Dereham Hockey Club have gone Australia, taking an U18 boys and U18 girls team to participate in the International Hockeyfest at the Olympic Stadium. They are to play teams from Holland, Australia, Canada and Japan over a five-day period.

Dereham Hockey Club have gone Australia, taking an U18 boys and U18 girls team to participate in the International Hockeyfest at the Olympic Stadium. They are to play teams from Holland, Australia, Canada and Japan over a five-day period.

The teams will have the opportunity to do some sight seeing in Sydney including visiting the Opera House, Bondi Beach, Rocks Market and climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The teams will then head north to Cairns for a further week where they will snorkel off the Great Barrier Reef, visit a crocodile farm, spend a day on Green Island as well white water rafting down the Tully river. The teams will also travel into the outback to play a local side on grass.

Such an experience has been made possible by the generosity of a large number of local sponsors including Ben Burgess & Co, Bennetts Retail Ltd, Barclays Bank Plc, The Duke of Wellington PH, Birds of Dereham, Hunters Hall and Tufts of Bradenham.

The teams raised further funds by washing cars, through raffles, bag packing in a local supermarket, a bingo night, pirate party and running car boot sales. The total raised is in excess of £12,500.

At the team's final training session, the sponsors were invited to watch the teams play and see the new kit, which has been paid for by the sponsors.