Calne Town is one of the oldest clubs in Wiltshire, having been founded in 1886. For the first few years they played friendlies and entered the Wilts Cup for the first time in 1891/92. They made history by playing the first ever game in the Wilts League in September 1884 when they beat Bradford Town 9-0.
They played in the centre of the town at the Recreation Ground and in 1920 amalgamated with Harris F.C. to become Calne and Harris United F.C. The Harris in the name came from the bacon factory that dominated the skyline in the middle of Calne. The name remained the same until the early 1960's when the original name of Calne Town was re-adopted. At the same time the club relocated to Bremhill View where there was more scope to improve facilities and which has been the club's ground until the present day. Throughout the first hundred years of its existence Calne played in local Wiltshire leagues and enjoyed limited success, winning the Wiltshire Senior Cup in 1912/13 and 1984/85, the Wiltshire County Division 2 in 1979/80 and the Ghia Senior KO Cup in 1984/85.
In 1985/86 a new committee was formed with the objective of bringing a higher standard of football to Bremhill View and in 1986/87, the club's centenary year, Calne's application to join the Great Mills Western League was accepted. Further development work at the ground in 1991/92 saw the expansion of the social club to provide lounge as well as bar facilities.
With Manager Graham Fell at the helm, Calne Town FC were promoted to the Premier Division by the way of finishing runners up in the First Division in 1992/93.The next season was a turbulent time with three managers in charge but the club remained in the top division and stability was only achieved with the surprise appointment of a then relatively unknown 22 year old Tom Saunders. Tommy Saunders had the knack of 'finding' quality players and the club enjoyed its most successful period ever under his stewardship regularly finishing in the top half of the table.
In 1997/98 Calne enjoyed an excellent F.A. Cup run defeating Fleet Town, Welton Rovers and Clevedon Town, only losing to Basingstoke in the last couple of minutes in a replay at Bremhill View.
Tommy was obviously destined for greater things and it was no great surprise when he left for Chippenham Town in February 1998 leaving his assistant Colin Bush in charge, along with ex-Calne player Lester Foxhall. Tommy left the club in such good shape that Calne finished in 6th position, their highest ever place.
Season 1998/99 revealed just how important Tommy had been to the club when many of Calne's players made the short trip down the A4 to join him at Hardenhuish Park and other players, their reputations boosted by the previous season's performances, moved on to higher league. Thus new manager Mel Gingell began the close season with no players and his hastily assembled squad of young players could not compete at that stage in their careers in the Premier League. Mel paid the price for the lack of success of the team and was dismissed midway through the season to be replaced by John Fisher (ex-Swindon Supermarine and Wollen Sports manager). John probably relied too much on inexperienced players and unable to turn around the club's fortunes. Relegation was inevitable and John Fisher resigned at the end of the season.
1999/2000 saw the appointment of former Calne stalwart Graham Learmonth as manager. Graham, with sterling help from Sean Hughes and Ian Monnery, steadied the ship and assembled a young side, who although inconsistent, produced some excellent performances throughout the season and brought some pride back into the club. Due to reconstruction of the league the club avoided relegation at the end of 2000/01 even though the final league position was at the bottom. This final league position resulted in the resignation of manager Graham Learmonth.
Season 2001/02 brought much optimism for the coming season with the newly appointed management team, Steve Hale and Paul Rankin. Steve Hale resigned shortly into the season leaving Paul Rankin to manage the side with assistant Mark Jefferies. Although ending the season near the foot of the table, 100% effort had been given by all players and management team. Paul Rankin has agreed to remain with the club for the coming season and several new exciting coaching appointments have been made.
Kelvin Highmore joined Paul Rankin as co-manager for 2002/3 with Simon Hillier returning to the club as first team coach. The season did not start well with only 5 points from the first nine games. Then things clicked and went through a 'purple patch' with twenty six points accruing from the next ten games and Calne ended the season in a respectable sixth place. Paul Rankin exercised a commitment he had made at the beginning of the season and left the club. Sadly, the move to the new ground hit the buffers.
For 2003/4 Kelvin Highmore brought in new players and the team completed some memorable performances. F.A cup success still eludes us, but the season ended with Calne just missing out on promotion to the Screwfix Premier by a couple of places. Proposals for the new ground were resurrected.
2004/5 was one of the most successful years in the club's history. Promotion was in doubt until the last match of the season, but a victory resulted in Calne finishing second in the league and gaining automatic promotion to the Premiership. Additionally Calne reached the final of the League Cup only to lose to Bridgwater on penalties. At the end of the season, Kelvin Highmore resigned to take over at Melksham.
2005/6 successes were built on under the new management team of Robbie Lardner and Simon Hillier. Almost all of the previous seasons players stayed with the club and the club ended the season in the highest league position in it's 120 year history. 2006/7 saw our longest FA Vase run for some time, losing eventually to Slimbridge. In the league, early promise faultered and the team finished mid-table. 2007/8 was a mediocre season by what was expected at Bremhill View and finished below halfway in the Toolstation Premier League. 2008/9 Once again, the Lilywhites came out of the blocks winning most matches pre-year end but the second half of the season was poor by any standards and saw the team slip to 16th in the Premier League. The Lilywhites did however, finish runners-up to Oldland Abbotonians in the 2008/09 Les Phillips Cup Final, losing 2 – 1 in the last minute. At seasons end, Manager Robbie Lardner and Assistant, Simon Hillier decided to step down.
2009/10 Calne Town announce a new Chairman in Mark Barrett. The Committee announced the return of Kelvin Highmore as manager with Paul Thompson as his assistant. “Thommo” then left to become Asst. Manager at Devizes Town. Calne Town have welcomed Tommy Dryden to the position of Joint Manager with Kelvin Highmore. The Lilywhites did win the Wiltshire FA Senior Cup by defeating Laverstock and Ford at Salisbury City’s stadium but following a season of poor results, the team were relegated once again to the Western League, Division 1. As a result, the management team stepped down.
For the 2010/2011 season, we welcome a new management team in Jeff Roberts, Nick Vitale and Drew Youngsam.
