Saturday marks the end of an era for Cray Wanderers FC as they play their last ever home game at Hayes Lane, having ground shared there with Bromley FC since August 1998, The Wands are moving to their new Flamingo Park Stadium for next season.
It’s not just a significant day for the club, but for the fans and it will also mark an end of an era for my family.
My Dad has supported The Wands since the 1940s and been a season ticket holder since his retirement in 2003 meant he had Saturdays free again to watch football, having been restricted to midweek games for a number of years.
As a child he attended Cray games with his Dad, who had been a Wands fan since the 1920s, so the affiliation with the club goes back over a century now.
I can remember going to early and late season Kent League games at Oxford Road with him and I’d fit in as many Cray home games as I could around Bromley commitments.
When The Wands moved to Hayes Lane we started to see even more matches, with floodlights and promotion providing more opportunities for evening games.
I was at the first ever home game at Hayes Lane against VCD Athletic in 1998 and from 2003 my Dad was a regular at all home matches, with me joining him midweek until 2010. When my son was born and I stopped going to away games with Bromley and became a regular at Hayes Lane every Saturday either with Bromley or Cray Wanderers, picking up the role as the KSN reporter for the games and purchasing season tickets for both clubs.
A couple of years on and my son made it three generations attending Cray games, which has meant a lot to all of us. Mikey has been mascot on a number of occasions for The Wands and led the team out with my Dad to mark Mr Head senior’s 80th birthday in 2018.
Something we will never forget, the club also honoured his with a long service award a couple of years later, which is proudly displayed at home.
When Cray Wands made the move to Hayes Lane due to the new floodlight requirements in Step 5 they were a lower mid-table Kent League side and they leave as an established Isthmian League Premier Division team, two levels higher with a growing youth structure and senior women’s team.
When The Wands kick off at Flamingo Park it will be the sixth home ground my Dad will have seen his club play at, (St Mary Cray Rec, Fordcroft, Grassmeade, Oxford Road and Hayes Lane) but the first they could really call their own and it’s testament to the hard work of Gary Hillman, Sam Wright and so many other good people that this has actually come to pass.
But first we have Saturday, a home game with Bognor Regis Town, an emotional day no doubt for all involved with the club and for the three of us as we watch The Wands at Hayes Lane for the last time.