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ABOUT
WHO WE ARE
VWFC HISTORY
Virginia Water Football Club was formed during the 1919-1920 season and in the 1930's, during the reign of King Edward VIII, Waters gained financial support (patronage) from the crown to the sum of £2 per annum. This was continued after his abdication by King George VI and continued throughout his reign.
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Waters were a part of the Woking & District league during this time until 1964 when they joined the Surrey Intermediate league, and then the Spartan League.
In 1969 the clubhouse at the Timbers was opened by Sir Stanley Rous CBE who was the then President of FIFA. The Timbers, on Crown Road, was named after the late Harry Timbers, one of the founder members of the club.
In the 1970's Waters gained promotion to the Combined Counties League from the Spartan League. 1972 saw VWFC reach the first round of the FA Vase losing 3-1 to Egham Town FC and in 1979 Waters re-joined the Combined Counties League.
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The 1980's were disappointing with relegation in successive seasons from the Combined Counties and Surrey Premier leagues seeing Waters drop into the Surrey South Eastern Combination Intermediate League.
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The 1990/1991 season saw a change in fortunes with Virginia Water winning the Surrey Intermediate Cup beating Coney Hall 3-0 in the final. This was followed with promotion back to the Surrey Premier League at the end of the 1991/1992 season and then back again to the Combined Counties League the following season. However, Waters only stayed in the CCL for one season due to a league ruling. Although returning to the Surrey Premier League, Waters continued to be successful and won three Surrey County Premier Cups in 1995, 1996 and 1997, the latter as part of a historic treble, not only winning the County Cup, but also the League and League Cup.
​In 2000 the Surrey Premier League became the Surrey Senior League where Waters stayed until 2002. Waters then joined the Surrey Intermediate League (Western) playing in the Premier Division for three seasons, before relegation in 2005, but gained immediate promotion the following season.
Waters remained in the Surrey Intermediate League (Western) until 2010, when they won promotion to the Surrey Elite League. Waters continued to progress and despite winning the league cup and County cup on occasion, promotion out of the Surrey Elite League proved elusive, resulting in many managerial changes during that time.
​The present manager Ceri Jones, was appointed in the summer for the 2015/2016 season, and in his second full season in charge, following the appointment of Richard Banks as First Team Coach, Waters completed a historic league and league cup double and won promotion into the Hellenic League in the 2016/17 season. The success continued with the current squad achieving the highest playing level in the club’s history by winning the Hellenic Division 1 East at their first attempt in the 2017/2018 season and gaining promotion to step five on the non-league pyramid in the Hellenic Premier Division.​
WHY YOUTH ARE RAVENS & STAGS
RAVENS
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At Virginia Water Lake (Windsor Great Park) stands the Totem Pole.
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The Totem Pole was a gift from the people of Canada to HM The Queen in June, 1958.
The Pole is 100 feet high, one foot for every year, and marks the centenary of British Columbia, which was named by Queen Victoria and proclaimed a Crown Colony on November 19th 1858. It is now the Pacific Coast Province of Canada.
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The Totem Pole is carved in the authentic style of the Kwakiutl, a federation of many tribes, and clans inhabiting the northern part of Vancouver Island and the opposite coastal mainland. The figures on the pole reading from the top are, Man with large hat, Beaver, Old Man, Thunderbird, Sea Otter, The Raven, The Whale, Double headed Snake, Halibut Man and Cedar Man. Each figure represents the mythical ancestor of a clan.
The designer and principal carver of the pole, Chief Mungo Martin of the Kwakiutl was a most famous craftsman of this ancient art. The pole was carved from a single log of Western Red Cedar and weighs 27,000 pounds. It was cut from a tree 600 years old from the forests of the Queen Charlotte Islands, 500 miles north of Vancouver.
It was erected by the 3rd Field Squadron of the 22nd Field Engineer Regiment Royal Engineers for their Colonel in Chief, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 1958.
The Totem Pole also serves to symbolise the close association existing between British Columbia and the Corps of the Royal Engineers who, under Lt. Col. R C Moody RE, actively engaged in the development of the Colony in the years from 1858-1863.
The Totem Pole is signposted from the Wick Lane gate to the Park, or by foot from the parking area for the Valley Gardens.
STAGS
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Windsor Great Park is home to the resident Red Deer herd which roam around the native oaks.
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The herd of Red Deer, which are resident in the Deer Park adjacent to the Long Walk. The current herd was established from two stags and 40 hinds, originally from Balmoral Estate, which were introduced in 1979 by our Park Ranger HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
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The red deer is the largest land mammal in the UK, standing at up to 137cm tall at shoulder height. The stag's antlers are an outward display of the male deer’s masculinity. The growth of the antlers is driven by testosterone and peaks in the early autumn when the rut starts. The deer's testosterone levels drop in the early winter and the antlers eventually drop off. Regrowth begins again in the spring, usually bigger and better than the year before.
