New £1m Hockey Pitch Handover to Coleraine Grammar School
A little under twelve months ago, as part of a new and exciting development for Coleraine Grammar, the first soil underneath the new hockey pitch was broken. This coincided with a £12.5m new building project comprising extensions and refurbishment projects that were already in full swing, enabling the school to finally become a one–site campus at Castlerock Road. Now nearly ten months later, we celebrate the fact that Coleraine Grammar School has successfully ensured that all 1,050 pupil’s are located at Castlerock Road and making the most of the new and enhanced facilities. These include the new Music Department, the new Home Economics/Nutrition and Health Department and an extension to the Technology and Art Departments. The pupils will also benefit from a new Media Suite, Sixth Form Study Room, Sixth Form Common Room and Fitness Suite and changing rooms.
Today, on Wednesday 4th June 2025, we marked the official handover of a state-of-the-art international standard hockey pitch, an extremely exciting and proud day for the entire school community.
Ivan McConnell (Quantec UK, Quantity Surveyor’s on behalf of Haffey Contractors), who helped deliver this project stated “As a company that manages projects across the UK, Ireland, and the rest of Europe, it has been a pleasure to be involved in the delivery of the hockey pitch at Coleraine Grammar School. The final product is world class and will enhance the player and coaching experience for generations of pupils to come”.
Willie Oliver, Chair of the Board of Governors of Coleraine Grammar School noted “As a school Board we strive to have the very best services, support and facilities for all our pupils and staff. We have really made significant progress recently and seeing the excitement on the young girls’ faces as they play hockey on our new pitch today, signals to me that this will be a wonderful facility for the school into the future”.
Richard Beggs, Head of Sport, Coleraine Grammar School, mentioned that “Huge effort has gone into this project right from the very start, by members of the Board, Staff and our volunteers from the Hockey Society, all with the vision of delivering this beautiful pitch that we see here today. I want to thank all those involved and can assure that the sports staff are extremely excited about how this will advance hockey in the school. As we look to the future with all the training, strength and conditioning and matches that can now take place on the school grounds, these are exciting times for us”.
Coleraine Grammar School would like to thank the Coleraine Academical Institution Trust, who have proved significant funding towards this project, those who have made personal donations and everyone who has contributed to various fundraising initiatives along the way. Coleraine Grammar School also wants to thank Coleraine Hockey Club, who have hosted and supported our hockey teams over the years, and we are very much appreciative of our special relationship that is now in place.
The next stage of development of the Hockey Pitch will be flood lighting, which is already in planning. Fundraising is ongoing for this project and over the weekend of the 13th/14th June, the school is organising fun runs, a tractor run, a car boot sale, BBQ, music, a colour run and other family friendly events which are open to everyone. Please feel free to visit us on Facebook or on our website for more information about these upcoming events plus how to make donations towards the Hockey Pitch Sports Development Appeal Fund on www.colerainegrammar.com/news/fundraising-update .
In addition to this the ‘Official Opening’ of the new Hockey Pitch, in partnership with the Coleraine Grammar Hockey Society, is scheduled to take place on Friday 20th June. The celebration will begin at 6pm with an Opening Ceremony and we will mark the occasion by sealing a time capsule capturing memories of hockey as it is today. This will be followed at 7pm where Current Girls will compete with Old Girls in what we anticipate will be a nail-biting hockey match where attendees will be able to enjoy BBQ and refreshments while cheering their team on.
