Sharpness - Hamfields

Sharpness AFC 

Hamfields Leisure Centre

Hamfields

Berkeley

Gloucestershire

GL13 9TN

01453 810413

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1555

Saturday 16th May 2026
Frampton United 3-2 Quedgeley Wanderers

Les James GCFL Cup Final

SHARPNESS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Sharpness AFC was established in 1900 and joined the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, winning it three times early on after joining as founder members in 1922. They stayed here with titles in 1963 and 1966 up until they joined the Gloucestershire County League in 1968. Their first spell lasted up until 1984 when they won the title, but they had finished as runners-up to serial winners Cadbury Heath as early as 1971. A six-season spell in the Hellenic Premier lasted from 1984 until 1990, and Sharpness won the title in 1986 and finished as runners-up to Yate Town in 1989. However, the lack of floodlights held them back and prevented promotion.  They never finished below 7th but resigned from the league in 1990 to return to the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League. They won the Division 2 title in 1992 to be promoted to Division 1. Back here, they won titles in 2001, 2010, 2016 & 2019, making it twelve league wins in total. After the latter of those, it was back to the Gloucestershire County League. The first two seasons were abandoned due to COVID, and the highest finish was 3rd in 2022. That was until the club were champions this season, earning promotion to the Hellenic League for the first time in 35 years.

Sharpness have played four seasons in the FA Cup, reaching the 2nd Qualifying Round twice in the latter half of the 1980s. During the 1984/85 season, the club beat Tiverton Town, Abingdon Town, Pirelli General, Supermarine and Cheshunt before losing to AFC Sudbury in an FA Vase 5th Round replay. Up until 1988, Sharpness played at The Port, but the ground was developed upon by British Waterways. Previously, they had been paying just £1 a year rent. A three-season groundshare at Forest Green Rovers proved prohibitively expensive, leading to them dropping down a level. They played at Berkeley School for a while before moving to their current home at Hamfields Leisure Centre in Berkeley. The club's name, Sharpness, takes its name from a local port. There is a small community of approximately 100 residents directly adjacent to the port, in addition to the subvillage of Newtown, approximately 0.5 miles to the south-east.

Four miles to the south lies the small town of Berkeley. This is where they are now based. The town has a population of around 2,250.  It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway. The town is noted for Berkeley Castle, where the imprisoned King Edward II is believed to have been murdered, as well as the birthplace of the physician Edward Jenner, pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. Berkeley lies midway between Bristol and Gloucester, on a small hill in the Vale of Berkeley. The town is on the Little Avon River, which flows into the Severn at Berkeley Pill. The Little Avon was tidal, and so navigable for some distance inland (as far as Berkeley itself and the Sea Mills at Ham) until a 'tidal reservoir' was implemented at Berkeley Pill in the late 1960s. From 1876 to 1964, the town had a railway station, originally on a branch from a junction at Berkeley Road on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway. From 1879, the branch became a through-route to Lydney when the Severn Railway Bridge was opened. In 1960, the bridge was damaged beyond repair by a ship collision. Some of the rail line is still used by the Power Station to transport low-level nuclear waste by rail, and a railway preservation society is working to extend the line to Sharpness.

MY VISIT

Usually on Saturday, I don't like driving unless it is a part of a double. This was to be the case on this Saturday, but when I looked at the five choices I'd selected, they looked to be rubbish days out on the train. Mainly small places in Essex where the stops were through unremarkable towns with no decent pubs. As it was significantly more expensive by train, I decided that using the car was in order. I whittled it down to a choice of three - either Chalgrove Cavaliers v Halse United (cheapest), Corinthians v Hashtag United Reserves (went past Colin and ticked Basildon Wetherspoons) or Frampton United v Quedgeley Wanderers (played at Sharpness, which will be step 6 next season). In the end, it was the latter that we chose, only deciding at 9 PM on Thursday.

