The new football season in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League gets underway this coming weekend in what will be the 50^th season of the league’s existence with the Premier Division once again starting with 18 teams. As was stated at the beginning of last season, it is hoped that this time round all 18 go the distance. Returning to the top division of the league after several years absence will be Cricklade Town, Down Ampney and Devizes Town Reserves. The other new side in the division will be Swindon Supermarine Development who were promoted under the Pyramid Agreement with the Hellenic League. There were no promotion applicants from either of the two District Leagues and the likelihood going forward is that any teams coming from a District League will in future have to go through Division One.

Last season’s champions Kintbury Rangers have been promoted to the Wessex League, whilst Malmesbury Victoria Development have been relegated to Division One, with Salisbury folding their development side ahead of the new season.

So going into the new season how are the 18 Premier Division sides shaping up for the season ahead? We look at each team in the order they finished last season:

Last season’s runners-up Letcombe remain under the management of Luke Stone who has now had three successful seasons at the helm, with Letcombe never finishing outside of the top two of the leagues they have played in under his guidance. This season they may miss last season’s top scorer Ben Cleary; Cleary having made the decision to make the step up to the Hellenic League Premier Division with Royal Wootton Bassett Town. Letcombe had picked up Cleary last season after losing their leading striker Josh Fowler to Pewsey Vale and will no doubt have another young striker lined up to replace Cleary. Also making the step up to the Hellenic Premier League is Xavi Diaz who has signed for Highworth Town for whom he made five appearances last season. Key players have remained though including goalkeeper Harry Whitehead, the versatile Kieran Kerby, Aaran Mudie, Archie Brew, Jack Daley and Dan Timbrell and they can be expected to again be challenging at the top end of the table.  Letcombe open the season with a trip to newly promoted Devizes Town Reserves before entertaining near neighbours Shrivenham in midweek.

Letcombe who finished as runners-up in the Premier Division in their first season in the league

Whilst they go into the new season with a new name having merged with Purton, the team retain most of the squad that achieved that third place finish last season with Adrian Wilkinson once again in the management seat for the forthcoming season, his third season in charge. Leading scorers Antonio Gerrish, Ollie While and Josh Atwell who scored 36 goals between them last season are all back, along with virtually all of last season’s highly successful squad. New signings include experienced goalkeeper Edward Salsbury. Purton Kingsdown open the season with a home game against Trowbridge Town who will be looking to secure promotion to Step 6 come the end of the season having undertaken a massive upgrade of their facilities at Woodmarsh including the installation of floodlights. Last season’s equivalent fixture saw the two sides share the points following a 3-3 draw and another high scoring game is anticipated this coming Saturday. Purton Kingsdown follow that game up with a short trip along the B4553 to take on near neighbours Cricklade Town.

Purton Kingsdown who finished third in the Premier Division last season

Pewsey Vale’s fourth place finish last season was their lowest finish in the past four seasons, having finished in the top three in each of the three seasons immediately preceding Season 2024-25. They had also been top of the table in Season 2020-21 at the time the season was brought to a premature end by the pandemic. Pewsey will be keen to regain that top three position this coming season but will have to do it without a number of the key figures from recent seasons. Captain Liam Edmondson has gone into retirement with goalkeeper Louie Latouche also set to join him but Lotouche has agreed to play in the opening round of games at the start of the season. The influential James Guthrie will be back pulling the strings in midfield with leading scorer Josh Fowler also returning to the Recreation Ground for another season. Regulars Brandon-Lee Vincent, Kyle Bird, Andy Rossiter, Rory Sellick and Connor Marsden are also set to wear the black and white stripes again this season. Pewsey start their campaign at home to newly promoted Swindon Supermarine before travelling to Faringdon in midweek to play a side they did the double over last season in the league.

