Early Club Secretaries

Cyril Anderson is listed as the first secretary and held the position before and after the war up to 1951, the exceptions being the 1935/36 season when he shared the office with Mr. Frank Blick and 1948/49 when the office was held by Mr. E.S. Merchand. 

Mr. Fred Gardiner took over the job in 1951, but only until 1953 when the club found itself in the unfortunate position of having to fold due to a lack of committee members.  Cyril Anderson then concentrated on duties concerning the Stroud League and in 1955 became its chairman.

Cyril Anderson

The Club Reforms

By 1964 Leonard Stanley had a new playing field at Marsh Road and a brand new pavilion building, all that was needed was a football club to make use of it along with the recently formed Cricket Club. It wasn't long before a committee including Fred Gardiner was on the case and Cyril Anderson was elected as president. Brian Stevens, who had been playing for neighbours Kings Stanley was recruited as the new secretary and the team was entered into Division 4 of the Stroud League. A spritley young winger by the name of Roly Wilkes had also been playing at Kings Stanley, but as a Leonard Stanley lad he was keen to join the newly formed club. Roly took over as secretary in 1966 and held the office until the mid 1990s, his playing career lasted just as long and he played a tremendous amount of games for the club, retiring at the age of 50 to take up refereeing.

Soon after the reformation of the club Cyril Anderson sadly died. Since the  early 1930s he had been a loyal and hardworking player, committee man, secretary, chairman and president as well as Chairman of the Stroud League. The club purchased a shield to honour his work and devised a six-a-side tournament to be played in the close season every year.  The Cyril Anderson Shield being awarded to the winners. This competition has been a greatl success and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2006.

1966 also saw the formation of a Reserve team, which was entered into Division 5 of the Stroud League - then the lowest of its divisions. Unlike the previous time this reserve team thrived and supported the firsts for many years and still continues today. Soon after an Under 16 team was formed and was managed by Eric Davis. This team went from strength to strength and in season 1970/71 were winners of the Auxillary cup and runners-up in their section of the Stroud Youth League. The following season they reached the final of the Glos. FA Youth cup. This match was played at the Eastville Stadium in Bristol - at that time the home of Bristol Rovers FC - in front of a large crowd that had made the journey from Leonard Stanley. Sadly they went down 3 - 1 to Barton Hill. That season also saw the team as runners-up in the league and the Auxillary Cup. The team consisted of: Kevin Martin, Gary Wheeler, Julian Kingset, Ian Davis, Steve Jacques, Graham Stark, James Carmen, John Gray, Keith Smith, Nick Griffiths, Derrick Gardiner, and Dave Morgan. As this team moved up the age groups to Under 18s they enjoyed more success winning their league and the Red Cross Cup they also came close to winning other cups.

With the twinning of Leonard Stanley with Dozule in Normandy, France now well established, the club began to play matches against their team - GS Dozule. The matches took place once a year at Easter. One year in Leonard Stanley and the next in Dozule. This was an enjoyable event, especially on the trips to France. Their pitch - with terraced seating all along one side was a good place to play and the matches were usually quite even, though Stanley probably came out on top overall, which is surprising considering the amount of wine and Calvados the Stanley players were plied with prior to the matches. These matches continued through to the late eighties and good memories of the friendly times with the French players still fresh today.

Committee Members in the mid 70s were: Roly Wilkes, Eric Davis, Graham King, Fred Gardiner, John Sinden, Chris Sinden, Ken Lusty, Vernon Screen, Brian Warren, Phil Raymond, Jim Flagg, Eric Gardiner, Doug Lusty, D. Carmen and P Carmen. Two of Cyril Anderson's grandsons, Eric and Derrick Gardiner were now firmly established first team players and in season 1975/6 Eric achieved a club record by scoring 52 goals.

A Tragic Day

In 1976 the village, the club and all concerned suffered a mammoth tragedy. On Saturday 27th November the first team goalkeeper Roger Wyman died after a collision during a home game with neighbours Kings Stanley. Roger left a wife and a very young son. An appeal fund was launched and donations were received from football clubs big and small from all over the country. Following the tragedy Leonard Stanley played Kings Stanley in a memorial match - usually around Christmas - for the next twenty one years. The fund grew further and was passed to Roger's son when he reached 21 in 1997.