The story of Tunley Athletic, pieced together from the club's own minute book and accounts ledger, about 2,300 newspaper reports, Bryan Moore's 2022 book and the photo archive.
This page sets out what has been found, what has been corrected along the way, and what is still unknown. If you can help with any of the open questions at the bottom, please get in touch with the club at info@tunleyafc.com.
Three main names, three long gaps and one family at the King William. Filled dots are the big moments; dashed boxes are the years with no football. Each line links to the full story below.
On 25 July 1913 the Bath & District League elected Tunley to its Division II. The club's minute book opens in June 1913 with "Tunley Rovers A F C", headquarters at the King William IV Inn, blue shirts and white knickers, and an entrance fee of 2s for men and 1s for under-16s. The first officers were F. Coombes (President), F. Boulter (Chairman) and H. Barnes (Secretary). Bryan Moore's book and the club crest give 1912, and a loose sheet of 1912 expenses survives with new balls bought in October 1912. That suggests a season of friendlies before the club joined a league.
The club voted to carry on in July 1914. That winter it planned a match against an army team and played Timsbury for the Prince of Wales Relief Fund, with Tom Weaver giving a shilling and the committee sixpence each. On 17 August 1915 the remaining £7 went into the Post Office Savings Bank and the minutes stop. They resume on 3 June 1919.
The club's accounts ledger begins in 1920 and runs all the way to 1976, through the folds, the restarts and the change of name.
By the mid-1920s the ground belonged to the Miners' Welfare Committee, which once cut the rent to save the club from a loss. In 1927 the club dropped from Division One to Division Two, short of money, and in 1928 it folded for five years. Tom Weaver, landlord of the King William and club president, died on 3 January 1935, aged 55.
On 20 May 1948 Bill Skuse signed off the pre-war accounts. The old club's £11 1s 4¾d was handed to the new Tunley Miners' Welfare A.F.C., so the club is continuous. The first post-war league match was Pitman Press 2, Tunley 2, on Saturday 4 September 1948. That season the club won Bath League Division Three, with the radio comedian Jack Train of ITMA as president. He paid for a set of Plymouth Argyle shirts, and the club has worn green, white and black ever since.
The old pitch ran east to west across a steep slope at the Bath end, known as the "Tunley Tump". Captain Bert Lambern scored free kicks by aiming at the high post. Bill Skuse, the village postman and club chairman, started a youth team in 1951.
Tunley Miners' Welfare won the Bath Chronicle Charity Cup in 1960-61, against Bath City Colts after a replay, and again in 1961-62, beating Larkhall A 2-1 on Easter Monday at Twerton Park. Freda Hookings, born a Weaver at the King William, became club president at the AGM of 6 June 1962. In August 1964 the club nearly folded for lack of players. Freda appealed for help, John Kelly became chairman and the club's first team manager, and from 1965 Monty Moatt's five-year plan took over.
Tunley went "senior" in the Wiltshire Combination in 1969-70, played home games at Keynsham while the Recreation Field was levelled, and came home in 1972 as founder members of a new Somerset Senior League division. The new dressing rooms and a small stand were paid for largely by raffles at the King William, where secretary Walt Perry was landlord.
Every season since 1985-86, from the Football Club History Database. Taller bars mean a higher finish within the division. Tap or hover a bar for the season.
2000-01: Division Three, 2nd of 20, 115 goals. Promoted.
Freda's family kept the King William for more than 80 years. Her father Tom Weaver ran the pub, and she and her husband Jack held the licence until 1962. She was club president for 42 years, ran a fund for injured players, and in 1964 personally appealed for players when the club was about to fold. From 1992-93 until her death she was the first woman vice-president of the Somerset Football Association. In the Millennium New Year Honours List of 2000, announced in the papers on New Year's Eve, 31 December 1999, she was made an MBE "for services to the Tunley Athletic Football Club, Somerset". A letter telling her of the recommendation had arrived that November. Bryan Moore nominated her, backed by John Wilcox, Roger Doel and David Sheppard. She died on 26 September 2004, aged 85. Her daughter Yvonne Dix is club secretary today.
