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LETCHWORTH TOWN FC
On a warm summer evening Friday 3rd August 1906 a gathering of football enthusiasts
held a General Meeting at the Free Church Hall. Their aim was simple enough, and it
was to endorse their committee’s proposal to found a Premier Football Club in
Letchworth Garden City. Letchworth F C was based at Baldock Road, Letchworth in
Hertfordshire but resigned from the Spartan South Midlands League and folded in 2002.
Originally known as Letchworth Athletic ?? and Letchworth Town they changed their
name to Letchworth Garden City in 1976, before becoming just Letchworth in 1995.
Having said that, my first sighting of a Letchworth club would appear to be a Garden
City FC in the Herts County League of 1906-07 when they came bottom 6 th of the
Northern Division won by Hitchin Union Jack. Stevenage Town finished two points
ahead. In 1907 they changed their name to Letchworth Athletic. After WW1 the League
restarted in 1919 and they were second to Leavesden Mental Hospital in the
championship play off.
After WW2 in 1945-46 they competed in the Spartan League Eastern Division and came
third behind Cambridge Town with Saffron Walden 5 th and Bishops Stortford bottom of
nine ! The club then moved up to the Delphian League in 1956, up to the Corinthian
League in 1959 when they had their best F A Cup run reaching the 4 th Qualifying Round
losing 3-4 to Kings Lynn. When that league disbanded in 1963 they joined the expanding
Athenian League. In the 1974–75 season they won the Athenian League, Epping Town
were Division two winners.
Our Match Programme shows the last season with the Letchworth Town name and is an
Athenian League game with Addlestone, another dissolved club, on the first day of the
season, Saturday August 16 th 1975. So it was billed in the Notes as a duel of champions,
Div 1 v Div 2 ! A Programme I also possess for season 1975-76 shows the new title,
Letchworth Garden City and was for an F A Trophy match v Hitchin Town on 27 th
November 1976 which they lost 0-2. They came second behind Leyton Wingate. Another
club to change their name that season were Haringey Borough who had been Edmonton
& Haringey.
In 1977-78 they joined the Isthmian League Division Two, and for the next twelve years
were consistent finishing in the top eight on six occasions. By the late 1980s the club
had entered a period of decline and In 1990–91 the team played in the South Midlands
League a step down in standards. They finished 6th in their first season, and from
thereon the decline continued at a dramatic rate. The next four seasons were poor, and
they were relegated again at the end of the 1994–95 season. There was a brief respite
but a dispute with the Hertfordshire FA saw the club go under in 2002.
The Baldock Road ground has undergone substantial upgrading and refurbishment to a
high quality and is currently the headquarters of the Hertfordshire FA. The reformed
Baldock Town played there in the 2008–09 season but have since moved away. A club,
with no connection, called Letchworth Eagles now play in the Spartan South Midlands
League.
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