BRADLEY Stoke Town FC has become an integral part of the town since being founded in 2005.

They play their home games at the Jubilee Centre, where the pitches are provided and maintained by the local council.

Successes have been plentiful so far, with the club achieving four promotions (two as champions) and reaching two cup finals, winning one and losing the other.

They have forged ties with Bradley Stoke Youth FC to encourage the oldest members to join, but with three teams representing the club, they are always on the lookout for new players to help improve the quality of the squad.

The club's ethos is to provide a friendly atmosphere for members to enjoy their football, to foster loyalty, encourage and reward effort, as well as promoting the town and the local community of Bradley Stoke.

The club was conceived by two local residents James Palmer and Nick Potter in early 2005 when the town had a very healthy youth set up but no where for these young men to step up to once they were too old for youth football.

Nick approached the Bradley Stoke Youth Club and requested that their management committee was used to set up the team and find a league in preparation for the 2005/06 season.

Nick would take on the role of secretary and James would be manager of the first team but they needed the know how of the chairman and the treasurer from the youth club as neither had this level of experience.

With this support in place, Nick was able to approach the Bristol & District League and subsequently applied for entry, with the next task to get enough players to start.

Posters were put up around the town and in the local supermarket inviting players to attend training but only eight turned up for the first session so Nick wondered whether it was a good ideal after all.

However, enough players were recruited for the start of the season and remarkably the team finished 7-1 winners in the first game, then went on to finish eighth in Division VI wearing the club's orange and black colours, which gave them the nickname of the Hornets.

The following season, a reserve side was added in the Avon League and received the Sportsman's Trophy at the end of the first campaign.

The first team won the Division VI title and promotion to Division V, allowing the reserves to move to the District League the following year and a third team was introduced to replace the reserves in the Avon League.

The first team also reached the final of the GFA Minor Cup but lost 2-1 to Brislington Cricketers from two divisions above after Bradley Stoke came close to equalising when hitting the post in the last minute.

The first team finished runners-up in Division V in the 2006/07 season for promotion again, the reserves were seventh in Division VI and the A team lifted the Avon League's Jack Jenkins Memorial Trophy with a 1-0 win against Lawrence Rovers in the final at Yate.

The following year the first team became champions of Division IV and the reserves were also promoted, although only finishing sixth, while Nick Potter was presented with the District League's EG Neal Trophy as secretary of the year.

Last year third place in Division III was enough for the first team to be promoted for the fourth time in as many seasons, quite a record for a club which had started at the bottom of the pyramid system.

After several years managing the first team, James Palmer took on the less demanding role as chairman in 2008 and Ian Drew, current chairman of Bradley Stoke Youth FC, took over in his place to enable the two clubs to develop and enhance the relationship. James became the club's president.

Nick remains secretary, Natalie Evans has been treasurer for the past two seasons, Ben Osborne, an established first team player, is the purchasing manager, who has held the post for four years.

Mr Versatile, Martin Lee, is the grant/fundraising manager and performs an identical role on the youth club's management committee, as well as being manager of the first team and a qualified coach.

Jon Welsh was appointed as manager of the reserves this season and Dave Gore has become the A Team boss, after spending the last two years as assistant to Martin.

Lifestyle Property Services have been sponsors of the first team kit since the inception in 2005 while the Three Brooks provide financial support to the third team and lay on sausage and chips in the pub after the game.

The club is looking for a sponsor for the reserves for the 2010/11 season and any interested parties can refer to the website www.bsfc.co.uk for contact details.

There are a number of partners who donate either funds or their time to the club, including Ladbrokes, who sponsor the players of the month/season trophies, Four Monkies, who host and manage the award-winning website, so the officers are grateful also for the contributions from Renishaw, npower, Bradley Stoke Town Council, and South Gloucestershire Council.

Dave Stephens is the first team goalkeeper, who has taken his chance following a long-term injury to James Potter, behind the defence which includes versatile Brad Clark, who featured as a striker last season, former youth player Andy Gore and Marlon Talbot, last season's reserve team boss, now concentrating on his football again.

Among the players pushing for a starting place are James Holbrook, Kevin Gray and Craig Tucker, who were all instrumental in the push for promotion last season.

Ben Osborne, Roger Smith, Kevin Gray and the now-departed Craig Potter, have all made more than 100 appearances but a notable absentee from defence is Jason Lee because of injury.

The midfield is built around a number of core players including captain Matt Burgess and Ben Osborne, who were together at youth level.

Other midfielders are brothers Matt and Nathan Corney, Adam Sykes, James Collis-Pritchard and Matt Hull, with a number of very good youngsters pushing the first team regulars for a starting spot, while Liam Dixon and Sam Chillcott are the regular front two, with Adam Sykes ready to deputise in attack.

The aim during the close season was to recruit newcomers that had experience at senior level to enable the club to continue the run of promotions by strengthening from the top.

The new players have shown promise for the future and the club can look forward to watching their progress.