It was a convoluted journey back from Leominster, taking a long time. I got petrol at Witney, filling up one tank whilst emptying another at the same time. Who says men can't multitask!. Finally, I dropped Colin off at 11.15 and was home 15 minutes later. I had tons to do, getting a wash on, uploading that day's blog and starting this one. I also had a couple of pints of cider to help me relax. 1 am was my projected bedtime, but I was wide awake, so it ended up being more like 2.30. I was quite deep into the booze at this point, but my search for a farm shop near the ground selling local cider and cakes proved fruitless. I woke up at 8.30 after six hours of sleep and had a bath and breakfast. Plans for a walk were shelved as I wanted to do my research for today's game. PuffPuff was attention-seeking on Twitter again, trying to dupe people into what game he was attending. Colin had told me last night that he had secured a ticket for Celtic v Hearts, but her maintained he was going to Pollok despite hanging around Celtic Park and taking pictures of the teams arriving. In the end, he did go to the game at Celtic Park.

 

I was concerned about Colin turning up as he hadn't checked his WhatsApp since last night. But he was as good as gold and was there at 11.15 at the end of my road. It was a decent journey down to the Emersons Green in Bristol for Wetherspoons 518 for me. Fish and Chips came quickly for me, before my drink in fact, and I'd almost finished my meal before Colin got his. This led to yet another display of rudeness and entitlement, which led to the manager coming over to tell him to be nicer to staff. He was rude to the manager as well, despite working in retail and getting a full-time wage for a 12-hour week, thanks to PIP for his epilepsy. Working in retail myself, I know that it's better to be nice to poorly paid staff. Something that was a real problem during the pandemic, but thankfully has improved. My fish and chips were more expensive than usual, but there was a huge bit of fish. It was half an hour to the ground from there, with brilliant organisation to get us parked. It was a £3 cash entry, and a pint of Thatchers Gold in the bar was also fairly priced. Celtic got the luck of the devil to win the title with VAR poking its nose in. For such a Reform supporting, stop the boats, punch down on the disabled and foreigners, politically, I was surprised that PuffPuff went in the Celtic end, with his views very much at odds with their values.

 

The Les James GCFA Cup Final was being hosted at the ground of champions Sharpness. Frampton had finished in 4th place and were the cup holders. League-wise, they had won 17, drawn 6 and lost 9. To reach this final, they had won 2-0 at Henbury and Rockleaze, beaten Wick 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw and thumped Ruardean Rangers 5-1. Quedegeley Wanderers were one of the few clubs that had lights, from what I recall. To get to the final, they had beaten Chalford 1-0, Sharpness 4-2 and Tytherington Rocks 1-0. League-wise, they had finished 6th, winning 15, drawing 6th and losing 11. The weather was drab and drizzly. Quedgeley had the better chances early on, but Frampton took the lead with a deflected shot on 18 minutes. Quedgeley forced a good save out of the Frampton keeper as he blocked with his foot. On 31 minutes, it was 2-0, a, low shot into the bottom left from 25 yards. Some feisty tackles were going in, and some yellow cards were handed out. On 63 minutes, Quedgeley Wanderers pulled a goal back, a good shot into the bottom right-hand corner. A minute later, it was all square, a cross headed home. It was deserved, but around five minutes from the end, Frampton United retook the lead with a floating shot from a wide angle. A tad hard on Quedgeley, but it had been a good game.

THE GROUND

HAMFIELDS is a smart setup but a work in progress. The pitch is fully railed, and there is a small area of standing cover with the inevitable metal seated stand on the way. There is a smart bar, but an interesting looking pub with real ales and cider is the Salutation, a half hour walk away. At the ground, the cider choices are Thatchers Gold and Stowford Press, plus more in bottles. I didn't see any hot food. The huge car park is excellent, but I'm not sure about public transport.

