Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Trowbridge Town FC
Club Formed: 1880
Club Nickname: The Bees
Chairman: Andrew Meaden
Club Contact Details
Secretary: Kathy Crisp
Email: kathycrisp@hotmail.co.uk
Tel:  01225 763886
Mobile: 07758 001519

Manager: Wayne Thorne
Tel:   07368 464056
Email: waynethorne3@gmail.com

Club Welfare Officer: Megan Armond
Club Social Media Details
Team Photo & Club Colours
Details of Home Ground
Name of Ground: Woodmarsh
Ground Address: Axe and Cleaver Lane, Woodmarsh, Bradley Road, Trowbridge, BA14 0SB

Ground Tel:

 Match Day Programme?  Yes
Ground Directions: From Devizes or Chippenham / Melksham, take the A350 Trowbridge by-pass towards Westbury until you reach the Yarnbrook roundabout.  Take the 3rd exit towards Trowbridge, go under a railway bridge and take the North Bradley exit (straight on) at the next roundabout.  Carry on over a small roundabout, Ground is on the left just before leaving North Bradley.  From Bath / Bristol, upon entering Trowbridge take the signs towards North Bradley / Warminster go past MacDonalds and KFC etc on Bradley Road, and then turn right into the ground just after the mini-roundabout.
Club History
A Trowbridge Town team was originally formed in 1880 and became one of the founding members of the Bristol & District League in 1892, finishing as runners-up in the league's first season. They stayed in the Bristol league for three seasons and then joined the Western League where they stayed until 1958 apart from a few seasons playing in the Wiltshire County League. After success in the Western League, in 1958 they won promotion to the Southern League. In 1981, Trowbridge won promotion to the Football Conference (then known as the Alliance Premier League) where they played for three seasons before being relegated back to the Southern League where they remained until folding in 1998. They had sold their ground at Frome Road for housing and were sharing with Bath City but then ran into financial difficulties causing the club to fold.

Trowbridge Town AFC was formed in the summer of 1998 following the demise of the Trowbridge Town (1983) Ltd. Football supporters in the town, saddened by the end of their club which had been one of the top sides in the County of Wiltshire for many years, got together and agreed to resurrect interest and form a new club.

The first year saw the club with no team and no ground but a lot of time and effort put in by supporters of the resulted in finances being raised and a partner arrangement being agreed with Trowbridge Town Youth to share their Woodmarsh facilities.

The Club joined the Wiltshire County League for the 1999-2000 Season, winning the County Intermediate League at the first attempt and promotion to the Premier Division of the County Senior League.

Consistent performances were achieved in this League with the Club reaching the final of both the County Senior Cup and League Knockout Cup in two successive seasons. The club completed the Wiltshire League Championship and Wilts Senior Cup double in 2003-2004 and, together with ground improvements during the summer, brought the reward of a place in the Hellenic League. The runners-up spot in Division One West of the Hellenic League was achieved at the first attempt, but promotion could not be taken due to ground requirements, something which was unfortunately repeated again two years later when runners-up was attained for a second time.

Since the Club’s reformation the emphasis has been placed on running a member’s club that keeps itself financially sound. The emphasis on the playing side has been based on young players from the local areas (with a few exceptions). The club has always had a strong link with Trowbridge Town Youth and the two clubs formally merged in June 2008. Town Youth FC has been one of the most successful youth football Clubs in the County of Wiltshire for a number of years and many of their players and coaches have progressed to play, or manage the senior side.

Initially the membership total and average attendances at home matches were the envy of many other clubs higher up the pyramid as the new Trowbridge club sought to return to the former glories of its predecessor. However, with the ground at Woodmarsh requiring quite a bit of work to enable further progress back up the pyramid the momentum has stalled in recent times.

Trowbridge were relegated back to the Wiltshire League at the end of Season 2011-12 having finished bottom of the Hellenic. The return to County League football initially saw an upturn in the club’s results and, improving each season, saw them crowned champions of the Premier Division in 2015-16. However, they were not promoted back up the pyramid as plans and work to develop the facilities and Woodmarsh were not progressing as required. Season 2016-17 they finished 5th in the Wiltshire League but the following season saw them drop to 12th spot. Whilst never really in the title race in 2018-19 they finished in 6th spot they ended the season with an impressive 14 game unbeaten run.

The two Covid impacted seasons saw Trowbridge in mid-table at the time the seasons were brought to an early end and a change in management at the end of Season 2020-21 saw former player Jamie Jordan return as player manager. With a number of astute signings Trowbridge were installed amongst the list of teams expected to do well ahead of Season 2021-22 and so it proved. Just two defeats in their opening fifteen matches saw them amongst the title challengers but with Pewsey Vale and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development going so well Trowbridge needed to win at their rivals’ grounds but lost both games narrowly, although they did avenge the defeat to the eventual champions Royal Wootton Bassett Town in their penultimate game of the season to secure a third-place finish, just 10 points behind the eventual champions. They ended the season with an eleven-game unbeaten run, ten of which were won including that victory over the eventual champions. With ambitions to return to Step 6 Trowbridge look like a club on an upward trajectory again with ambitious plans to install floodlights at their Woodmarsh Ground.

