Westmill - Standon Recreation Ground

Westmill FC

Standon Recreation Ground

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Standon

Ware 

Hertfordshire

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Ground Number: 1456
Thursday 14th August 2025

Westmill 3-2 Allenburys Sports

Herts Senior County Premier

WESTMILL FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established around 1930. They were long-time members of the Hertford & District League since the mid-80s at least, but there is not a huge amount of historical information that I could find about them. They look to have existed in the Premier Division for much of the time; this league sits at step 9 of the Non-League Pyramid, equal to the Herts Senior County League Division 2. Westmill won the title in 1981, 1982, 2009 and then again in 2021. The league reshaped the following season and the club were runners-up to Buffs FC in the Lea Division. Westmill transferred to the HSCL Division 2 in 2022, finishing as runners-up to Hemel Hempstead Rovers in their debut season. Their first season in Division 1 saw a 3rd place finish behind Hemel Hempstead Rovers and Owens in 2024, though only Owens were promoted due to ground grading. Last season, they were Herts Senior County D1 champions, unbeaten, winning 27 out of 30 games and scoring 130 goals.

To facilitate promotion to Premier Division football, the side decamped to the former ground of Standon & Puckeridge FC, around four miles from their village. Local cup wins include the Norman Appleby Trophy in 2024 and the Herts Junior Cup in 1987 & 1990. Their biggest win of 16-0 came when they beat McMullen Brewery in a 1979 Hertford & District Division 1 game. The Pegram family have been involved for the club for around half a century. The village of Westmill is located near Buntingford in East Hertfordshire and despite having only a few hundred inhabitants, it had a railway station from 1863 until 1968. The murder of a small girl by her nine-year-old brother, Billy Game, at Westmill in 1848, became the subject of a ballad by Thomas Birt. They are now based in Standon, a village of just under 4,500 residents. The place-name is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 944–46 AD and means "stony hill". Arthur Martin-Leake, one of only three men to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice, was born here. The Standon Calling music festival is held in the village.

MY VISIT

With it being one of my closest leagues to home, the Hertfordshire League was a ground I was keen to complete. However, it had provided much frustration last season due to a lack of midweek evening kickoffs. I got precisely zero visits after making good inroads at the end of the previous season. The problem was the early-season venue changes due to cricket, especially true of Owens. Then, absolutely nothing came up late season for 'silly season. My targets had gone up to five following OIR's move to Enfield College 3G, although that would be saved for the winter. The first target of the season would be Westfield FC, a club that played near Buntingford. Presumably due to a lack of changing facilities and car parking, they had decamped to Standon & Puckeridge, a team last seen in 2022. It looked like a decent setup and was around four miles from their own village.

It was a good drive home from Essex, although we were halted by Cadent, causing long-running roadworks by taking their sweet time to complete a task that should take a fraction of the time that it does. We listened to the Leyton Orient v Wycombe Wanderers game, the Chairboys fielding 16-year-old Cameron Stones, who had only made his debut for the academy on Saturday. We won 1-0 with a late own goal, but it was good to hear such a story after we had been obscenely splashing the cash assembling a bloated squad this year. The following day, Richard Kone, the striker whom we signed from Athletic Newham 20 months ago, was sold to QPR for a record transfer fee after a fairytale rise. These two stories give me hope for a club that seems to have lost its soul since the undignified exit of club legend Matt Bloomfield in January. After dropping Colin off, I was in at 9.50 and having got my blog pretty much done, uploaded it and got into bed within 20 minutes. The warm weather might have been great for watching football, but the design of houses in the country made it a hot and sweaty night, with not the greatest sleep.

It was work on Wednesday, and the usually quiet roads at 4.40 am seemed unusually busy. It was a longer-than-usual day at work, but I managed to stay fine. In the evening, I started researching this blog; the only food place I could see was a reasonable-looking Chinese takeaway in a pub. The Herts Football Review of 1986/87, which I obtained on the South West Hop in April, proved invaluable in gathering some information. Thursday was OK at work, but it didn't feel like a football day at all. I spent the afternoon at home, adding a huge update to my Dartford blog before my revisit tomorrow. I left at 4.15 and got to Colin's at 4.30 as arranged, but he was asleep. He kept me waiting for ten minutes while he faffed about. We were at the ground at 6. Despite the Chinese takeaway being a five-minute walk away, Dan drove it. Though he did bring me a two pint Chasetown FC Cup. I ordered salt and chilli pepper chips and Thai Spicy Fishcakes for a very reasonable £9.70. Very good with them having no competition. The food was nice, and I ate as I made my way back to the ground. It was a real hopper's convention with several in attendance, making the crowd 75 in total. It was a good night in great company.

 

Westmill started their season with a win on Saturday, beating OIR 4-2. Allenburys Sports were bottom of the table following a 3-0 home defeat to Cockfosters Reserves. Westmill were well on top and they took the lead after five minutes, a cross from the left was turned home at the back post for an own goal. They continued to have the better of the game, but Allenburys improved and equalised from a free kick on 28 minutes and came close a couple of minutes later with a lob. The visitors then scored a penalty to make it 2-1. A six-minute half-time was welcome. A minute into the second half, it was all square, a cross was swung in from the left and headed home at the back post. It was 3-2 on 55, a goal similar to the earlier one as Westmill went ahead. That was it as far as scoring was concerned, but it was a decent game. 

28 Mins: Equaliser for Allenburys at Westmill, now 1-1 in the Herts Senior County League. pic.twitter.com/zd6YFOEL79

— ⚽Russell Cox💙 (@RussWWFC) August 14, 2025

THE GROUND 

STANDON RECREATION GROUND is a nice venue with a partially railed pitch. There are a few benches, but that's about it. There is a village building which is used for changing, but no facilities for supporters. There are bus links and plenty of parking. A Chinese Takeaway and pub are the only facilities in the village, but they are good.