Leominster Town - Bridge Street Park

Leominster Town FC

Bridge Street Park

Bridge Street

Leominster

Herefordshire

HR6 8EA

Official Website

FA Full Time

Facebook

Ground Number: 1554
Friday 15th May 2026

Leominster Town 7-3 Civil Service

Herefordshire League Division 2

LEOMINSTER TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1893 and spent most of its early years playing in local competitions. They played a single season in the Shropshire League in 1896 but left after one season, finishing bottom of the table. Information about the club is scant, but it appears as if they have spent most of their history in the Herefordshire League. They had their first spell in the West Midlands (Regional) League between 1996 and 2004, achieving two 3rd place finishes in Division 1 South without gaining promotion.  They resigned from the league in 2004 to return to the Herefordshire League, where they won the Premier Division title in 2010. They started in Division 2 this time, winning promotion after a 3rd place finish in their debut season. Two seasons were spent in Division 1 before they left the league in 2013.

The club finished as runners-up to Ewyas Harold in their first season back. A severe loss of form saw Leominster finish bottom in 2015, but they were not relegated due to Ross Juniors' resignation from the league. The club finished bottom again in 2018 and spent a season out of football before returning in Division 1, only to be stopped again by the pandemic. Despite finishing 6th in 2021, they were demoted to Division 2 for the following season. They were runners-up to Wellington Colts in 2023, winning promotion back to Division 1.  They were only to last here for a couple of seasons, being relegated after a bottom-place finish last season. They look set to put that right this season as they will be Division 2 champions.

The club won the first-ever Herefordshire FA Junior Cup, beating Worcester Excelsior 5-2 at Edgar Street, Hereford. In 2010, as part of a treble, the club won the HFA Charity Bowl and the Journal Trophy as well as the league title. For the first 70 years, the club was based at Worcester Road. This was also the home ground of the North Herefordshire League before it merged with the Herefordshire League. In the 1960s, Leominster Borough Council took over the site, which they had decided would be used for industrial purposes. Despite the council planning to build a new pitch, this never happened, leaving the club playing in a field and changing rooms in a caravan with no running water. Over the years, the requirements for grounds became stricter. So, In 1994, Leominster Town and Leominster United (formerly Dale United) merged, and three years later, the new ground opened at Bridge Street Park adjacent to the town's leisure centre. Floodlights were soon added, with the stand being converted to seats in the midst of the pandemic.

Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, located at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary, the River Kenwater. The town is 12 miles north of Hereford and 7 miles south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of almost 12,000, Leominster is the largest of the five towns in the county; the others being Ross-on-Wye, Ledbury, Bromyard and Kington. The town, previously spelt 'Lemster', takes its name from the English word minster, meaning a community of clergy and the original Celtic name for the district Leon or Lene, probably in turn from an Old Welsh root lei to flow. The most notable person to hail from Leominster is the West Ham United and England player Jarrod Bowen.

MY VISIT

I always love a bit of Friday night football, but outside of the hop games, I hadn't seen one in England since 19th December at South Leeds. They are always bumper crowds when clubs move their games, but so few do. It is always the same group of groundsharers, playing again and again on Friday night. It doesn't appeal unless it is a new ground or one that I've not been to for ages. On this Friday night, it was an exceptional opportunity. An early kickoff, at a great ground, in one of my favourite regions for cider. The only downer was that I would be driving yet again, but at least Colin would be in the passenger seat to halve my costs. I also spotted a farm shop which would hopefully be able to supply me with some local stuff to take home.

From Kennington on Tuesday, it was a far easier drive home. Rather than the conoluted cross-country route on the way, once we had got out of Kennington, it was dual carriageways and motorways. It gave a far better impression of Oxfordshire roads than the garbage that we used on the way there. I dropped Colin off at 9.15 and got home around 15 minutes later. There was time to get my blog up before bed, not that I really felt like sleeping. At least it was my shortest day at work the next day, though the weather couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or be sunny. Mindful of my game at Leominster on Friday, I checked the weather, and all was fine. I wasn't counting my chickens yet, though and knew that there was a multitude of reasons why the game might not go ahead. As a result, I left doing my research on the club until Thursday, although all the signs were good when I checked on Facebook. The research proved to be tricky, especially for seasons before the millennium, but I did what I could.

