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.
