It’s a nostalgic farewell plus the dawning of a new era at Denbigh Town as their 60-year-old changing rooms have been demolished.
Thanks to a major grant from the Cymru Football Foundation’s Fit-For-Future Facilities Programme, the club are building a new two-storey facility – comprising four changing rooms for men, women and junior teams plus space for match officials, offices, a kitchen and education and entertainment spaces.
It will be great for the club but also the local community, with groups able to use the new spaces.
Club president Clwyd Williams remembers the old changing rooms being built in 1963, when he was 11 years of age. Prior to that, the team played in the neighbouring field with only a shed in the corner. He made his own debut for the team when he was 16, and since then he has managed the firsts, the reserves and the thirds, as well as serving as chairman, vice-chairman and club secretary.
“My fondest memory of the old dressing room was the first time I used it,” he recalls. “I played for Denbigh High School and we got to the final of the Ivor Tuck Welsh Schools Cup. The game was played at Denbigh’s ground and it was a thrill for us all to use the pitch and the dressing rooms.”
But Clwyd says it is time for the club to move on.
“The dressing rooms have become dated and too small,” he says. “These days, teams have large squads and management teams. There have been a number of improvements at the ground – and the new building will be the icing on the cake.”