Dates and results that have been repeated over the years but that the original records contradict.
| What | Was said | What the records show | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division One title | 1977-78 | Final table, Wells Journal 1 Jun 1978 | |
| Division One 1974-75 | 5th, after a two-point deduction | Shepton Mallet Journal 13 Jun 1975 | |
| Post-war restart | Saturday 4 Sept 1948, Pitman Press 2 Tunley 2 | Bath Chronicle 11 Sep 1948 | |
| Bath League Div. Three title | 1948-49 | Photo mount; 1949 supper report | |
| Jack Train becomes president | 1948-49, "his first season" | Somerset Guardian 12 Aug 1949 | |
| Tom Weaver's death | 3 January 1935 | Somerset Guardian 11 Jan 1935 | |
| Freda becomes president | AGM of 6 June 1962 | Minutes quoted by Bryan Moore; ledger | |
| Timsbury Charity Cup final | April 1920, lost 2-1 to Writhlington | Somerset Guardian 7 May 1920 | |
| 1954 charity final | 6 May 1954 v Fairfield Park Youth Club | Somerset Guardian 14 May 1954 | |
| Reserves' Portway Cup | 1922-23 season, cup presented April 1923 | Somerset Guardian 4 May 1923; photo label | |
| Club formed | Elected to the Bath League 25 July 1913, possibly playing friendlies in 1912 | Somerset Guardian 25 Jul 1913; minute book |
If you know the answer to any of these, or have old photos, programmes or minute books, please email the club at info@tunleyafc.com.
The Bath League refused Tunley in July 1937, yet the club held an AGM in August 1939 and picked a team to play Technical College that October. No newspaper results for 1938-39 have turned up.
Ask: anyone holding Bryan Moore's papers
Bryan Moore quoted minutes from 1938, 1939, 1947-48, 1951 and 1961-62. Those books are not in the archive.
Ask: Yvonne Dix; the Prior family; Mark Oatley; Bryn Hawkins
The first team was 11th in Division One that season. The Wilmot Cup is a Mid-Somerset League competition, and the reserves played in that league, so these were almost certainly the reserves' honours.
Still to confirm: the reserves' 1990-91 table
Tunley played Worle in the Somerset Senior League Division 2 and 3 KO Cup final at West Shepton on 1 May 1996. The result has not been found.
Ask: Derek Nutt's era players
Bryan Moore says Tunley lost it to Coleford. Tunley did beat St Saviours 3-1 in round two, but no final has been found. He may have meant the abandoned 1923 final against Wellow.
Next step: more newspaper searching
Yvonne Dix and Bryn Hawkins have named the Twerton Park cup winners, apart from the children. Still unnamed: the early 1950s youth side and most of the 1990s group at the King William.
Ask: Pete Fear (1950s youth); Matt and Jason Curtis (1990s)
"The parish of Dunkerton (Dunkerton, Tunley, Withyditch) 2000" is held at Bath Record Office and probably has a section on the club.
Ask: anyone in the village with a copy
Club minute book, 1912-1922. 115 photographs, transcribed in full. Read it page by page.
Club accounts ledger, 1920-1976. 118 photographs, transcribed in full. Read it page by page.
British Newspaper Archive. About 2,300 search hits, 1913-2005, mainly the Somerset Guardian, Somerset Standard, Bath Chronicle, Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post.
Bryan Moore, 100 Years Along the Tunley Road (2022). Bryan played in goal for Tunley, reformed the reserves in the early 1960s and was club treasurer in the 1970s.
Football Club History Database, fchd.info, for league tables 1985-2026.
Somerset Heritage Centre and Bath Record Office catalogues, for building plans of the club's dressing rooms (1962-69) and other Tunley records.
Photographs: Tunley Athletic FC archive (squad scans and vintage photos), and pages of Bryan Moore's book. Please ask the club before reusing them.
