Chairman Dennis Stringer tending to a very wet pitch ahead of Littleton fixture
NEWENT Town F.C. are a team in safe hands with the chairman who is looking after things from the ground up.
Dennis Stringer, 68 from Gorsley, near Newent Gloucestershire spent an hour and a half draining and levelling the pitch before their match on Sunday, where they came away with a 3-2 victory over Littleton after a late winner.
Stringer said:
“I wanted to make it presentable, so I got a Harris fence rail and tied some rope to it and dragged it up and down the pitch.”
He also used a fork to help drain any excess water from the pitch before kick-off.
The pitch has had verti-draining carried out a couple of times a year, but this cannot be maintained often by many clubs because it can cost up to £300 with the use of a tractor and machinery.
But that is just the start of the maintenance and care that has gone into the club in the six-year period. Stringer has been chairman since taking up the role in 2016.
The former Royal Marine physical training instructor runs a building company called Country Construction with his two sons, Ben who is also current first team manager, and Darren who also represents Newent Town F.C.
They recently built an extension on the club, including a bar area, changing rooms and toilets.
They also built a picture-perfect brand-new stand, with a firm who has connections with the club providing necessary steel.
The work posed financial challenges as the FA originally gave the club a grant of £70,000, which only covered the cost of floodlights.
The final total came to around £100,000, with a smaller grant eventually helping cover cost that had been put into the building work by Dennis and Country Construction.
This included costs of the extension on the club building and the paths which was all completed by Dennis and his sons.
Stringer had been to school at Newent and joined the Royal Marines in the mid 70’s, where he became a physical training instructor.
He was in the Royal Marines for nine years and would play for the club when he had leave periods from his duties.
After leaving the Marines in 1984, Dennis took the Newent team for fitness training when they were a county league side.
He then joined Newent Town F.C. youth with his sons, taking them through the youth system for a 10-year period.
It was in the year 2000 he joined the senior setup, running the line, mowing, and marking the pitch and carrying out other duties for approximately 20 years.
During this period, he also managed the side for a few years until six years ago he became chairman and still looks after the club to this day.
Link to the club’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/newenttownafc
Hawkinsport 