The 20th season has just finished and what a hectic end it was. League Officers were beginning to feel the strain at the end of April, with so many fixtures being played and teams postponing fixtures, thus allowing little time to re-arrange them. Innocent teams had to play several evening fixtures through no fault of theirs. The very dry start to the season did not help the cause, coupled with several wet and frosty periods. Still we are all raring to go again next season.

Before moving onto League matters, I would like to congratulate our President Don Paget and his charming wife Elsie on celebrating their Diamond (60 years) Wedding on 11th April 1996. This is a remarkable achievement and even the Queen sent a message of congratulations.

It was very sad to receive the news of the death of our Vice Chairman, Cliff Cousins on 15th August, 1995. Cliff was a founder member of the Leagues Management Committee and did much stirling work in respect of Rules etc. He became Vice Chairman in 1991 when Dennis Kilford was elevated to the position of Chairman.

The League made history at the Annual General Meeting by announcing a sponsorship deal with Skurrays, the main Vauxhall Dealers of Swindon and Marlborough. This sponsorship will benefit all Member Clubs in some form. The League extend their sincere thanks for the support that Mr. Derek Walker, Managing Director of Skurrays has given to the League this season. It is now confirmed that the sponsorship deal will continue for the ensuing 1996/97 season.

Addkey Print Ltd of Corsham continued their sponsorship of the Senior Knock-out Cup Competition so again our gratitude to Doug Perry and his Directors for their support. It was unfortunate that the Senior Cup final was not played at Corsham, where the firm is based, but with Corsham Town Football Club reaching the final, a new venue had to be found. Addkey Print Ltd have confirmed that they will be continuing the sponsorship of the Senior Cup next season.

Fountain Trophies again sponsored the Junior Knock-out Cup Competition and the League records its thanks to Paul Sebastian for his support.

A new Referees Appreciation Cup will be presented at the Annual General Meeting as the original one, donated many years ago has lost its shape and the plinth is completely filled up. The new cup has been kindly donated by Ken Clarke from Westernsport Trophies for which we thank him.

The two Cup finals were played on Saturday 4th May, 1996 at Pewsey Vale Football Club ground. The excellent ground and facilities at the Recreation Ground was appreciated by the competing teams. Our thanks to Pewsey Vale Football Club and their Secretary Barbara Flippance for all the help and co-operation in staging the finals.

No representative fixture was played this season because on the morning of the match, snow and rain descended on Amesbury Town's ground, this causing the game to be postponed. It is planned to re-arrange this fixture in October next season.

Pyramid meetings have been held during the season with the Great Mills Western League and Hellenic League. No team will be promoted this season, but several Clubs in the League are aiming to improve their facilities, so hopefully in the near future we will have further teams elevated to a higher level.

As another season ends, a season where changes took place. Firstly we entered into a League sponsorship deal with Vauxhall Car Garage Skuurays. A deal to give some assistance to all member clubs. Secondly we welcomed a new Referees Appointments Secretary Wally Tanner from Salisbury.

It has been a difficult first year for Wally with losing our feeder League status and the ever decreasing number of referees available, which I trust will improve next season.

I should like to add my congratulations to all League and Cup winners and the League thanks to the sponsors of our Senior and Junior cups. Addkey Print and Fountain Trophies for their continued support.

On a sad note Cliff Cousins our Vice Chairman and close friend passed away at the start of the season. Cliff was a founder member of the present League. His dedication to the League, knowledge, experience and willingness to assist anyone and everyone will be greatly missed by all connected with football in Wiltshire.

To close, may I thank the Officers and Committee for their dedicated hard work and support this season and wish each club a happy and successful season in 1996/97

This is the 12th time I have presented my annual report and unfortunately on this occasion I have to tell you there was a loss on the years workings of £1275.07 compared with a surplus last year of £965.31.

Income dropped by about £900 and expenditure increased by about £1365.

In more detail income from Fines was down considerably by £700 and as a direct consequence of having less teams subscriptions were down by £125, entrance fees down by £150, transfer fees down by £59. In addition cup receipts from the finals was down by £114.

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On the expenditure side the costs of representative matches were up by £422 as no game was played in the period covered by the accounts. Two matches were arranged in the last financial year one playing in season 199411995 and one in playing season 199511996. The latter game was unfortunately cancelled owing to adverse weather conditions but the League had already incurred expenditure on trophies and other outgoings. Printing and stationery which fluctuates according to requirements was up by £133 and there was additional expense on insurance of £154. The largest item of additional expenditure was for the footballs which are to be presented to Clubs at the Annual General Meeting and also for those presented last year. This came to £1,000 but the costs are covered by income which I shall refer to later. You will note that telephone charges and postage costs are down by £ 179.

A further sum of £500 has been ear marked for the Silver Jubilee celebration of the League to be held in 2001.

