Andy Meaden, Chair of Trowbridge Town Football Club, ‘The Bees’, says the club is delighted to have been granted £65,000 to fund the floodlights it plans to install at its Woodmarsh ground. 

The money has come from developers of local housing estates who have made contributions to support community projects under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Other grants from these funds have gone to Trowbridge Wanderers FC and Trowbridge Rugby Football Club. 

Wiltshire Council, the planning authority, and Trowbridge Town Council, which administers such funds, reached an agreement for the use of the funding which was approved at last night’s Trowbridge Town Council meeting.  

Trowbridge Town FC hopes that it will also secure funding from the Section 106 contributions to install a new drainage system for which it is about to seek planning permission. 

Andy Meaden said: “This is a great day for The Bees. These facilities will mean we can get promoted and get back to where we belong – unlike in 2023, when we were Wiltshire Senior League Premier Division Champions but could not go up due to the lack of lights and other features.

“Now we will have a ground worthy of the County Town’s main football club and we can start to progress back to higher leagues.

“A big thank you to Wiltshire Council and Trowbridge Town Council for judging our ground and our club as a good investment. We will make it count.”  

Trowbridge Town FC has a 125-year history that includes competing in the Football Conference and Southern League at its peak in the 1980s.  However in the late 1990s, its ground in the town centre was sold, and the club was relaunched after a one year hiatus at Woodmarsh.  

The first team plays in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League which is at ‘Step 7’ of the FA ladder. That is below Bradford Town, Warminster Town and Devizes Town at Step 6, Corsham Town at Step 5, Melksham Town and Westbury United at Step 4 and Chippenham Town at Step 2. 

The club set out fundraising to raise money for the various projects required to bring Woodmarsh up to standard, after its planning application for floodlights was approved in May 2024. 

Andy Meaden added: “The money we have already raised, around £30,000, will be used towards other improvements that we need to make at Woodmarsh to upgrade the ground including work on the clubhouse, stands, dugouts and hardstanding for spectators.”

“The club would like to thank everyone, from local businesses to local people and supporters for their generosity.”