Floodlight names – Lewes Community Football Club

Floodlight names


Written by: Charlie

On 15th September 2020, Lewes FC finally replaced its 50yr old floodlights with a gleaming new set.

The original lights were bought thanks to one man, Norman Ashdown, who put on a series of incredible fundraising gigs at Lewes Town Hall in the late sixties, including Pink Floyd. There’s more on that story here.

By 2020, the lights were showing their age and were prone to increasing faults. A replacement set was now crucial and grants were secured but that still left a £34,000 gap. So, the club created a Crowdfunder and, despite difficult economic conditions, hit (and surpassed its target).

Amongst the ‘rewards’ available to encourage donations was the chance to have one of the new floodlights named after someone. Thus, six of the eight received their name – some after club stalwarts, some after local figures and some from the annals of football history.

This page is dedicated to those people and notes why the donors chose them:

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NORMAN ASHDOWN

“Norman was working in the local Tax Office in the 1960s and came up with a rather unexpected solution to raising the necessary money for The Dripping Pan’s first ever set of floodlights. He was a regular on the Brighton music scene at that time and this is what gave him the idea to bring rock music to Lewes. Norman created, almost single-handedly, what was a golden period of rock and pop gigs in Lewes, at the Town Hall. Between 1966-68, Norman organized around a dozen or so gigs including The Zombies, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Chris Barber, the Nashville Teens, Alan Price, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Move and, incredibly, Pink Floyd, in one of just a handful of gigs they did as a five-piece. Eventually, thanks to Norman’s gigs, eight floodlights were installed at the Pan in 1973, the same eight towers stood there till 2020 when fans’ crowdfunding an an FA grant paid for the new set you see today All hail Norman for bringing light to the Pan.”

FUNDED BY LEWES FC SUPPORTERS CLUB

 

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GEOFF FULLER

“A football fan from birth who never gave up his love for the game at all levels.  A late follower of the Rooks, watching from afar but always wanted to know about our games, never shy to offer an opinion. Dad gave me my passion for the game and the belief that football wasn’t always about winning at all cost – being a West Ham fan he knew a thing or two about coming second in games but still entertaining.  Had a 100% win record in watching the Rooks here at the Pan, a record that spread over 10 years and totalled two games.  Gone but never forgotten.”

FUNDED BY GEOFF’S SON (AND LEWES FC CHAIR) STUART FULLER

 

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JOE ARNOLD

“Coming soon.”

FUNDED BY JOE’S PARENTS, BARBARA & DAVID

 

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ETHEL TREAGUS

“Coming soon.”

FUNDED BY LEWES FC SUPPORTERS CLUB

 

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VIRGINIA WOOLF

“Born in 1882 – just 3 years before Lewes FC – Virgina Woolf lived a short walk away from The Dripping Pan, in the beautiful village of Rodmell. Best known as a writer of modernist novels, essays and diaries, the Bloomsbury Group member was definitely a ‘Fan of Change’. One of Woolf’s most influential works is the essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’, in which she addresses the status of women. She says, ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write’. We believe that similarly in football, women players have been held back by not having a pitch of their own. Resources and space have long been denied female footballers. Would Woolf have been gratified to know that her nearest club, Lewes FC, was the first in the world to change centuries of of prejudice and disadvantage by valuing and resourcing women players equally to men? We think so! And we hope she would have come to watch the Rooks play in solidarity, and enjoyed the panoramic views of her beloved South Downs. Welcome to the Pan dear Ginny.”
FUNDED BY KAREN & CHARLIE DOBRES

 

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LILY PARR

“Lily Parr was the greatest female footballer of her day. She came to prominence at the tender age of 15, playing for the famous Dick, Kerrs Ladies. It is said that the talented striker ‘kicked like a mule’ and could break a limb with one shot of the ball. Defying not only the gender stereotypes of the day, but also the FA’s deleterious ban 50 year ban on women’s football (1921-1971), Lily refused to allow her passion for the game to be quashed. She is remarkable for both technical ability and her determined spirit, playing the sport she loved at a time when so many women were forced to stop. Scoring over 1000 goals in a 30 year career, Parr is the first woman to be inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame. She is also the first female footballer in the UK to be immortalised by a statue which was unveiled at the museum in 2019. We’re inspired by Lily Parr, and now she can shine a light for equality over The Dripping Pan for ever more.”
FUNDED BY KAREN & CHARLIE DOBRES

 

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The two remaining floodlights remain available (names are subject to approval).