George Plank starts his second season in charge at Shrewton United looking to build on last season’s strong finish to the season that saw them finish in fifth place in the table. Last season Shrewton had applied for promotion to Step 6 and may well again be one of a number of teams looking for promotion come the end of the season. Most of last season’s squad have returned including leading scorer Charlie Utterson and the Cross twins, Lewis and Jordan who scored 22 goals between them last season. At the time of writing one key player from last season who has yet to sign is Brennan Knowles who scored 11 times in his 24 appearances. As a club over the years in our Premier Division, Shrewton have often ended the season as the division’s leading scorers and Season 2024-25 was no different with Shrewton bagging 82 goals from their 32 games. That said they also conceded the most goals of any of the top six sides and the key to improving on last season’s fifth place finish will probably be to improve on that defensive record as goals in the right end should not be a problem. With that in mind they have signed experienced former Trowbridge Town keeper Cameron Miller in the summer, Miller having also played for Bemerton Heath Harlequins and Bratton last season as well as Trowbridge. Shrewton start their 2025-26 campaign at home to Shrivenham before having to play a series of away games whilst they carry out maintenance on their pitch, starting with a trip to newly promoted Down Ampney the following Saturday.

Action from Shrewton United's high profile pre-season friendly against Dorking Wanderers Academy

There has been a consistent theme to Shrivenham’s two season to date in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League Premier Division, with poor starts to the season being followed by an excellent second half of the season seeing them climb up the league table. Last season Shrivenham failed to win any of their first seven games. The turning point in their season came on a very wet night in midweek in October when Faringdon Town played their first ever game under floodlights, Shrivenham winning a tight game 1-0. They then proceeded to go unbeaten in their next ten games, winning seven of them finally suffering defeat again at the end of January when Letcombe beat them at the Ian Richardson Football Ground.  They ended the season in sixth position, just two points behind Shrewton United and three adrift of fourth placed Pewsey Vale. Manager Glenn Horsell will be hoping that this season his side get off to a much better start. They will start the season without last season’s leading scorer Jacob Newdick, who is one of a number of last season’s leading scorers taking the step up to Hellenic League Premier Division football, Newdick having joined Highworth Town. After that opening day trip to Shrewton United, as noted above, they have another tough away game at Letcombe.

Last season Melksham Town Reserves finished level on points with Shrivenham in seventh spot. Justin Flowers young squad now has another year’s experience under their belt and will be looking to improve on that seventh place finish this coming season. Expect the focus to again be on youth this coming season, with Luke Ballinger adding some experience to the squad. Last season’s captain Nick Chandler, who left towards the end of last season, has remained at Park United and another regular player from last season who has moved on is goalkeeper Harry Pickering, who has joined Malmesbury Victoria in the Hellenic League. However, most of the rest of last season’s squad have remained. Leading scorer Kegan Smart, who scored 16 last season, has remained at the club along with Liam Brooks, Nick Taylor and Oliver Farrell who all registered seven goals last campaign so there is plenty of fire power within the squad. Melksham have picked up a couple of players from Calne Town Reserves with Fraser Blake and Joshua Morse making a summer move. With more promising youngsters coming through from their Under 18 side Melksham will once again be competitive in what is shaping up to be another strong league in Season 2025-26. Melksham open the season with a trip to the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground to take on Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development before opening their home fixtures for the season with a visit from newly promoted Devizes Town Reserves.

Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves finished in eighth spot, two points behind Melksham in their first season in the Premier Division. They also made the Fountain Trophies Cup Final where they led 2-1 going into the closing stages of the game only for Division One side Cricklade Town to score a late equaliser and take the game to penalties, with Cricklade winning the shootout. After an excellent first season Bemerton were then rocked by issues with their first team that saw the manager and players depart the club at the end of the season and the club forced to pull out of the Southern League. This put the continuation of the reserves side in jeopardy with last season’s reserve team manager Jay Madden stepping up to take over the first team. Initial attempts to find another manager to come in and take over the reserve side were unsuccessful, and it looked like they would have to pull their reserve side out of the Wiltshire Senior League. However, a solution was found when Salisbury made the decision to not run their development side in Season 2025-26, with manager Nick Edwards and a number of his players moving across the city to join Bemerton. Some of the regular Salisbury players from last season joining Edwards in making the move across the city are Naman Gurung, Daniel Bazen, Harry Cooper, Thomas Edwards, Ethan Daubney and Harry Guy. The young Salisbury side improved as the season went on in 2024-25 and on their day were a match for most teams, as demonstrated by their 6-2 win over Wroughton towards the end of last season. Consequently, Edwards will be hopeful his side can build on last season and match Bemerton’s top half of the table finish this coming season. Due to ground maintenance Bemerton open the season with two away games, a visit to Cricklade Town this Saturday being followed seven days later with a trip to Wroughton in a fixture reversed due to that ground maintenance work.

