As we start our countdown to the 50th anniversary of the club (2 year countdown starts with this years festival!), I thought it would be time to show off some of the history of the club and pictures over the years showing how we have become such a well liked and valued part of Hampshire RFU.
But where do you go to get this information. The best place is from the people who lived it and helped make the club what it is today, therefore Keith Coomber was always going to be the man!
As we are looking at how we can start developing the club further, this week I thought it would be good to go back to the time when we changed Laverstoke Park from a cricket ground to the home of Rugby for Overton and the surrounding areas.
By the late 80’s the committee had now recognized the fact that the club had grown and was attracting players from far outside Whitchurch and Overton and although Town Meadow had been secured the constant flooding was causing great problems, new pitches where urgently needed. Overton school was also used for many years as the “other” pitch, but for those who played on its slope realised that another site had to be found.
This search took many years but with the selling of Laverstoke Estate a new opportunity was seized whereby the new owner Mr. Jody Scheckter allowed us to take on the Cricket pitch in Laverstoke. So, in 1997 it was with much discussion and sadness that we moved to one of the few thatch rugby pavilions in the country.
The development at Laverstoke has been done with the usual self-help that has been the haul mark of Overton over the years and it was with great delight that the renovated club house and changing facilities were opened in December 2011. a great difference from the club’s foundation in 1971.
The below pictures have been supplied by Keith to show where our club started, if you compare where it is now then you can see that work never stops, and nor is it likely to!
To read about how Overton RFC came to be, please have a look at the Club History page on this website
Keep watching this space as we will continue to look back on the history of the club and provide glimpses back to how this great club was formed.