CELEBRATIONS ARE ON HOLD, BUT SO MUCH TO LOOK BACK ON WITH PRIDE
LLANDOVERY RFC’s ambitious plans to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of their Church Bank ground have been put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.
THE celebrations were to have also marked the 25th anniversary of the opening of the new stand.
Plans to play a top Invitation XV in the autumn have been torn apart.
Yet it should take nothing away from the club’s achievements, past and present.
A fourth-place finish in this year’s Indigo Premiership – above the likes of Pontypridd, Swansea and Llanelli – testifies to the current rude health of the club, one of 11 founder members of the Welsh Rugby Union in 1881.
The purchase of land alongside the Towy in the 1980s, when the club was then playing its home games on the Castle Fields and had its clubhouse at the old Great North Western Hotel, was a watershed moment in the club’s history.
This decision eventually resulted in the construction of modern facilities and a new clubhouse was formally opened by Hermas Evans the WRU in September 1990.
In font of a large Church Bank crowd, Llandovery played out an exciting 28-28 draw against the Golden Oldies, who included Phil Bennett, JPR Williams and Dai Morris.
The clubhouse and four pitches were a testament to the wisdom of the committee, who made the decision to move from their headquarters to the 18-acre fields at Church Bank.
Thirty years later the club boast a clubhouse, 500-seater grandstand, quality floodlights and four pitches.
Current club president Handel Davies was tasked with drafting the design proposals.
And in August 1995, a brand new grandstand was erected, which owed much to the vision, inspiration and construction from Phil Davies, a surveyor, former prop and future club president.
The club owe more to him than is imaginable. of
It was he who secured a six-figure grant from the Sports Council and through his close contacts with the construction industry got sponsorship and grants from a myriad of firms and companies.
It is fair to say that without his efforts, the stand project is unlikely to have come to fruition.
The stand was opened with a game against professional side Llanelli, who in front of a 2,000 crowd fielded no fewer than seven Welsh internationals.
Llandovery rose to the occasion by winning 12-5 with tries from No. 8