Volleyball trophy, 1981

This very distinctive wooden trophy of a dice mounted on a plinth, was won at the Hajraa Tournament in Holland.  The Hajraa tournament is an outdoor volleyball tournament played on grass, which was first held in 1979.  It has since become one of the largest outdoor volleyball tournaments in Europe, with 400 teams of different nationalities playing on more than 100 grounds.The tournament covers all abilities from recreational to premier league and is for men, women and mixed teams.  

This award is from 1981, when the tournament was about 80 teams and it is for 2nd place in women's 3rd class section.  In the same year, the Bedford Physical Education ladies' Volleyball team also won the Midlands Colleges Tournament and came second in the Ladies National League Division II. 

This trophy forms part of a collection of sporting trophies in the Bedford Physical Education archive and can be found in the archive at HRef 6/5/11. The trophies form an insight into the variety of sports played at the Bedford Physical Training College, with distinctions won in synchronized swimming, volleyball, hockey, water sports and cricket.

Trophy from the Hajraa Tournament - 2nd place in women's 

1915-1916 Lacrosse Team

This is a photograph of the Bedford Physical Training College 1^st XII lacrosse team from 1915-1916, some of whom were selected to play as part of a combined team with Ӧsterberg Physical Training College in a charity match on 15 April 1916 at the Richmond Athletic Ground, London in support of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service.  Their opponents were an international team of players from England, Scotland and Wales.  The Bedford and Ӧsterberg team lost 16-6 but all six of their goals were scored by Bedford students.

Bedford Physical Training College produced an astonishing number of individuals who competed at the international level.  From the 1920s through to the 1990s a total of 267 former Bedford students were awarded international honours of which 137 were for lacrosse.  It is thought Helen Simpson from Set X (1912-1914) was the first Bedford student to play lacrosse for an international team, representing England in 1922.

The photograph is taken from a photograph album created by students who attended Bedford Physical Training College from 1914-1916 (Set XII) and was presented to the Principal, Margaret Stansfeld as a memento of their life at the College.  The creation of such albums was popular amongst individual Sets (year groups) of students and the archive contains 100 albums dating from 1903 to the 1960s, providing a rich source of social history.

1st XII Lacrosse Team 1915-16
Ref. BPEA PH 1/8