The League has been very fortunate to obtain sponsorship from Skurrays, the main Vauxhall dealers in Swindon and Marlborough. As you can see at the closing date from these accounts they had subscribed a substantial sum and before the end of the playing season in May they were good enough to give us a further very generous donation. Such donations although not for any specific purpose assist considerably towards the cost of the footballs shown in the accounts and also assists in maintaining the standard of the trophies presented to winners and runners up.

Skurrays support is very much appreciated by your Management Committee and is of course to the benefit of all Clubs in membership of the League.

The League is also very grateful to Addkey Print Ltd and Fountain Trophies for once again sponsoring our two major cup competitions and Westemsport for sponsoring the referees award.

The Management Committee have given long consideration to the financial situation following the deficit on the years workings and taking into account anticipated expenditure and income are of the opinion that it is necessary to increase subscriptions. We therefore recommend that subscriptions be raised by £10 per team.

It is also recommended that there is no increase in honoraria which remains at the same level as that fixed at the Annual General Meeting in 1993.

I thank all Officers and Management Committee members for their support and for keeping the running expenses of the League as low as possible as well as attending meetings and other activities in various parts of the County at little cost to the League.

I am most appreciative of the many hours spent by Mr. Peter Mundy in auditing our Accounts and the League is most grateful to him for giving up so much of his out of work time .

Finally, thank you to all the Clubs and their officials who have assisted the Management Committee and me during the season. especially relating to financial activities

This season completes my 15th as your Registration Secretary.

There is very little to report or comment upon; the usual co-operation from the majority of clubs is again appreciated. I would however, request that secretaries endeavour not to leave submission of registration forms until very late, it does not help me with the tremendous pre-season workload. Also, a reminder that the supplying of a Stamped Addressed Envelope with your forms, will help me and ensure prompt return of acknowledgements – essential where transfers are concerned.

Statistics of note; 1887 players were registered and just 60 transfers recorded

Best wishes for the summer break.

At the end of my first full season I can honestly say that I have leamed a lot about my new job and I would like to thank you all for being polite to me on the phone. Next season I hope to have quite a few new class 3's on the line and this will hopefully fill some gaps during the forthcoming season. Some mistakes made by myself were partly due to too many changes by referees once they received the fixtures, this is something I will put right next season.

The Referees Appreciation Award this year will be presented to George Clift of Devizes. George has completed many years service as a referee. He has always given excellent co-operation with all the Referees Appointments Secretaries and is totally reliable. This honour is small recompense for the dedication George has given to the game of football. 

Once again many thanks and see you all next season.

With only two weeks of the season remaining a frustrated Phillip Cook had problems with certain clubs who decided to postpone their last few fixtures. However, the season was eventually completed 6 days late. It was not the ideal end the Hon. Fixture Secretary wanted after experiencing several lengthy breaks in mid-season because of ice bound grounds.

The Division 1 Championship was decided early in April - Pinehurst who headed the table all season were unstoppable in League games and eventually won the title by 14 points. The runners up position in this Division was not so clear cut and Biddestone came good at the end to claim the Don Paget Runners up Shield.

The newly named club Southbrook Walcot took the honours in Division 2 with Purton Res finishing second to receive the Les Miles shield. Congratulations are extended to Purton Football Club on an outstanding season, for the Club also won Division 1 of the Hellenic League.

Raychem Sports & Social Club again took the Division 3 honours for the second successive season. The Club have decided that it is now time to move into Senior football and next season will see them competing in Senior Division 2. Runners up spot was gained by last seasons Division 4 Champions Shrewton United Reserves.

In their first season as members of the League PFC Durrington clinched the Championship of Division 4 on goal difference from Southbrook Walcot Reserves.

Congratulations are extended to all Champions and Runners up.

The ADDKEY Senior Cup final was won in convincing style by Corsham Town FC who defeated the League Champions Pinehurst 5 - 0 at Pewsey. Management Committee member and Managing Director of Addkey Print Ltd Doug Perry was very happy that evening after Corsham had won the Cup - I doubt whether he can remember much about it.

The FOUNTAIN TROPHIES Junior Cup was won by Down Ampney in a nail biting finish with Raychem Sports & Social Club. The score after 90 minutes play was 0 - 0 and extra time produced a goal each. Penalty kicks for the first time had been introduced to decide the destiny of the Cup. Down Ampney kept their nerve and scored 4 against Raychems 3.

Many congratulations to all Member Clubs who reached local Cup finals - most of these are for a Charity and keeps the funds active for worthwhile causes.

My sincere thanks to Officers and Members of the Management Committee who again supported me most strongly during this very busy season. To Club Secretaries for their co-operation with other League Officers and myself - again we all thank you.

Looking forward to next season, which will soon be on us and fixtures start to roll again.

Wishing everyone connected with the League, a restful summer break and come back full of vigour and enthusiasm.

PJ ACKRILL

HON.GENERAL SECRETARY