4. TODAY'S CLUB

In January 1952, Paul Greenough and Peter Trickey convened two meetings to suggest reviving rugby football in Castle Cary. On 1st February they returned to the Club's roots in the George Hotel to elect the first officers of the newly-formed Castle Cary Rugby Football Club. Included in the Club's first accounts was 'balance from the old club' — £6.68 remaining from 1938!

Mr Kynaston's ground opposite West Park was chosen as the playing pitch. This was followed in 1957 by a move to the Memorial Field when the Parish Council agreed shared use between CCRFC, the cricket and soccer clubs. The cost of the extended pavilion was similarly divided; the rugby club intensified its ongoing fund-raising efforts.

By 1966, CCRFC was celebrating one its most successful seasons along with a healthy bank balance — the pavilion debt had been repaid. The skittles weeks, dances, barbecue and dinners continued to keep the Club's finances in the black.

Another decade; another change of ground. In March 1979, building contractors had inadvertantly ruined the pitch on the Memorial Field and the Club's savior was Ditcheat farmer, Ernest Dyke. He leased 8½ acres of land, situated behind the Brook House Inn — the same field that is the home of CCRFC today.

The original Clubhouse was an ex-Houndstone Camp army hut: it was obtained free of charge and had to be transported in sections. It served the Club until 1993 when it was unfortunately destroyed by fire. Its replacement is the familiar concrete structure you see today: it was officially opened on 6th September 1995.

CCRFC achieved total independence in 1988 — the Club's Centenary year — when the Brookhouse Field was purchased outright. During the years since then the Club has gone from strength to strength and is widely regarded as one of the friendliest and best-run in Somerset.