Manor Colts FC in Alton is celebrating its 50th birthday this summer - and it wants help from the public to make it special.

The club is appealing for photographs, memorabilia and memories related to the club, which can be emailed to Danielle Gray at [email protected]

They will be incorporated into a display marking its half-century at the Manor Colts birthday party and awards night at Alton Rugby Club on June 8.

The club began sometime during the summer holidays in 1975 when a group of boys from the Manor estate in Alton decided they wanted to form a football team.

They had been kicking a ball around their local park and decided to knock on the door of Keith Cox to ask him to manage the team.

Keith was chairman of Alton Town FC, had been chairman of the Alton and District Youth League, was a Class 1 referee and had played in goal for Crondall, Guildford City and Aldershot.

A few training sessions were arranged and the boys’ commitment was plain, so Keith got them raising money for kit and thinking of a name. Keith’s wife Eileen suggested Manor Colts and it stuck.

The boys collected old car batteries and scrap metal but this did not raise anywhere near enough money for a set of shirts. But when the scrap merchant heard the boys’ intentions he donated £20, which bought ten shirts for the outfield players.

Keith organised their first match at Alresford Town, which was lost by ‘a lot’ to one. But scoring a goal gave the boys some belief they could compete and improve, and they did not look back.

Keith worked for Read’s undertakers and was able to borrow the company minibus to take the team and their supporters to away games.

Then at a business lunch Keith was talking to fellow undertaker Ron Thorne, whose brother had died recently. A collection taken at his funeral, earmarked for a park memorial, had not been spent, so Ron changed his plans and donated the £260 raised to the club, putting it on a sound financial footing and enabling the goalkeepers to have shirts as well.

These recollections of the club’s early days were written by its then chairman, David Harris, in October 2015, shortly after it celebrated its 40th birthday.

David concluded: “So enthusiasm and commitment from the players, hard work from the coaches and club officers, and a little bit of good luck were enough to establish a thriving club. And today those qualities are surely all that are needed to ensure our success into the future.”