Who is Who at Denbigh Town F.C.

Photo by Roy Gunther

An extra 'Who is Who' this week to report on the presentation by Clwyd Williams President of DTFC :-

Today was a special day for the Denbigh Town Committee who had the chance to make it a special day for Glyn and Nansi, the club's most loyal supporters.

The couple were taken by surprise when our President, Clwyd Williams approached them at half time during today's Denbigh v Caersws and presented them with an engraved trophy and a bouquet of flowers to thank them for their support over many, many years and to celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary which will be in five days time. The engraving read -
" To our most loyal supporters Glyn and Nansi Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary from all at Denbigh Town FC"

The couple live in Denbigh and have three grown up children, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren with another on the way

Glyn aged 84yrs and Nansi 21 yrs have supported Denbigh Town since they were very young and even now will travel to places such as Porthmadog or Holyhead to watch games when they can. If they cannot get to a first team game for whatever reason they will be on the sidelines or in the stand watching the Reserves. They will help the club in any way they can and every Summer Glyn can be found painting the white posts around the pitch in readiness for the season ahead.

Nansi has done care work / child care work before retiring whilst Glyn was with the Ambulance Service for 30 years. When he first started work there was very little cover in this area, particularly on nights, and he worked as a St John's volunteer alongside the few full time staff. He worked many hours as a volunteer, maybe a bit more than he wanted,as he was the only volunteer that could drive. He eventually became a full time ambulance man and after 13 years he was promoted to Area Station Officer in charge of Denbigh, Ruthin, Corwen and Cerrigyrdudion and performed this role for another 17 years before finishing on a pension.

Glyn explained that he first watched a game of football aged 15yrs in the late 1940s. He was cycling to his lodgings from Denbigh to Llandyrnog when he saw a large crowd and heard a lot of noise coming from the Mytton Park / Trewen area and went to have a look. It was Denbigh Town playing Newmarket in a Dyserth Area cup match. He watched the game and was hooked !. He said " Those early days were different than now. There were huge crowds and always a coach going to away matches, sometimes two " Glyn would make sure he never missed a game " I would go up to Edwards shop where there was a notice asking for names of people who wanted a seat to an away match. I would have my name down as soon as the notice was up. Great times "

He remembers when Denbigh moved their ground to Ystrad Road area and then to the pitch known locally call The Rec. which was overlooked by the railway line then. " On match day you would see people swarming down streets such as Park Street to see a game. Literally hundreds of people, many hundreds sometimes, because locals would not go to watch games such as Liverpool or Man Utd then "

When he was older Glyn was on the Committee for about six years and in those days the committee picked the team " We would spend ages arguing over every position. Popsey was playing for Denbigh and he was only a young lad. Popsey's father was on the committee and god help anyone who suggested that Popsey had had a poor game the week before ! Mind you he was a good player."

The team did not have a manager in the early days and was ran, almost entirely in every respect, by the committee. Glyn remembers all the different personalities at the club and said that the best manager the club had seen, in his opinion, was John Trefor Roberts from Bodfari, who ran the team when players such as Robin Argent and Campbell Roberts played in the 1970s. He added that he was a man with character and had the respect of everyone at the club and beyond.

Glyn said " Thank you for the presentation today it was totally unexpected. Nansi and myself loved it. Denbigh winning made it perfect of course"

Thank you Glyn and Nansi.

See you at the next match

Updated 08:25 - 1 Sep 2019 by Stephen Whitfield