmail.com 07768 671272. Photo of action from TEHF 2025 ©Al Macphee/MiraclePR.
The Festival returns for its 74th running over the Easter weekend, from Friday 3rd through to Monday 6th April. With only three other Easter hockey festivals still in existence (a resurrected Blackpool, Skegness and Beanfields, Weston Super Mare), Torbay is the longest continually running Easter festival in the country.
With the astro pitches at Clennon Valley (Paignton) and Torquay Girls Grammar School being used, the current entry is ten, the same as 2025. Nine of the participating team date back to pre-Covid days, with eight each having attended over 60 festivals.
The Festival HQ will again be the Palace Hotel on Paignton seafront.
The Festival kicks off at 9.30am at Clennon Valley Leisure Centre, with the traditional flag ‘laying’ (not the raising, as the flag pole has long disappeared and not been replaced) on the surrounding fence! This is followed by the official Bully Off between the Festival President, Councillor Nicole Amil, and Chairman, James Carter.
On Saturday evening, the Festival hosts a Reception for Club Captains and Secretaries and all players who have attended the Festival for 25 years.
The teams fiercely compete for the Bill Stickells Cup for highest scoring team over the weekend, with the Midwives (41) winning in 2025 by a large margin over the Buffaloes (34), the 2024 winners. However, in the spirit of Festival Hockey, there is the Tony Forward Shield awarded for Fair Play to ensure the event is enjoyed by all. The 2025 winners were the Bluebottles from Bristol and the Oddfellows (pictured with the trophy).
Last year, the Festival mourned the deaths of two long-attending players, and as to be maybe expected with most of the teams having such a long record of being in Torbay for the hockey, we have again to report two further deaths: “Chief Esandar“ Colin Edwards, who had attended more than 60 Festivals, passed away in October, and Stuart Baggs died very suddenly in July at the age of 46. Stuart was the son of Joe Baggs, one of the founders of the Oddfellows Hockey Club, who died in 2008.
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