Football club to get revamp to aid promotion bid

Work is due to start on the grounds of a town's historic football club to help its fight towards promotion, its chairman has said.

Trowbridge Town FC, in Wiltshire, has raised thousands of pounds to bring its Woodmarsh pitch up to the standard needed to move to the next step of the non-league football pyramid.

The club used to be Wiltshire's top non-league football team before it disbanded in 1997 but it now plays in the county's senior league.

"This will lift the whole club and help the progression of young players into the adult team," said club chairman Andrew Meaden.

Work to improve the pitch to allow the club to progress to the next step of the non-league football system was due to begin in May, Mr Meaden added.

"The minimum we've got to do is hard standing on two sides, he told BBC Radio Wiltshire's Sport at Six programme.

"It needs to be connected which has to be a metre wide. Our dugouts are unfortunately 30cm too close.

"We're going to knock them down and move them.

"We've got to install floodlights so we've got planning permission and the funding for eight floodlight pylons to go in."

The club, which was reformed in 1998, want to get into the Western League which would be its highest level since restarting.

Mr Meaden said the work would allow teams to return to the pitch and help younger players progress.

"We've got a vets team that currently play at Selwood Academy in Frome so they will come back here," he added.

"We're hoping to form an under-18s team that will come back here and we can play under-16 games and under-17 games under floodlights if we wish.

"Also, for the first time in 29 years I'm hoping we will be able to offer the Trowbridge and District Football League the chance to play a cup final back in Trowbridge."

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