BEWDLEY TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB Est. 1885
Bewdley have been represented in the Worcestershire & Kidderminster District league since 1885. The original 'Town'
team was named Wribbenhall Victoria which then quickly changed to Bewdley Victoria (commonly known as 'Bewdley Vic's'). At
some point the name changed and was re-formed under the name Bewdley Comrades possibly due to the First World War. The comrades
were formed by a group of men who had been comrades during the 1914-1918 war, their headquarters was the 'Old Pack Horse'
in Welsh Gate.
In 1927 Bewdley dropped the Comrades name and were simply called Bewdley F.C and were playing in and were founder members
of the Worcestershire Combination (later known as Midland combination in 1968). Bewdley F.C remained in the league until 1938
were they finished bottom and left the league.
In 1948-49 Bewdley F.C joined the Kidderminster League Division 1 and finished runners up to Highley. (Teams in that
division at the time Bridgnorth and Ludlow, with Stourport Swifts joining in 1950). Bewdley F.C finished 2nd again
in 1949-50 this time to Steatite.
In 1952 Bewdley F.C revived the name Comrades and was now known as Bewdley Comrades F.C and in 1957-58 were Kidderminster
league champions.
After many successful years the life of the 'Comrades' game came to an end around 1974, and the main representation
of the town became Bewdley Town Old Boys.
The club now known as Bewdley Town Football Club was formed in 1978 with the merger of the two local teams, 'Bewdley
Old Boys F.C' and 'Woodcolliers F.C' the latter who played on a Sunday and both originally played at Gardeners Meadow in Bewdley.
Gardeners Meadow was sold to be re-developed which meant that the club had to move to Spennells in Kidderminster. So a massive
fundraising project was carried out enabling the club to purchase their current ground at Ribbesford Meadows under the guidance
of Robert Burns.
After playing in the Kidderminster and district leagues Bewdley Town's main senior side under the management of Craig
Payton and Chairman Geoff Edwards joined the West Midlands Division One South in 1999. Prior to that Ribbesford Meadows has
been an on going project providing football facilities to cater for teams, which include West Midlands Premier League, Kidderminster
& District League, Stourport & District 11 aside Boys League; and small sided League. Bewdley Town also boast being
one of the first clubs in Worcestershire in 1993 under FA Coach Chris Middleton to start a Mini Soccer Centre. The centre
is now run under mini kickers by FA Coach Wayne Payton and co-ordinator Jo Payton.
In 2005 Bewdley Town finished runners-up in West Midlands Division 1 gaining promotion to the West Midlands Premier
League. In order that Bewdley compete in this league they had to rent local rivals ground Stourport Swifts. In 2006 Bewdley
were granted permission to Build stands and floodlights at their home ground at Ribbesford Meadows, in their second season
Bewdley finished 3rd and were league leaders until bad floods meant the team didn’t play many games and could have possibly
won the league. If Bewdley had won however they would not have been allowed to gain promotion due to on-going development
of the ground.
In 2007-2008 Bewdley’s Ribbesford Meadows ground had been given a higher rating allowing them to play matches
at higher levels and gain promotion if they finished in any of the top places. Bewdley Town F.C also made history in this
season when they were allowed to enter the F.A vase for the first time. Bewdley managed to get to the 3rd round
proper losing out eventually to higher opposition Coventry Sphinx.
