A brief history of the club by Ithel Gilbert-Davies

The Club was formed in September 1926 with the late Herbert Carr (County Architect) and the late John Jones (Postmaster) being the leading lights at the time. On the outbreak of the War the club was disbanded, but in 1945 it was reformed with the help of the late Inspector John George, Neville Lambert and George Halliday. However, petrol rationing made travelling so difficult and playing ceased.

In 1951 the Club was again reformed and playing prospered until the Season 1956/7 when shortage of playing members forced the commencement of another period of hibernation.

A public meeting in July, 1967, in the Royal Oak, Welshpool, chaired by the late Neville Lambert, saw the playing of the game return to Welshpool. The Club was quickly re-established, using the White Lion as its headquarters.

In 1970 the Club leased the former Powys Tennis Pavilion at the Victoria Bowling Club where, with volunteer help from Club members, the changing rooms were built three years later.

With the increased playing membership of the Club fresh premises were urgently required in 1980 and the Club entered into partnership with the Welshpool Cricket Club to erect the new Pavilion, Clubhouse and Changing Rooms on the Maesydre Recreation Grounds.

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Timeline - Season 1967/68

NEVILLE'S DREAM..

When Neville Lambert discussed with John Simpson the feasibility of reforming the Welshpool Rugby Club after a lapse of a decade, he could surely not have foreseen the drama that this first season would bring.

It was reported in the March 25th, 1967 edition of the County Times that a strong bid was being made in Welshpool to revive the disbanded Welshpool Rugby Club. Neville Lambert stated that he was confident that many local lads would play. "If all goes well, we should see a rugger team in the town again next year".

A public meeting was called which was to be held at the Royal Oak Hotel on Friday, April 14th, 1967. Anyone who was interested in playing rugby for Welshpool were invited to attend. This meeting brought an excellent response with at least thirty gentlemen expressing a wish to play. With such a good attendance it was decided to elect a temporary committee until a further meeting could be aranged to officially elect officers.

Neville Lambert was voted on to the Committee as Chairman, John Simpson was to be Secretary with Gordon Davies of Barclays Bank, as Treasurer. John Bradshaw volunteered to be Fixture Secretary, as did Roger Watson Smyth to be Match Secretary. Committee members elected were: John Higley, Ithel Gilbert Davies, A. J. Phillips, Graham Biggs, Ivor Morgan, Roger Lovegrove and Derek Humphreys.

Training was to start in June under the supervision of Derek Humphreys, the PE teacher at Welshpool High School.

The newly-formed club approached the Earl of Powis for permission to use Feggy Leasowe (the County Showground) as their pitch, which he duly granted. When the club were seeking permission for the pitch, an invitation was extended to the Earl of Powis to become President of the Club, which he accepted.

The next report in the local newspaper, April 22nd, 1967, stated that so far, "Welshpool Rugby Club has arranged ten fixtures and that application had been made for use of the gymnasium at the local school for training purposes". Within a matter of a few weeks more, the fixture list had doubled to twenty fixtures, and it seemed that the club was taking off in a big way.

Some of the fixtures that had been arranged were against: Builth Wells, Bridgnorth, Aberystwyth, Dolgellau, Tenbury Wells, Shrewsbury, Rolls Royce, Birmingham Police, Old Luctonians, Whitchurch, Ludlow, Kidderminster, Harper Adams (Newport), Wellington and Pontarddulais. A further fixture had been arranged for a Wednesday evening against Shrewsbury, and it was hoped that a Coventry side would play in the opening match of the season.

The newly-formed club needed somewhere that they could call their base, so with this in mind, they approached the White Lion Hotel who agreed to let the club use their pr