The highest ranked Club in Derbyshire, Belper Hockey Club, play in the National League Division 1 and attract large quantities of youngsters from all across the area to their junior setup. They run teams at most junior age groups, for both boys and girls, and regularly progress to the national finals. Due to the hard work of everyone at the Club, they first gained ClubsFirst in November 2004, one of only 6 Clubs to be accredited at that time.

Since then, their status has enabled them to grow further as they show to the community their commitment to providing a safe, effective and child friendly environment in which to develop hockey. The Club have recently signed a formal Club School Link agreement with Amber Valley SSP and can develop that link in so many ways as the Club goes from strength to strength. Chair of the Club, Joan Passant, explains the benefits they have found:

• Don't let the dust gather on your Clubmark folder. The impending expiry of our accreditation sharpened our minds and made us assess our Club's strengths and weaknesses. The benefits of having a well structured club that knows where it is going cannot be underestimated in today's sporting environment where we are all competing for members against numerous other sports and pastimes.
• ClubFirst's structured approach with its clear guidelines, along with the process of updating the file, benefits all club members, not just the juniors.
• The toil of ticking all the boxes in the ClubsFirst folder by updating and improving club policies and procedures and ‘gently persuading' members to attend courses is rewarded with many positive points which we believe make us a better club for everyone. Hopefully, this will ensure that we attract new members and keep the existing ones happy.
• ClubsFirst encompasses not only players but also umpires, coaches and the many members who contribute to the Club. Parents can see that you take the welfare of you members seriously. It may make the difference when they are choosing a club for their children.

We have been able to formalise the local links we have by forming a Club School Link with the local School Sports Partnership. We were able to provide the recent candidates for our junior leaders course with subsidised packs. Back in May a group of our juniors were one of 40 teams to enjoy a fun packed day at the U9's Beijing Festival. This formed part of the Yazoo National Youth Hockey Festival, the biggest youth hockey event in the country.

The introductio of the new style folder will ensure that we do not put it on one side, but use it to ensure our club continues to do things right, and develops and improves.