Following successful school sports trips to KHC Strawberries in Velsen, Holland a touring team was set up in 1979 named The Vikings.The founders of the team were Chris Wren and Pete Mackarell and subsequent tours were led by the honourable Peter Wagstaff, ably assisted by Alan Dalley.

Vikings were originally made up of youngsters from Formby and the Lancashire U19 County squad. The first tour went back to Strawberries where many friends were made and Michael Thorpe went on to play. The name was chosen, on a relaxed Tuesday evening ( Doubles nights!) in the clubhouse, to reflect Formby's ancient roots as a Viking village and to propound an intention to maraud, consume and return with the spoils.

The roll call for the team expanded in the subsequent 20 years. It was here that Olympic Gold Medalist, Martyn Grimley had his first taste of foreign competition, mentored by the wordly Chris (Muttley) Walker from Timperley. It was also here that Gary (Not now Maxi!) Maxwell combined the sports of hogging the ball with retrieving it from the end of a canal, like some form of mutant Labrador.

Entering a team every year at the Formby International Easter Hockey Festival was a good way for everyone to keep in touch when they all went off to college or to further their careers. The added benefit was that some excellent playing talent was recruited from Preston, Warrington, Bournville, Winchester, St Georges, Harrogate, Gerard's Cross, Blackheath, Hounslow, Cannock, Firebrands and Adel to name only some, It helped to widen the network for Formby Hockey Club itself and produced a number of recruits for them when players moved to Merseyside to study or work.

Apart from one near fatal ( for Philip Robinson- but which trip wasn't?!) visit to Hanover, the Netherlends remained the destination of choice and on the tenth anniversary a round robin of clubs previously played against was organised lasting a whole week and about half a liver. This took in Strawberries of course, Bloemandaal, Eechtrop ( Beverwijk) in the North and Oranje Zwart ( Eindhoven) and Sint Oedenrode in the South of Holland. The team later went to a place rejoicing the the name of Hellevoetsluis ( the sluice at Hells Foot !!!!) and Breda.

At the peak, 2 teams went on the raids and turned North Sea Ferries into their own longship with parties of 32 or more. The spirit was always to combine fun with good hockey. This healthy mixture, more often than not, navigated the team into the tournament or festival finals, only for the chemical and biological clock to finally click round to ensure a respectable runners up spot. At this point, Capt Waggers would trot out his usual speech in Dutch which the team thought was " We was robbed" but was actually " Mine's another beer with Jenever chaser and the rest will have lemonade!".

Among the countless character performances over the years, the sad loss to cancer of Tony "Wishus" O'Neill, Dicky Mercer and Mick (Blondie) Aldam, only made Vikings members feel blessed to have known and played alongside people with such a positive outlook and a true sense of how to enjoy and make the most of any situation.

Whilst the longship may have burned out several years ago, there is always the suggestion that a sufficiently mobile squad should be taken out of the museums where they currently live and threaten the Easter or Whitsuntide calender once again, with more fun and frolics. Anyone mad enough to try is welcome to take over the captaincy, provided they have 360 degree vision, require no sleep at all and can exhibit diplomacy to the standards of Henry Kissinger. In the meantime, stories can be embellished about the 5 or 6 tournaments they actually did manage to win.

At this point the author was ordered to return to the ironing board!