Shireway Sports can look back on their most successful season for many years in the Bristol & District League on Saturdays, having been involved in the Division IV promotion race for most of the campaign.

The Yate-based club was formed in 1985 and has since fielded Saturday and Sunday sides each week, with both enjoying the sponsorship of the Shireway Community Association.

The team kicked off in the Bath and District Sunday League, winning promotion from Division IV to Division II as champions in three successive seasons from 1988 and completed a notable double when lifting the GFA Sunday Minor Cup in 1989.

At the same time, Shireway launched a Saturday team in the Bristol and District League, with Martin Belcher as manager, but honours were few and far between in the early days.

Shireway then transferred to the Bristol & District Sunday League in 1993 to become Division II champions and winners of the Charles Finch Cup in their first season in the new competition.

The team reached the Premier Division of the Bristol Sunday League in 1996, led by Steve Parsons, who later had spells at Tormartin and Chipping Sodbury, before joining the ranks of referees in the District League on Saturdays this season.

Shireway won the GFA Sunday Premier Cup in 1999 and again in 2001, when the team finished runners-up in the Premier Division, with Les Underdown at the helm. Stuart Lawson then took charge of the team, which was successful in the GFA Sunday Premier Cup final in 2003, but silverware has been in short supply since then.

John Hackett became manager of the Saturday team in the latter 1990s, and they lifted the Division V crown in 1996 and finished second the following season in Division IV.

The Saturday team ended the decade as Division III champions in 1999 then later disbanded, until being reformed to join the District League again in 2006. The steadying influence of manager Lez Timbrell has contributed to the recent improvement in results.

This season, local hero Terry Moore has brought his experience to the Saturday team, both as a striker and as an assistant to Timbrell, who is hoping victory in this Saturday's home game against Longwell Green B will clinch promotion to Division III.

The Sunday side has returned to the Premier Division this season, after a couple of years playing at a lower level, and a great debt of gratitude is owed to the late Derek Nichols, who saved the team from a decline in fortunes during the 2006/07 campaign.

The many cup and league successes since 1985 are firmly based on the loyal and hard work of long standing members of the club, almost too many to mention.

Since the launch in 1985, only Steve Parsons and Andy Hurcom have held the post of secretary, while chairman Ray Gunning is another long-serving member, as are most of the management team.

The club has so far led a largely nomadic existence, having used several different home grounds, but now is based firmly at Sunnyside Lane in Yate.

There are plans to develop their pitch but it remains to be seen whether future developments will allow Shireway to move forward and expand with the aim of creating reserve teams and a youth section.