One of Kent’s longest serving secretaries is moving on as after more than three decades as the man behind Lordswood, Steve Lewis is swapping the secretary desk for the Chairman’s office as the Medway club looks to the future.

In an exclusive interview with KSN, Mr Lewis explained the move.

“I’ve been Secretary of the football club for some 33 years and following the decision of Glen Parkes to stand down as Chairman for family reasons, my fellow Executive Officers and I had a chat and it finished with them suggesting that I take on the role of Club Chairman,” he told us.

“After advertising, Robert Hedges will come on board as the club’s new secretary and with my guidance and mentoring will take up this role in total at the club from July 2023, we wish him every success and a long involvement with the club.”

“As well as my secretary duties, I have also been treasurer, so we will also be looking to fill that role as well in the coming weeks. Then at the Club AGM in June will be formally appointed as Club Chairman. At that point in time, we have two of our key Executive officers stepping down. John O’Halloran is moving to Scotland and Paul Caulfield who is taking some time out – both have served the club well for many years and will be sadly missed, although it is hoped Paul will be back in the future.”

Things have improved for Lordswood since Christmas when Jason Lillis returned to the club and Matt Barman was appointed first team boss; Mr Lewis takes up the story.

“They were tasked with ensuring our survival in the Premier Division, to recruit new young talent and some more experienced players. The fruits of that work have seen a remarkable turnaround and has put us in a good place come the start of next season,” Mr Lewis added as we spoke after Lords had beaten Punjab United 7-3 in their final game of the season.

“It will be my ambition to move the Club forward as best I can and with the help of the new and long-standing Committee, we will look to grow our Kent Youth League Section with a new team at Under 13, and junior teams with a new U8 Girls, U9 and U12 boys teams for the coming season.”

“There are many other exciting projects we are also considering to grow the local community as we have been somewhat of a sleeping giant, and it is time to change that and leave a legacy for everyone involved for the future.”