It was the usual busy Friday at work, although it wasn't as unpleasant as usual. I got my head down and time flew by, with me out at 1. I met Colin, and we were on our way. I'd deliberately skipped lunch as we were stopping at the Golden Cross hotel in Bromsgrove. We arrived at 3, the car park out the back of the pub was free for half an hour. I ordered small fish and chips with cranberry juice for £6.69, service and food were spot on. It was helped by the generous offer from the council of 30 minutes of free parking. As the car park was out the back of the pub, it was perfect. Colin told me on the journey that Daniel was asking £40 each for petrol to Brecon Corries next week. Surely some mistake on Colin's part, as that meant that the occasional Braintree Town fan would be raking in 25p a mile from us, with the Essex pair presumably paying nothing.

 

I am always fair with Colin, splitting the costs halfway, as anything more invalidates your insurance, as it would be counted as hire or reward. Personally, I'd be asking for £35 from Colin, including a significant detour to drop him home with just us two or £16 each with a full car. It put next week all up in the air again. It was a slow but picturesque journey to the Quarry Farm shop, where I picked up some local ciders. There might be some retries in there as the mobile signal was rubbish, but it was nice to pick up some obscure stuff. Sadly, none from local legends Ross-On-Wye cider, though. We were at the ground just before 5. I was happy to pay the £1 to park in the Leisure Centre, but had not got enough change. Instead, it was dumped out on the road outside. We had a look inside the ground, confirming the game on and got some pictures. From there, it was less than a 15-minute walk to the town's Wetherspoons, The Duke's Head. It was a sleepy but pleasant town with a slow internet signal. In the pub, I had a sticky Korean chicken bowl with a pint of Black Dragon for £10.82. Service was, as usual, good. It was nice to sit in a comfortable environment to type this blog, with the plan to leave for the ground around 6.20. The plan was to get to the ground well in time for kickoff and to check out what else was on offer.

Leominster Town were top of the league and had won 19 and lost 2 of their games. They'd won their last twelve, plus had a walkover, making it thirteen straight wins. In their last game, they'd beaten Burghill Rangers 6-0.  Before that run, they had lost their only two games in November at Kidderminster Town and at home to AFC Worcester II. Civil Service were in 9th and had won 5, drawn 2 and lost 14. They'd lost their last couple, including a 3-1 loss at Ledbury Town Development last time out. When the two sides met on 27th September, Leominster won 6-2 at Victoria Park, Hereford. There was a shock goal for Civil Service, 90 seconds in. It was an opportunist strike from 25 yards which deceived the keeper. Four minutes in, Leominster thumped the bar. 23 minutes, it was all square when a right-sided cross was put home from close range. 28 minutes, Leominster led 2-1. The Civil Service keeper flapped at the cross, and the ball was headed home from close range. The visitors came close to equalising on 33 minutes, but the keeper saved with his right foot and tipped it around the post. 41 minutes, it was 3-1 to Leominster, a shot from 20 yards floating in. I'd got a burger at halftime, nice and freshly cooked, although as it turned out, I missed some goals. The second half saw yet more goals, with the hosts winning 7-3. The highlights were a penalty save by Civil Service, before they went up the other end and pulled a soft goal back, plus another on a quick break. Overall it was an avalanche of goals for Leominster, though on the night they lifted the title.

THE GROUND

BRIDGE STREET PARK is an incredible ground for the 13th tier of English football. The main stand is seated and holds around 120. It would put some step 4 sides to shame, as it is all brick-built rather than metal. Additionally, there is some cover behind the goal, thanks to the clubhouse. For now, the ground is two-sided, though there is room for expansion. The clubhouse mainly offers a good range of food as well as drinks. Parking is plentiful. The town is 15 minutes walk away and has its own train station and presumably buses. The town has a Wetherspoons amongst other things, and looks like a nice place to spend a few hours in.