HISTORY OF BARTESTREE FC – Part 1 – 1959-66

Information gathered from three former players – Jim Gwillam, David Jordan and Ralph Tyler – interviewed April 2016.

LEAGUE STATUS

The club played in the fourth, and lowest, tier of the Herefordshire League. They achieved promotion in 1960-61, spending one season in the third tier before being relegated back down.

The club folded in 1966, just as the rest of England went football mad in the wake of the World Cup (and Westfields and Wellington were founded). The reason for folding is not clear, but according to Jim Gwillam ‘they all fell out’.

PLAYERS

Some of the players that represented Bartestree:

Maurice Herman, Dave Frost, Geoff Jones, Roy Pitt, John Walters, Ralph Tyler, Maurice Bayliss, Gerald Pitt, Jack Frost, David Jordan, Brian Carr, Jim Gwillam, Derek Jones, Tony Godby (GK), Bronco Lane, Dave Shannon.

The formation was typical of that used throughout England. Five forwards, three half-backs, two full backs and one goal keeper meant attacking football and plenty of goals – for example in September ’63 Bartestree shared 16 goals with Saunders Valve. This style of play came to an end with the success of Alf Ramsey’s ‘Wingless Wonders’.

Some of the players were members of the SAS, and used assumed names (Jack Frost, Bronco Lane) to prevent their regiment from finding out that they were taking part. According to David Jordan, their suntans from serving in Borneo were a dead give-away!

PITCHES

The club started off on a pitch behind the New Inn, accessible by a lane beside the old village hall. Players would meet in the New Inn, and change in the village hall. The pitch was on parkland owned by Wilcroft Hall, and although now a housing estate, the old oak that was once pitchside still remains.

The second venue was at the bottom end of Longworth Lane, past Longworth Hall on the right.

Weston Beggard was the third venue, and this pitch was just north of the old vicarage, just the Ledbury side of an old oak in the middle of a field. The players used to change in an old farm shed by the side of the pitch. The club’s final move was back to the pitch behind the New Inn.

There was no railing around the pitch, just goals, and lines marked with creosote. Fans would number up to 20 in Bartestree, but less than that at Longworth Lane or Weston Beggard. The exception to this was local derbies against Mordiford, when hundreds of spectators were present at matches behind the New Inn (according to John Probert).

CLUB INFORMATION

Dave Frost was the Player-Manager, and was a good player who went on to play for Bromyard Town. He ran the side, and would tell the other players what to do on the pitch. He lived in a redbrick house between Newtown and Burley Gate.

Dennis Richardson was the Secretary, and lived in the black and white cottage 'Hill Top' on the left just before the hill down into Lugwardine.

As well as the senior team, there was an Under 16 team, which David Jordan graduated from.

There was no club crest in those days, but the socks were black and white, the shorts were black, and the shirt was either black/white or red/white stripes (the former players were unsure, and in most cases had played for a number of teams all with different strips).

Dave Matthews
August 2016

BARTESTREE F.C.