Left to right: Keith Foster, local CAMRA Club of the Year co-ordinator , Gary Davis, Netheravon club’s chairman, Pete Hayward, club trustee, and Chris White, local CAMRA chairman Picture: Salisbury CAMRA

Netheravon Club – saved by locals – named south Wiltshire Club of the Year

Tait ap EllisApril 23, 20250 Comment0

A CLUB which has gone from strength to strength after it was saved by members in 2017 has been chosen as the local Club of the Year by the Salisbury & South Wiltshire Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Netheravon Working Men’s Club was founded more than 100 years ago – with the club’s 93-year-old trustee Pete Hayward joining in 1949.

Club chairman Gary Davis joined Pete as they received their winner’s certificate from Chris White, the local CAMRA chairman, and Keith Foster, co-ordinator of the branch’s Club and Pubs of the Year competition.

Keith said the club is a “tremendous community asset” and provides a “friendly and welcoming social hub”.

He added: “It is a great place to meet with friends for a drink, including some well-kept real ales, and a chat, and to take part in a range of activities and social events.”

Gary Davis, who, with a team of volunteers, works hard to keep the club going, said: “We are surprised and delighted to win this award.

“We are at the heart of the community in Netheravon, which is a close-knit village, and we provide a welcome to everyone who comes through our doors”.

The club still has the original minutes book from the meeting which founded it on June 26, 1920.

It hit financial difficulties on at least two occasions – once in the 1980s and again in 2017 when it was six weeks away from closing.

Loans from members kept it afloat, economies were made and it has survived and prospered.

The club holds a big family event on Boxing Day, serves a free curry on Remembrance Sunday, stages a ‘Netheravon’s Got Talent’ night, and provides an annual three-course dinner for its life members at just £5 a head.

It also acts as a community warm space for those struggling with their heating bills and runs darts and skittles competitions and a quiz.

It is lucky enough to have Stonehenge Ales, run by James and Nicola Robinson, just a short walk away and the brewery’s Heel Stone is the permanent beer at its bar.

Astonishingly, the club is still in the same prefabricated building that it acquired and moved to the site in Netheravon High Street in 1925.