TWYFORD House are celebrating their 75th anniversary by reflecting on how far the club have come in recent seasons – and looking to the future with plenty of hope and optimism.
Kicking off a list of special events for the summer is an under-9s festival on June 26 before Twyford host a match against a team of former players and friends from fellow Bristol clubs on July 3.
A family fun day follows on July 10 along with a ladies festival on July 17 while a dinner at the Seat Unique Stadium on November 5 will bring the curtain down on the club’s year.
Club members and volunteers are at the very heart of all these events, as chairman Gary Ball makes clear.
He said: “We’re so lucky that so many volunteers put time and energy into the club. A good example of that is the way we look after our ground … we still have a rota with people throughout the club taking their turn to come up and sit on the roller, cut the grass and get everything ready for the next match.”
And there are plenty of games these days at Penpole Lane as Twyford run four Saturday sides, an occasional Sunday XI, midweek team and juniors from All Stars and Dynamos through to U19s as well as a fast-growing girls and women’s section.
Gary added: “I like to think the founding members would be delighted at how the club has developed and how diverse we have become.
“We’re still at heart a family club …people like myself, Mark Wilson and Sean Neville all played together in our first youth team in 1981, and these days it’s our sons who are carrying on that work. Also Kelly Armfield is our All Stars Activator while her husband Tom plays in our first team with her brother, Mark Fowler.”
Off the field, there are plans for new nets, an electronic scoreboard and the installation of solar panels on the roof of the recently refurbished clubhouse – an imaginative move in these days of ever increasing energy costs.
Gary added: “Things never stop! But in all seriousness it feels as if we are in a good place right now as we are offering something which people want to be a part of .
“It all comes back to our fantastic volunteers, and that includes people such as our president Alan Mathias, and Don Owen who set up that very first youth side all those years ago.”