TWO Cinderford men want to reform Hilldene Athletic Football Club for next season.

And they've already persuaded Cinderford Town to let them use their Hilldene-based Causeway Ground.

Will Baldwin, 25, grew up in Hilldene but cannot remember the old football team, who won North Gloucestershire and Northern Senior League titles in the 1960s and 1970s before folding in the 1990s.

He is reforming the club with pal Ben Barnard.

He said: "It would be nice to play in my own backyard.

"We've had a lot of interest but until players sign on the dotted line we don't really know who we've got. We will need 16-18 players, but the facilities are brilliant."

Will is currently trying to find out as much as possible about the history of the old Hilldene club.

He estimates that it will cost around £2,000 to get the club up and running again.

He said: "I don't even know what colours the old team played in, but obviously we want to use the same. If there's a club emblem we'd like to adopt that too.

"Starting a football club is not easy but hopefully there will be people with links to the old club who want to see things come back."

Hilldene Athletic originally formed in 1962/63, but were never based in Hilldene.

Gary Sleeman, one of the founder members, explained: "We started off on the old Oak Field, changing in the Oak Pub, then we moved to the Listers Ground.

"The club was formed because there were seven boys from Double View School in the county squad and six of them lived in Hilldene.

"We won the league in our second season and that's why we moved to the Listers Ground – because the Northern Senior League wouldn't let us play on the Oak.

"People like Ray Hook, Bernard Dawson, Russell Bowles and Lyndon Smith all played for us and we once won four trophies in a single season."

Will Baldwin would still like to hear from people with Hilldene Football Club links. Contact him on 07949 270102 or [email protected]">[email protected]