Action from last season's Fountain Trophies Cup Final that saw Bemerton go close against Cricklade, eventually losing on penalties

At one-point Wroughton had looked on for a top five finish last season but in the end finished in ninth place. It was still a good season for the club though, as they made the final of the prestigious Wiltshire Senior Cup for the second time in three seasons. Unfortunately, they were to suffer defeat against Step 6 opponents in a final for the second time, going down 3-0 against Devizes Town. In the league four defeats in their final five league games after that cup final defeat saw them miss out on the top five finish. At the end of season, the management team of Ben Jarrett and Nick Salter stepped down and Wroughton will have a new manager this coming season in the shape of centre back Luigi Hernandez who will be taking on his first managerial role in adults’ football. Most of last season’s squad have re-signed for the coming season but their two leading scorers from last season, Jonathan Peachey-Score and Kassa Anderson, have both signed for Hellenic League Premier Division side Royal Wootton Bassett Town. Wroughton will still have the experienced Chris Flanagan, Aaron Maximen, Shane Hibbert, Max Scholefield and Jonny Davoile in their squad and will be expecting to have another good season under their new manager.  The cups probably remain the most likely opportunity for silverware this season given the overall strength of the division, with at least four sides expected to be fighting it out for that promotion spot to Step 6 come the end of the season. Wroughton open their season away at Larkhall Athletic Development before entertaining Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development the following Tuesday.

Season 2024-25 didn’t quite go to plan for Trowbridge Town with a heavy early defeat at Pewsey Vale seeing new manager Sam Houkes depart the club to be replaced by the experienced Wayne Thorne. Whilst under Thorne Trowbridge always remained in touch with the top five position needed to be considered for promotion, they never really got close to challenging eventual champions Kintbury Rangers nor Letcombe in the race for honours. Four defeats in their final seven games, coupled with a two-point deduction, put paid to any chances of a top five finish with Trowbridge in the end having to settle for tenth place, level on points with Wroughton but with an inferior goal difference. They will be another side who are under new management for the coming season with Thorne having left at the end of last season. The new man in charge is Nathan Farquarson who, if he matches the off-field efforts at the club over the summer months, could well lead the club back to the promised land of Step 6 come the end of the current season. Led by enthusiastic chairman Andy Meaden there has been a major transformation of the ground at Woodmarsh with floodlights installed, new pitch surround barriers in place with a concrete walkway around the pitch amongst the many improvements made at the ground ahead of the new season. Due to that ongoing work Trowbridge will start the season with six away games starting on Saturday at Purton Kingsdown followed by a midweek trip to Corsham to play Park United. With the new floodlights installed they will catch up with home games in September.

The new floodlights in action at Trowbridge Town before the new pitch surround went in (picture courtesy of Alwyn Bodman)

After sitting third in the table at the turn of the year last season, Park United had a disappointing second half to the season despite winning away at Kintbury Rangers and also winning away at second placed Letcombe. On their day they showed they were capable of beating the best but twice lost to struggling Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development and let in six goals in games against Pewsey Vale, Melksham Town Reserves and Shrivenham. They are one of the sides who are looking to progress to Step 6 and with that in mind will be playing at Corsham Town’s ground this season. Most of last season’s squad have returned with a couple of decent new signings in the shape of goalkeeper Will Gage, the star of last season’s Fountain Trophies Cup final win for Cricklade Town, and Kias Bonner-Shea who joins from Lambourn Sports for whom he scored ten goals last season in 29 appearances. Park United open their season with a trip to newly promoted Down Ampney before that midweek home game against Trowbridge Town.

