Bredon Star History
Bredon Star was formed in 1991 from a Sunday Pub side. When the Star Inn in Overbury closed, the leading players, Steve Malpass and Neil Evans got together and formed the club.
The Parish council agreed to allow a Portacabin onto the playing field for changing facilities and together with the 2 rugby pitches enabled the club to play rugby matches in the centre of Bredon.
Initially, fielding just one senior team, games moved to being played on a Saturday and were organised against local clubs from around Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.
After a couple of years, the club now fielding 2 senior sides, decided to enter League rugby and formally joined the North Midlands Leagues playing in Division 3. Initially, this proved very tough and sometimes the team went to away matches without 15 players. However, in 2001/2002 season Bredon Star won the League Title and then moved into North Midlands 2 South for the 2002/2003 season. They won this Title in the 2004/2005 season and progressed to play in the Midlands Leagues, Division 5 West (South West).
Throughout all this time, the club has utilised the local playing field in Bredon, moving from the Portacabin in the year 2000 to a purpose build changing room block on the same site. The Parish Council built the block and the club fully furnished the interior, from walls, toilets, showers and boilers. The club is very grateful to the parish for giving us the major step forward and to the club members for their magnificent fund raising efforts at that time.
Since 1991 to the end of the 2008/2009 season, the club has always socialised after games at the Royal Oak Pub in Bredon. A succession of Publicans have run the Pub in this time, and they have all served the club very well, always making us most welcome. A big thank you to Mike Hardwick, the Pub owner, for his continued support.
However, for the 2009/2010 season we have now moved into Bredon Village Hall, which backs onto the playing field. Again a big thank you to Bredon Parish Council for purchasing this facility for the Community at large, but in also letting the club be a new tenant and setting up a club room there. The club will now make this it’s home with full use of the Bar and overtime the club will help the hall become a facility that can support all it’s existing commitments/uses, as well as support the Rugby club each Weekend.
Bredon Buzzards – History
David Taylor, a former teacher, and Sam Masters, the former Moseley and Gloucester No'8 who lived in Bredon, tried to form a junior club, but were prevented by the RFU. The problem was that insurance requirements dictated that a junior section can only function as part of a senior club.
Both David and Sam decided to link up with Neil Evans, Captain of Bredon Star and Stephen Malpass, the then Chairman. They formed the Bredon Star RFC, junior section (Bredon Buzzards) around the same time as the club was formed in 1991. They began with only eighteen youngsters and within the year had them playing under-9 and under-10 matches.
David Taylor increased the club in both size and teams helped by his close connections with local schools. Approximately 160 local children from Bredon, Tewkesbury, Pershore, Evesham and the nearby villages around Bredon Hill formed the under-8s to the under-16s.
In 2002, a couple of years after David Taylor stepped down as Junior section chairman, the Bredon Buzzards had grown to hold 9 teams with full training and fixture list for the season. Since then the club has continued to grow, now fielding teams from under-7s through to under-17s and taking part in many individual matches and tournaments each season.
The club has also leased two additional pitches at Bredon Cricket club in Westmancote, where the under-7s to under-12s play. The under-13s to under-17s play at Bredon.