Maidenhead hockey coach and chairman remembered as 'larger than life' mentor

A ‘larger-than-life’ Maidenhead sportsman has been remembered for his decades of voluntary support for young hockey and cricket players around the area.

Colin Raine, former president of Maidenhead and Bray Sports Club and Honorary Vice President of Maidenhead Hockey Club, died from cancer in December 2024 at 79.

The miner’s son from County Durham, born in November 1945, had played for Spennymoor Cricket Club and captained his secondary school’s cricket and hockey teams.

His father Thomas, a part-time football scout for Wolverhampton Wanderers, took him to Ashington in 1952 to visit the parents of a young Bobby Charlton with whom seven-year-old Colin played toy cars in the living room while the adults discussed business.

Colin was on the books of one of the most successful amateur sides Bishop Auckland Football Club in 1964, but an injury cut his footballing ambitions short.

But 1968 was Colin’s ‘landmark’ year. He graduated with a Joint Honours Degree in Mathematics and the Mathematics of Astronomy from Newcastle University, married Evelyn Cook, and bought their first home in Darlington.

Colin enjoyed a varied career as a chartered mathematician and engineer, with a spell working with NASA in Houston during their 1980s shuttle program and 25 years at the US tech firm IBM. He also trained as an operatic tenor.

His son Jonathan spoke of Colin’s ‘remarkable’ talent for numbers, adding: “I remember him once creating a mathematical formula to solve the Rubik’s cube. It spanned pages, full of x’s to the power of this and y’s to the power of that.”

Colin acquired 32 letters after his name, including his BSc honours degree, a fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (FIMA) and a member of the British Computer Society (MBCS).

“He was certainly a larger-than-life character,” Jonathan told the Advertiser.

“He was a combination of someone who was quite strong-willed but equally ahead of his time in terms of warmth and compassion.

“He was very much a family man and family was the most important to him.”

Colin played for Tamworth Hockey Club after moving to the midlands in 1976 and Cardiff Hockey Club after relocating to South Wales in 1977, before joining Chepstow Hockey Club in 1978.

He qualified as a Hockey Association coach and coached a group of under-10 footballers every weekend in the Football Association Coca-Cola Soccer Skills programme.

When he first came to Maidenhead in 1981, Colin joined Maidenhead Hockey Club and coached the Ladies' first eleven team.

“Not only did he become our coach, we did need the discipline, he turned us into a 'proper' first eleven Ladies team,” said one of his former players Angela Bowler.

“That was his first foray into Maidenhead hockey and after that, he went into looking after the junior section – with about 30 people in the books – and when he hung up his sticks, there were nearly 300 juniors on the books,” said Jonathan.

“He was quite prominent in helping guide their early careers and helping them get through to that regional selection.”

The junior game became his focus, coaching Berkshire’s junior county teams, and the national under-18 team while leading several under-18 tours to the Krimpen Hockey Club in the Netherlands.

He was an English Hockey Association advanced coach, coach tutor and assessor on retiring, with many of his players achieving international honours in the England and Great Britain teams.

Fellow Maidenhead Hockey Club coach Simon Miall told the Advertiser: “Colin was a man of conviction, passionate about hockey and the Club in equal measure.

“He was very intelligent and knowledgeable with a strong mathematical background, a feature that became frustrating for the Merlins [men’s veteran fifth side].”

Jonathan said his father was ‘completely’ an inspiration, adding: “His memorial service was in Dorset, and it was quite staggering that the junior players that he coached at under-18 level came down to visit and pay their respects.”

Colin gave players ‘confidence’ and ‘helped them on and off the hockey pitch’ and the theme of him being viewed as a mentor or guide has ‘run through everything’, added Jonathan.

“The thing that’s been a surprise to both my mother and me has been the messages that have come from people all over the place – professionally, we’ve got people saying he was a wonderful mentor… and then you’ve got the same story throughout the sporting career.

“I think he would be most proud for being remembered for being there, listening and helping guide and mentor people.”

Director of Maidenhead Hockey Club Helen Todd said: “Our heartfelt condolences go to Colin’s wife and family. Colin was a club man through and through and gave so much to the Colts and Adults Sections. He will be greatly missed.”

During the 1980s, Colin supported the charity Scope and its annual Windsor Great Park Half-Marathon, managing the runner database and delivering race commentary alongside Ron Pickering.

Colin became Honorary Vice President of Maidenhead Hockey Club and served as President of Maidenhead and Bray Sports Club from 2003 to 2010 bringing together his two passions – hockey and cricket.

Jonathan said Colin knew former president, Sir Michael Parkinson through the club, adding: “My father was from the northeast, Michael Parkinson was from Yorkshire, so there was a good bit of banter between them.

“Michael was particularly passionate about the cricket side of things and they both had quite a lot of shared passion about the future success of the club overall.”

During retirement, Colin began supporting young entrepreneurs as a volunteer Business Mentor for The Prince’s Trust.

“I don’t know how he did it all now that I’m older,” said Jonathan about his father’s busy life.

But Colin's sporting legacy continued with Jonathan and his sister, Alison both playing for Maidenhead Hockey Club and his grandsons becoming a golf professional and a tennis coach.

"Sports carried on right through," added Jonathan.