On Wednesday night, the lights will go on for what Newbury Town hope will be a long and successful football future in West Berkshire.
The club will mark the ‘turn on’ of their re-installed floodlights at Faraday Road with a Thames Valley Premier League tie against Burghfield – and Football in Berkshire has two Newbury Town home shirts to giveaway to celebrate.
Newbury are five games in to the TVPL season and Wednesday will mark the first ‘official’ home game. Devonn Reid’s side opened the season with an 11-0 win over Cookham Dean, played at Hungerford Town, and have then been on the road for four consecutive games at Wargrave, Henley Town, Westwood Wanderers and Chalfont St Peter.
On Wednesday night they’ll kick-off against Burghfield with a maximum 15 points on the board, and only one goal conceded and 31 scored.
Speaking to the BBC Berkshire website, Chairman Danny Langford – who also played for the club – said: “I don’t mind admitting that Wednesday night is going to be very emotional for me, seeing a resurgent Newbury Town FC playing under floodlights for the first time in 10 years.”
A brief history of Newbury Town at Faraday Road
A Newbury football club played at Faraday Road between 1963 and eviction in 2018. The ground as it was had been earmarked for regeneration as part of the already existing industrial park.
Parts of the ground including seating and floodlights were sold off before an arson attack in 2021 destroyed much of what remained.
A change in control of West Berkshire Council from Conservative to Liberal Democrat though brough a rebirth to Faraday Road as a football ground. It re-opened to the game in 2023 and three years, will have floodlit football back – though a plan for an all-weather surface is back on the drawing board following environmental concerns.
Want to win a Newbury Town home shirt for the season ahead? Head to Football in Berkshire on Instagram and follow the instructions here.
