Melksham Town F.C was formed in October 1876, the first game being played at “Challymead”. The club were founder members of the Wilts league in 1894, playing in that league for 80 years. They only won the league once in 1903/1904 but finished runners- up in 1924/25, 29/30, 59/60, 67/68 & 71/72.
In 1903/04 the club won the wilts Senior cup beating Swindon Hayden Street Workmen in the final. The club did not reach the final again until 1957/58 when they lost to Devizes Town after a 2nd replay.The same season saw the conigre’s record attendance of 2,821 in an FA cup match against Western league Trowbridge Town in which Melksham lost 6-0 after losing goalkeeper Mick Beaven with a finger injury. Mick later became a football league referee before his untimely death in 1978. In the early 60’s, the club did not enjoy a great deal of success on or off the field, in 1967 the club appointed ex-bath player Ken Owens as player manager who brought a more professional attitude to the club. The Club reached the Wilts Senior cup final three season’s running, 1967/68 to 1969/70, the latter seeing a 2-0 win against Devizes with two penalties from Ron Low.
In 1968/69 the club should have won the league but lost it in the last match, the season however was a notable one with Gareth Lewis scoring a club record 72 goals and the team reaching the first round proper of the FA amateur Cup, only to lose at home in front of a 800 crowd to Harwich & Parkeston 3-2. In 1974 the club joined the Western League and results were poor for the first two seasons and in 1976 Melksham Town were relegated to the newly formed first division. Alan Skirt on took over as Manager but promotion eluded the club although we won the Wilts Senior cup again in 1978 beating Avon Bradford 3-0.
Pete Carter took charge in 1979 as player manager and guided the town to the first div title, Pete remained in charge until 1982 taking the club to fifth place in his last season and winning the wilts shield in 1980/81 and 1981/82. Brain Ballinger took over briefly in 1982/83 and Mel Gingell took over in November 1983 and guided the club to the league cup in 1985 and two further wilts shield triumphs.
In 1986 new toilets, dressing rooms and floodlights were erected and first division Southampton visited the Conigre for the opening ceremony in front of a 1,500 crowd. At the end of the 1987/88 season the town were relegated back to the first division ending an 8 season stay in the top flight. During the following season 1989/90 a change in management saw Alan McDougall taking over from Mel Gingell, Alan an ex -Stranraer, Mangotsfield and Trowbridge player was forced to resign after only a short spell owing to work commitments.
Former Larkhall manager Dave King was quickly installed in November 1990 and the season ended with Town finishing a disappointing 16th position. A change in club policy owing to financial difficulties ended with Dave King’s resignation in pre –season. Local man Nigel Brimble a former assistant manager to Mel Gingell was appointed but the club finished bottom of the league in the 1992/93 season and were relegated from the great mills league under the pyramid system.
For the 1993/94 season Mel Gingell returned to the club as 1st team manager and with his knowledge and experience of the local scene it was hoped that the clubs stay in county football would be short. If the 1992/93 was the lowest point in the clubs history, then the 1993/94 was one of complete success as Town clinched the County Championship and the league double. Winning the championship together with all the necessary work off the field completed and promotion back to the Great Mills league after one year was a magnificent achievement.
In 1995/96 Town finished 9th in the league and at the end of the season Darren Perrin was appointed Manager. What a season 1996/7 was to be as Town clinched the 1st Division title and in the process becoming the first ever winners under Screwfix Direct the new sponsors. On the way they had a 24 game unbeaten run in the league and clinched the title by one point at Yeovil in the last game.
1997/98 saw Town finished in 3rd position, their highest ever Western league placing on their return to the Premier Division. The defeat of Salisbury city in the Wilts Premier Shield Final at Swindon Towns County Ground capped another fine season and 1998/99 was yet again a very big success with the Town finishing 4th in the league and reaching the quarter –final of the Les Phillips Challenge Cup and the Semi-Final of the Wiltshire Premier Shield. This however was all over shadowed by the death of our long serving President Jack Goodenough on the 12th June 1999, a hardact to follow.
The 1999/2000 season was yet again a very big success, Town finished 6th in the league and won the Wiltshire Premier Shield for the 2nd time in 3 years beating Swindon Town on their own ground in the final. Swindon fielded 10 players with first team experience. After 4 years in charge (in what is Towns most successful period in the Western league) Darren Perrin moved on to Forest Green Rovers to join their coaching staff at the Nationwide Conference club.
In those 4 years he achieved a 1st Division League title, won the Wiltshire Premier Shield twice, finished in our highest ever position in the Premier League when we finished 3rd in 1997/98 in which we also had our furthest run in the FA Vase. Robbie Lardner was appointed as Manager following Darren’s departure and he guided the team to a very respectable finishing place of 9th in the Screwfix Premier league.
Season 2001/02 saw the club celebrate its 125th year in football since being founded in 1876 and finished in 10th position. In the 2002/03 season the Town won the Wiltshire Senior Cup for the 4th time in their history by beating Trowbridge Town 2-1 at the Chippenham FC ground, the Wiltshire Senior Cup had previously been won in 1904-05, 1969-70, and in 1977-78 although they had made the final on three other occasions only to finish runners –up.
At the end of the 2002/03 season with the Town finishing in 8th place Robbie Lardner decided to stand down as Manager and move on. In the 2003/04 pre-season, Nigel Tripp was appointed the new Player/Manager for the Town but towards the end of the season decided it was time to hang up his boots and concentrate on the management side of the season with Town finishing the season in 13th place. However in February of the 2004/05 season Nigel resigned from his position as Manager following the clubs heaviest defeat at the hands of Bideford. Lee Burns was immediately instated as caretaker Player /Manager until the end of the season at which time he decided to stand down and concentrate on his business in Bristol. The end of the 2004/05 season saw Town Finish 14th Place and also the end of the Screwfix Western League sponsorship. In the close season Kelvin Highmore former Manager of local rivals Calne joined the club to take over the reins as Manager and take Town into the 2005/06 Western League season under the umberella of Toolstation the new sponsors of the Western League.
The team had a mixed season of league results and finished in 14th place but had an excellent run in the Wiltshire Senior Cup. However they ended up as runners-up by losing to Corsham Town with the final going into extra time and penalties and although losing on an aggregate of 7-5 the team put up a first class performance. The Reserve team reached the final of the Corsham Print KO Cup losing out to Corsham town Reserves 2-0, However The icing on the cake for the clubs season was the Youth teams 3-0 win over Malmesbury Victoria Youth to take the Wiltshire County FA Youth Cup.
The 2006/07 season saw the first team start poorly but soon get back into gear and finished the season in 5th place, the highest they have been since finishing 3rd in the 1998/99 season. They also were runners –up in the Wiltshire Senior Cup for the second season running. The Youth team finished the season as Champions of the Wiltshire Floodlight League.
Season 2007/08 saw Town finishing 11th in the league and they equalled their best ever run in the FA Vase reaching the third round proper losing 3-0 at home to the Holders Truro City. They ended the season on a high winning the Wiltshire Senior Cup for the 5th time defeating Laverstock and Ford 5-2.
At the start of the new 2008/09 season Wayne Thorne took over as the new Town Manager when the club finished 10th.The 2009/10 season saw the club finish 19th and relegated to the First division. New Manager Adam Young and his assistant Gary Newman were appointed prior to the start of the 2010/11 season.
