In 2019 we proudly celebrated our 140th year as a club and being the first Rugby Union club in the North Cotswolds. As many of you will know, we owe our existence to a band of railway engineers who were extending the rail connection from Kingham junction through to Bourton-on-the-Water and Cheltenham. Also, to Mr Green, the local brewer who “sponsored” the team in its early days.
Following the 100-year anniversary of the Armistice and the 75th anniversary last summer of the Normandy landings, we are also reminded of the huge sacrifices made by our local men and women and some of our own members. We should be very proud of our heritage and thankful to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but also to those who have continued to “carry the baton” and reform and continue the Club after the 1914-18 and 1939-45 world wars right up to the present day.
The town of Stow on the Wold, as the WW1 memorial shows, lost 43 men. At the time, the population was thought to be around 1500. Assuming only half were men and about 25% were of an age to be conscripted, then the 43 men that were lost probably represented around 25% of their age group, without considering those who were injured or incapacitated.
It is therefore, no wonder that it took until the 7th January 1932 to find enough playing members to reform the Club. At a meeting in the Town Hall, Mr. Green`s son made an appeal to the youth of the district “to show the keenness of their forefathers and so make the club a huge success”, and after a 14-year break, the Club was playing again.
However, this only lasted another 7 ½ years until the outbreak of WW2 in September 1939. Sadly, we lost our Club Captain, Mr JT Livesey and the Club Secretary, Mr Leslie Bolter as well as Mr F Miller (all are on the attached photo). Our club was re-formed again on the 21st June 1946 under the Presidency of Mr. Myles Kenyon and we have continued uninterrupted to this day thanks to the stalwarts who have kept the club running. Many names come to mind: Messrs Rust, Gaskells, Fosters, Cox-Howman, Hessel, Llewellyn, Davies, Wooliams, Tippett, Nunan, Hill, Richardson, Wright, Warby, Biggs, Roddan, Morris and many more.
Today we have around 400 men, boys and girls registered as players of our club and we have facilities that are the envy of many others, enabling us to organise rugby and events all year round. We always welcome new players and social members to the Club and we look forward to the new generations ahead of us who will hopefully look back and celebrate their time for many years to come. Finally, we are keen to recruit a “club archivist” to complete an electronic record of our club`s history, so if that is you, then please contact the Club Secretary on stowrfc@gmail.com
The Rugby Club was founded in 1879, when the railway was extended to Stow-on-the-Wold. It could possibly have been formed by the railway engineers who were based at Stow.
One tale that has been told about those days is that the local brewer, Mr Green, collected the team from the Square and transported them to the station in a horsedrawn brewer's dray and the team would then convey themselves to their away fixture on plate-layers wagons (trucks that were propelled by the passengers pulling and pushing a large lever). It is said that after the game the team would then "push and pull" themselves back to Stow, stopping at every village that had a convenient public house. Not much changes then.
Stow Rugby Club was a founder member of the Gloucester Rugby Union and moved to its present site in 1967. It was in 1984 that the a new Clubhouse was built and this was later extended and renovated in 1996 to provide the extensive facilities enjoyed by the Club today.
Hon. Life Members: Mrs M. Roberts, H. RoddanTrusteesI. Roberts, D. Oughton, N.P. Drury, P.J. Horrocks Hon.Vice President V.M. Murphy
Members for Life: T. Adcock, N. Alport, J. Milner, P. Bell, R. Milner,P. Campbell, P. Morris, J. Collett, A. Newport, I. Croft, D. OughtonH. Davies, M.J. Oughton, R. Davies, W.M. Oughton, N. Drury, J. Peterkin, R. Finch, B Procter, M. Hanks, I. Roberts, Brig. M. Harris A. Sampson, D. Hathaway, M. Selway, A. Henson, P. SelwayC. Hill, G. Shaw, J. Horner, P. Shaw,M. Henderson, G. Sloggett,S. Hood, J.E.B. Tippett, P. Horrocks,T. Tollerfield, M. Ireland, G. Townsend, A. Jones, S. Warby, P. King, I. Woodford, W. Lane,J. Wright.
Vice Presidents: M. Adams S. Alvin R. Anderson J. Atherton T. Akingbehin Mrs E. Bayliss C. Beauvoisin M. Beckett D. Beddis D. Beston K. Biggs H. Bolter K.E. Bowen C. Brittain-Jones Mrs J. Brown S. Browne E. Bumford C. Burton J. Campbell G. Canning T. Carter G. Chapman W. Cheston R. Cleverley I. Collett M. Collett N. Le Corroller A. Cox R. Coyne M. Curtis R. Dancer J.W. Daniels W. Davies W.G. Davies J. Daybell J. Disney H. Drury L. DruryA. Dunbar G. Dunford P. Dunford B. Eddolls J. Essame J. EvansM. Evans J. Ferriman Miss K. Fifield A. Firth P. Flood N. Forster Mrs. D. French T. Gaden A. Glazebrook W. Geden P. Golding E. Gordon C. Graham P. Grant-Hudson J. Gregory R. Griffin R. Griffiths M. Gum S. Hallwood A. Hanks T. Harrison P. Hartnell J. Henson R. Hepburn B. High Mrs E.A. Hill W. Hinton R. Hitchman A. Holdsworth A. Holmes B. Honess J. Hooper G. Hope D. Hopkins M. Hoyland P. Hufton A. Ingham J. Irving J. Jeffery R. Jeffries C. Jennings M. Jennings B. Johnston R. Jones-Bateman G. Keeys M. Kelly G. Kemptom S. Keswick C. Knowles B. Lacey S. Lambert P. Lane P. Limbrey U.C. Llewellyn C. Loader G. Lobley N. Major R. Markham G. Marrison K. McRobb D. Mills R. Mills D. Milne K. Moore D. Morris T. Morris J. Neave M. Newberry S. Newsome D. Nott P. Orchart M. Oughton J. Page B. Parker C. Parker M. Pender R. Pickett P. Pickford N. Piercy D. Player W. Plewman R. Plummer G. Price H. Price M. Price R. Price T.G. Proger D. Pugh K. Pugh T. Redston M. Richardson I. Richens T. RisdaleJ . Robbins E.C. Roberts K. Roberts D. Robinson I. Roddan R.F. Rothery M. Royce J. Russ J. Russell B. Saunders A .SeagerJ. Sharp P. Shelley P. Skea R. Slack J. Smith C. Smythe B. SumnerN. Swabey D. Swiney K.J. Taylor A. Thompson Mrs J. ThorntonD. Tinton M. Tinton J. Tunbridge A. Vincent P. Van AardtMrs J. Ward C. Watts P. Welch Mrs Westray R. WhartonJ. Whitney I. Wilkinson M. Wilkinson P. Winter N. Wise H. WymanJ. Young R. Young
