The glory years of Snailbeach football

These days you will find Snailbeach White Stars in the Shrewsbury & District Sunday League, but they used to play at a higher level.

Remarkably, in the sixteen seasons between 1966/7 and 1981/2 the club won the Shropshire County Premier League six times, the last three titles coming in consecutive seasons.

Where did this tiny village, best known for its abandoned lead mine and (in those days) gleaming white spoil heaps, draw its players from?

In those days, it seems, Snailbeach White Stars also played in Welsh cup competitions. I remember talking to someone who had grown up in Aberystwyth and was puzzled by this place with a strange name that he couldn't find on any map of Wales.