Many of you will have known Becky Hewes, daughter of long-time club member Adrian (Bubbles). She was a member of AHC for many years, starting in our junior section as soon as she could swing a stick. Devastatingly, Becky passed away suddenly on 19 May.
Some of her close friends at AHC, past and present, have written tributes to Becky which truly paint a picture of a very special person. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her.
Personal Tributes
How do you sum up 20 plus years of friendship in just a few words? Well, it’s pretty impossible let me tell you! As a child I was always the loud, outgoing and accident prone one (yes still very true) but you need a friend who is the complete opposite to balance you out and for me that was Becky.
Kind is the word that has been most used to describe her and this couldn’t be truer. Even from a young age when we were smashing sticks together, we always seemed to equal each other out and she would generally be the one calming me down! When playing as juniors we had a rule that we would only listen to each other’s parent rather than our own as it meant there were minimal arguments. It generally worked out well – we think!
There are many stories I could tell about various socials we attended and especially if it involved red wine! You could always guarantee to find Becky in the bar after a game with one of two drinks: Malibu & Coke or an orange and passionfruit J20; depending on whether we’d won or lost!
Although she is no longer here, I hope that we can all take a little bit of Becky with us, either onto the pitch or in day-to-day life. She lived life to the full and we should do the same. The AHC family will always be missing a part. I will love you forever x
Kirsty Hull
You’d call me Abiyail and I’d call you Rebecky. Introduced from Primary school to AHC, it later became another home with an extended family. Weekends for the foreseeable with the Colts, U18s whilst carving out our own paths. A spray of your fav and makeup on, your happiness and others, the most important to you. There was an instant confidence knowing you were on the pitch, in the room, a message or call away. Becky, the reason I still play hockey today, a diamond, like another sister, a special place in my heart.
Abi Hack
Becky was a treasured friend who included everyone no matter what. She always had a glowing presence on and off the pitch, even if it was down to her hair colour! She always knew how to keep things real and cheer up anyone’s mood, and for that she is sorely missed. There really isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not reminded of her, even outside of hockey.
Millie Hack
I met Becky when she moved in next door. She was my inspiration for playing hockey at Ashford and I will always be grateful for that. We had great fun playing in the colts and developing together. She was a bubbly, happy and fun person and I will always remember her.
Thank you. Becky. Rest in Peace.
Anna Prothero
Our Becky,
You are one in a million, your smile infectious and laugh contagious. From the age of 7 when I first joined AHC you were there every Sunday, at first quiet and shy but soon you showed me what everyone else knew; your happy smiley face welcomed me every week. Our friendship grew as we grew up becoming mischievous teenagers, parties for the under 16 and 18s girls’ hockey team became traditions. Everyone I speak to has a story or a memory or two from the house gatherings we had.
We left school attended the same college but in different classes. We grew into young women who stayed friends even after departing AHC. We enjoyed BBQs, fancy dress parties and shared many new life events together: my hen party, Ashleigh’s and my weddings, you and Mark buying your first house together in the countryside, turning 21, meeting your beautiful boy Harley, cocktail nights out.
You always wrote such thoughtful kind messages in all my birthday and Christmas cards I knew you meant every word. You lived life to the full and you have inspired me to be more like you!
You have been taken from those who love you dearly. You will continue to be with me always. Your kindness will live on in all of us.
Bryony Swadling (née Smith)
My introduction to Becky was in a lot of ways prophetic of our future friendship. At a house party for my sister Bryony’s birthday – laughing, alcohol flowing. I wasn’t yet a hockey player but Bryony and Becky formed a lifelong bond playing together for AHC and Middlesex with a unique energy and – dare I say it? – good-natured aggression …
It was my sister’s hockey friends that I naturally gravitated to when I started playing hockey a few years later – the house party gang – and they formed the core of my AHC friendship group, Becky chief among them.
I grew to have a close friendship with Becky and also with her father Bubbles and her grandmother Audrey; AHC stalwarts through and through and all with a similar warmth and inner strength.
Always quick to laugh and fool around, Becky was an infectious, joyful personality.
She was also fiercely determined in pursuit of her own happiness and I respected her for that.
Above all, she embodied kindness and spread this simple, powerful value effortlessly amongst all who crossed her path.
When I was running the club bar and kicking my heels during the day, Becky would come over to the flat on her lunch breaks from work and hang out. I think I’ll cherish these little memories the most, perhaps more so than the many drinking games nights, the bar crawls or the whole day our group of friends would spend getting ready for annual dinner together – though these memories are special too, of course.
Maybe it was because in those little moments I really knew Becky at her most thoughtful and open.
I will miss you, Becky. You shone brightly for too short a time.
Shane Smith
