Comment

The Gazette's coverage of the FA Vase final in 2000

CLUB secretary Chris Blake retires at the end of this season after 12 years living and breathing every moment of Chippenham Town's highs and lows.

He was lucky enough to be part of its greatest moment when the team played at Wembley in the final of the FA Vase in 2000.

But the club has known many other good times and the occasional bad since it was formed in 1873.

In 1904 it was decided to join the Western League and play alongside the likes of Bristol City and Swindon reserves, Trowbridge Town and Radstock.

But they struggled for two seasons and the club took the wise decision to play in the Wiltshire league - which they won in 1907-1908 and 1908-1909.

After playing at four locations in their early days, Town found a permanent home at Hardenuish Park on September 24, 1919.

During the 1920s, they won the league and Wiltshire Senior Cup on three separate occasions.

But they surpassed this achievement in the 1928-1929 when they won all four Wiltshire trophies.

ROARING TWENTIES: Chippenham Town in 1921-22

Following that success, they rejoined the Western League in 1930-1931.

In 1948-1949 the club changed it colours, they swapped their black stripes for the blue and white worn today. In 1952 the club won the Western league for the only time in its history.

During the 60s and 70s they moved back to the Wiltshire league then to the Hellenic and back to the Western following a decline in support for non-league football all over the country.

During the 1980s the clubhouse was built and the team won promotion to the Western league Premier Division.

Guided by manager Tommy Saunders, Chippenham achieved its highest finish, third in the Western League Premier Division. Mr Blake, 61, of Anstey Place, Pewsham, Chippenham, remembers this fondly.

He joined the club in 1996 as secretary when Malcolm Lyus took over as chairman.

Mr Blake said: "I knew Malcolm through our sons playing football together for Wessex Youth. I was chairman of the club and Malcolm was coach of my son Greg's side. He approached me about it and it has been a fantastic experience ever since."

Mr Blake said his experience as secretary had been fantastic and spoke of some of the high points during his tenure. "It has been a fantastic experience during my time at Chippenham," he said.

"beating Tiverton 4-3 in the league at Hardenuish Park in 2000 was really good. But the greatest memory was the FA vase run because it allowed us to do so much at the club.

"It allowed us to do ground improvements for when we got promoted and gave the town such a buzz and also put us on the non-league map.

"We had 3,000 people for the game against Vauxhall in the semi-final and took 12,000 to Wembley for the final. Even though we lost it was still a great day out, we stayed in a top hotel and had a police escort to the ground."

Mr Blake also spoke about some of his favourite players during his time. "My favourite players all had great influence and motivation," he said.

"Players like Colin Towler, Johnny Woods and Lee Burns. Also Charlie Griffin and James Constable were good players for us. It's good to see players doing well for themselves.

"We never stood in the way of players who wanted to leave and play a higher standard. We took 100 supporters to see James play in the F.A trophy final last year."

Mr Blake also gave an insight into his life away from football, although his wife Helen has been persuaded to help out at the club.

He said "I left school at 17 and joined Westinghouse Brake and Signal as an apprentice and worked their for 36 years until I took a full- time job at Chippenham as secretary and general manager. I plan all my holidays around the football season but now I am retiring I am looking forward to seeing more of the world.

"At Westinghouse I was fortunate enough to see the world, I travelled to Asia, North America and Europe. I lived in America for 18 months and my son Gregg was born in the States.

"I must say a big thank you to my family especially my wife Helen who has been very supportive of me. I am remaining as a director, company secretary and most importantly a fan of Chippenham Town Football Club.

"I think we can get promoted this year, Adie has done fantastic with the young lads he has got and also the local lads he has."

2:39pm Wednesday 16th April 2008

Print

Email this

Comment