This season sees Park United share Corsham Town's ground rather than playing on the 3G at Stanley Park

Last season Calne Town Reserves finished two points behind Park United in 12th spot but at one point it looked as though they might get sucked into a relegation battle. However, three wins in their final four games saw them in the end finish well clear of the relegation zone. Calne Town Reserves will be under new management this coming season with former U18 manager Dan Carey taking over from Tom Boakes in the dugout. He will have to do without a few of last season’s regular players with several players having departed over the summer. Goalkeeper Lewis Clark has joined Hellenic Premier Division side, Royal Wootton Bassett Town, Joshua Morse and Fraser Blake have gone to Melksham Town Reserves and Beau Hicks has signed for Cricklade Town. Leading scorer Jack Smith has, however, remained with the club and will lead the line if not called up to the first team this coming season. Calne are always competitive at this level with their Under 18 team regularly producing talented players who progress into adult football. Calne open their season with a visit from Faringdon Town on Saturday and follow that up with another home game on Tuesday night when they take on Larkhall Athletic Development.

At the start of last season there were high expectations at Larkhall Athletic Development, who had gone so well the previous season. However, the loss of several key players just prior to the start of the season saw them struggle at the start of the 2024-25 Season. At the turn of the year Larkhall surprisingly sat second from bottom having lost 14 of their opening 22 games and having also suffered a two-point deduction for being unable to field a side. Despite that difficult start, Larkhall  had a stunning 2025 to get out of relegation trouble, winning nine of their final 12 league games, their only defeats in that period coming at the hands of champions Kintbury Rangers, third placed Kingsdown and Trowbridge Town. They ended the season on a winning note defeating league runners-up Letcombe 3-1. With their new 3G pitch at Plain Ham and excellent facilities they will be aiming to secure promotion to Step 6 at the end of the coming season. They will look to carry on where they left off last season and with most of the key players from that fine run in the second half of the season returning, together with some experienced signings at this level, they are being tipped by a number of people to do well this season. Those new signings include Ben Wickens who joins from Trowbridge Town, a player who has also starred for Melksham Town Reserves and Corsham Town Reserves previously in the Premier Division. Larkhall start the season with a home game against Wroughton before a midweek trip to take on Calne Town Reserves.

Last season Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development spent virtually all season fighting a relegation battle but, in the end, finished eight points clear of the relegation positions. On their day they showed they were capable of getting a result against the top sides, as evidenced by the away draws at champions Kintbury Rangers and runners-up Letcombe but other than that the away record was poor, with just two wins and two further draws on the road. They found goals hard to come by finishing as the third lowest scorers in the division and things will not be helped on that front this coming season by losing leading scorers Flynn Walters to Western league side Calne Town and Dylan Griffin to National League South Slough Town’s Elite Development squad. Coming the other way are a host of young players mainly from Fairford Town and Chippenham Town looking to establish themselves at this level, including Okafur Ugonna, Omar Sisay, Charlie King, Prince Nyongolo and Thomas Graham. With an overhaul of the club’s first team together with the club policy this season of signing players on for the Hellenic side who will also play for the development side if not selected for the first team or coming back from injury, the development side should be stronger this season. Royal Wootton Bassett Town open their season with the visit of Melksham Town Reserves before making the short journey in midweek to Wroughton.

Having received a reprieve from relegation due to the demise of Salisbury Development, Faringdon Town will look to avoid having another relegation battle this coming season, their second in the Premier Division. At home their record was decent last season with seven victories and one draw from their 16 fixtures. It was their failure to win on the road in any of their 16 away games that potentially cost them their place in the Premier Division come the end of the season, picking up just three points from those 16 away games. Most of last season’s regular line up have returned, including Matthew Bibby who had joined Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development, but has now gone back to Faringdon. Due to work commitments manager Dan Knight stepped down during the summer and has been replaced by Josh Forth who will take on a player-manager role this coming season. Faringdon open their season away at Calne Town Reserves where they will look to break that unfortunate winless league record on the road in their opening game of the season. They follow that up in midweek with a visit from Pewsey Vale.