In Season 2022-23 Trowbridge carried on from where they left off the previous season winning all their first 11 league fixtures, some by big margins, as they averaged over five goals per game to head the early table. Devizes matched them stride-for-stride though, in the same period they won nine of their opening ten games, their only dropped points coming in a 1-1 draw against Wroughton at Nursteed Road.  Trowbridge tasted defeat for the first time in a long while in midweek at the beginning of October, but it was not a league game, the defeat coming in the Wiltshire County FA Senior Cup against higher league opposition in the shape of Hellenic League side Calne Town. That defeat was followed by the first dropped points in the league the following Saturday when Kintbury Rangers left Woodmarsh with a point following a 1-1 draw. It proved to be a mini-blip as Trowbridge then proceeded to win all of their next four league games to remain top of the table at the end of November having played just over half of their league fixtures.

With things going so well for Trowbridge they were then stunned by the shock news that manager Jamie Jordan, who was also the club chairman, was departing to join Hellenic Premier Division side Bradford Town, taking a sizeable number of the players with him. Thankfully for Trowbridge, several key individuals remained loyal to the club, and led a rally to ensure the club were not de-railed from their quest for the league title.  Full back Ryan Baggs stepped into the managerial shoes, initially temporarily before agreeing to take on the role full time. Local businessman Andy Meaden, the Trowbridge Town programme editor, took over as chairman. The drive and enthusiasm of these two individuals, coupled with the efforts of hard-working club secretary Kathy Crisp ensured Trowbridge were able to field a competitive side for their next fixture against Melksham Town Reserves, a game they won 3-1 to retain their leadership at the top of the table. 

For many teams the cold snap that struck in December followed by the wet weather in January caused a lot of frustration but for Trowbridge it was probably something of a blessing as it brought newly installed manager Baggs some time, which enabled him to bring in some new players to replace those that had defected to Bradford Town. Trowbridge were to play no more games in December and just two games in January, winning both, one in the league against Shrewton and a narrow 2-1 victory over Salisbury Dev in the Fountain Trophies Cup.

Trowbridge lost for the first time in the league on Saturday 18 February when they suffered a 2-1 defeat away at Wroughton. They bounced back immediately the following week though with an excellent 5-2 victory over Blunsdon. As the season moved into March Trowbridge remained at the top of the table, but their lead had been cut to just one point with nine games to go, with them yet to meet nearest rivals Devizes Town. The first of those meetings was on the first weekend in March at Woodmarsh and was played in front of a bumper crowd of 250 and it saw Trowbridge pick up a fortuitous point in a 1-1 draw. Due to the wet weather Trowbridge were to play just one more game in March, that a comfortable home win over lowly Stratton Juniors but it meant Devizes led the table going into April, two points ahead of Trowbridge having played one game more.

Trowbridge regained the leadership with a midweek win over Royal Wootton Bassett Town but Saturday 8th April was to prove pivotal in the title race. Whilst Trowbridge were winning at home against Malmesbury Victoria Development, Devizes fell to their first defeat of the season, a 1-0 loss at home to a resurgent Melksham Town Reserves to give Trowbridge the advantage in the title race ahead of the return fixture between the two on Bank Holiday Monday. The defeat for Devizes now saw them four points adrift of Trowbridge and desperately needing a win in that Bank Holiday fixture. The Bank Holiday fixture attracted an even bigger crowd than the first game with 350 in attendance in what was to prove to be a good day for Devizes both on and off the pitch as goals from Jack Coward and Kieron Gleed secured a 2-0 win and cut Trowbridge’s lead at the top to just a single point with four games to go.

The following Saturday saw Trowbridge’s game with Pewsey fall victim to a waterlogged pitch allowing Devizes to move back top of the table following a win away at Shrewton. Both teams then won in midweek, Trowbridge defeating Odd Down and Devizes beating Wroughton to stay top of the table. Saturday 22nd was to prove to another pivotal day, whilst Trowbridge were defeating Wroughton in a Fountain Trophies Cup quarter final tie, Devizes were losing 1-0 away at Royal Wootton Bassett Town to a late winner where ill-discipline did not help their cause.  Devizes remained top of the table two points clear, but Trowbridge now had two games in hand with Devizes having just the one game to play. A 4-0 win for Trowbridge over Pewsey Vale saw them climb back top of the table ahead of the May Bank Holiday Weekend.

The title was as good as confirmed two days later when Devizes failed to win their final game away at Blunsdon, the two sides sharing four goals and the points, and whilst Devizes moved level on points with Trowbridge their inferior goal difference meant Trowbridge would need to lose both their final two games by a big margin to be denied the title. The title was confirmed on the Bank Holiday Monday in front of another three-figure crowd at Salisbury Development with the trophy being presented at the Ray McEnhill Stadium . Trowbridge also won their final game at Kintbury to finish six points clear in the final table. That gap masks what a tight competitive title race it had been in reality, a title race that had gone to the closing weeks of the season.

Trowbridge Town's defence of their title did not get off to the best of starts and a number of early defeats coupled with a series of postponements for various reasons saw them at the bottom end of the table for much of the season. However, a fantastic run from the turn of the year saw them climb up the table securing a fifth place finish in the closing week's of the season, the highest position they had occupied all season. Manager Ryan Baggs made the decision prior to the end of the season to step down and Trowbridge have appointed Sam Houkes as First Team Manager for the 2024-2025 season.

Trowbridge are one of the few non-league clubs who have collated a large proportion of their history in terms of match results and goalscorers. The information is now published on an excellent website run by Robin Sims and can be found at www.ttfcarchive.co.uk.

Trowbridge Town 2023-24

Trowbridge Town 2022-23

(picture courtesy of Martin Pearce)

Trowbridge Town 2021-22

(Picture courtesy of Gary Caldicott)

Trowbridge Town 2020-21

Trowbridge Town 2018-19
(picture courtesy of Gary Caldicott)
Trowbridge Town 2015-16
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