Swindon Supermarine Development were promoted under the pyramid arrangements from the Hellenic League Division 2 Central, a division which has now been rebranded the Hellenic Alliance for this coming season. The four full completed seasons that the team played in the Hellenic League saw them achieve a top three position each and every season, winning their division in 2022-23 and finishing as runners-up last season, that second place finish being enough to secure promotion. With their first team playing at Step 4 of the pyramid in the Southern League, Swindon Supermarine Development may well have ambitions to return to the Hellenic League at Step 6 and it will be interesting to see how competitive they are this coming season. With Letcombe having come from the same league securing runners-up last season they will be hoping to be competing for honours at the top end of the table this coming season. They open the season with a tough looking away game at Pewsey Vale before hosting another side new to the Premier Division, Down Ampney, in midweek.  

Swindon Supermarine Development who want promotion to the Premier Division from the Hellenic League Div 2

After last seasons highly successful season which saw Cricklade win the Division One title, the Wiltshire Junior Cup and also lift the Fountain Trophies Cup, Cricklade will start a re-building exercise on their return to the Premier Division that they last graced back in Season 2020-21. Manager Mani Roper has departed to take over the reigns at Hellenic League Division One Malmesbury Victoria taking most of last season’s successful squad with him. He has been replaced by the management team who were in charge at Blunsdon last season until they pulled out of the league, Ian Rosewell and Troy Prentice. The duo have brought in several of the players who played for them previously at Blunsdon, most notably Danny Hale who spent the back end of last season with league champions Kintbury Rangers and goalkeeper Harrison Ellis. They have also made some astute signings, including Lewis Bexon Shaw who scored 30 goals for Lambourn Sports last season in Division One and Beau Hicks who spent part of last season at Malmesbury Vics Development before moving to Calne Town Reserves. After the euphoria of last season’s treble, the objective this season will be to re-establish the club at this level. Cricklade open their season with that visit from Bemerton Heath Harlequins in a repeat of last season’s Fountain Trophies Cup final before entertaining near neighbours Purton Kingsdown in midweek.  

Devizes Town Reserves return to the Premier Division of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League after an absence of three seasons after they finished as runners-up to Division One champions Cricklade Town last season. In the end Devizes finished just three points behind Cricklade having ended the season with eight straight victories, including a 3-1 win over the eventual champions. Devizes Town Reserves are the only club in the Premier Division this season to have played over 1,000 games in the division since the league was formed in 1976 and they will get to add to their tally of 1,032 games this coming season. Manager Ray King has retained the bulk of last season’s successful squad who will look to get off to a winning start against last season’s runners-up Letcombe before a midweek local derby against Melksham Town Reserves. Manager King will be hoping his side can extend that winning run to ten games as a result of their opening two fixtures.

The third and final side to be promoted from Division One last season are Down Ampney who return for what will be only their second season in the Premier Division, their one and only season previously in the Premier Division was back in 2005-06 when they finished sixth in a 17-team division. Down Ampney were Division One’s second top scorers last season with 149 goals, with three players scoring 87 goals between them with Charlie McCuish leading the way with 35 in the league, Paddy Cripps netting 27 and Harvey Coster two behind on 25. All three are back at Down Ampney again this season as are Connor Hibbs (14 goals last season in the league) and George Bailey (13 goals). Last season in the Fountain Trophies Cup, Down Ampney defeated Premier Division clubs Kingsdown and Larkhall Athletic Development on the way to the semi final where they pushed another Premier Division side, Bemerton Heath Harlequins Reserves, all the way, eventually going down to a late winner and as a result are expected to do well on their return to the Premier Division after a 20 year absence. Down Ampney start their campaign with that visit from Park United before the midweek trip to Swindon Supermarine.

Down Ampney who secured promotion to the Premier Division after finishing 3rd in Division One last season

Final Note

Going into the new season there are once again no real clear favourites, but with several clubs having ambitions of playing at Step 6 come the end of the season, it is looking like it could be a closely contested title race in the 50^th season of the league’s existence. May battle commence.

30 July 2025