Roger Wildin has done more for Lydney Rugby Club than almost anyone else.

So says club stalwart Colin Henderson, who himself has been a faithful servant to the club for many years.

“He started as a player,” says Henderson, “and since he stopped playing he’s done pretty much everything off the field.

“He’s been on the committee for 40 years, he’s been the club’s physio which took him all over the country, he’s looked after the kit, he’s cleaned the changing rooms and for years he looked after the pitch at Regentsholme which he treated like his own lawn.”

Roger’s ‘work’ at Lydney Rugby Club started in 1975 when he joined the club committee as the players’ representative

By his own admission, Roger, 69, was not the best player to pull on the black and white Lydney shirt.

“I mainly played for Lydney United or Lydney Old Boys at full-back or on the wing,” he remembers. “I played a few first team games but only when they were desperately short.”

It was after one of his rare first-team games – away to Clifton in 1981 – that his playing career came to a premature end.

Roger told the Local Answer: “We’d had a few beers on the bus on the way home. There was a bit of horseplay when we got off the bus and I fell over and banged my head.

“It was pretty serious. I was taken to hospital and was unconscious for two weeks. I did recover but the doctor advised me never to play rugby again. My hearing in one ear is still not great today.”

Roger admitted that he was “devastated” by the news but rather than mope about he was determined to find a way to remain part of the Lydney family.

“I worked shifts all my full-time working life so I had plenty of daylight hours to fill with the children at school and I spent them at the club,” explained Roger.

“I went on a first aid course and learned how to strap up injuries. In 1982 Ray Baker retired as club physio and I took over. I travelled with the team all over the country until I gave it up in 2004 when a change of job meant I had to work every other Saturday.”

By this time Roger had also been looking after the kit for many years – a job he still does today.

In 1986 he also took responsibility for tending to the pitch at Regentsholme, a position he held until 2012.

“That pitch was my pride and joy,” he said. “I knew every blade of grass on it. It wasn’t in a great state when I took over but Peter James [dad of ex-Lydney rugby player and Glamorgan and England cricketer Steve] put me in touch with Gwyn Cadogan, who was a seed and fertiliser supplier.

“He knew everything there was to know about pitches and was my mentor for the first few years.

“I was also helped a lot by David Bartlett, who is a good friend of mine. He was the tractor driver. Anything with an engine he was alright with, but if it was a shovel he didn’t want to know!”

Roger and his wife Jackie, a past member of the ladies’ committee for 22 years, still clean the changing rooms every week, and Roger still travels home and away to support the first team with “12 or 14 diehard fans”.

A tool maker by trade, Roger now works part-time for Dial-a-Ride.

“I have a very good relationship with my boss at Dial-a-Ride and he sometimes lets me borrow his bus on Saturdays to go to away games with the other fans,” chuckles Roger.

Roger’s work for the National League Three South club, which now stretches back over 50 years, was recognised when he was presented with a medal for “exceptional service to rugby within the county” by World Cup winner Mike Tindall and ex-England prop David Flatman at Minchinhampton Rugby Club.

The occasion marked the opening of Minchinhampton’s new clubhouse and the Princess Royal, who 69-year-old Roger met, was also present.

Roger was nominated for the awards, which were organised by the Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union, by his club and although proud to pick up his medal, he admitted: “I’m not an awards man. Every club around the Forest and the country has a lot of people who do a lot for nothing, otherwise the clubs wouldn’t function.

“Lydney Rugby Club is my life. You’ve got to have a hobby in life and I’ve always been an outdoor person. I still do all the maintenance around the club just to save the club money.”

Roger knows he has been lucky to be married to Jackie, with whom he has grown-up children Neil and Nicola, all these years.

“She was born into a rugby family,” explains Roger. “Her dad is Esmond Tovey. He’s 93 now and was the record points scorer for Lydney in the 1950s. Up until recently he was still coming to games with us”

And does Jackie think she is a rugby widow? “Not at all,” she replied, “I’m used to it!”

• Roger was one of 22 winners presented with an exceptional service award at Minchinhampton. The overall winner was 83-year-old Beatrice Fensome from Thornbury Rugby Club. 

Below are the words read out about Roger Wildin at the awards ceremony.

“Over the course of almost 40 years of service to Lydney RFC, Roger ‘Sejo’ Wildin, has never failed to give his time and efforts selflessly. He began his involvement as a player and then as a qualified first aider, then a club physio, hardly ever missing a game even when this meant travel to the far flung parts of the country when clubs were in the national leagues.

“From Redruth to Rotherham, Norwich to Northumberland, Southend to Swansea, Roger was always on hand to put back dislocated fingers, strap up knees and ankles and even stitch up cuts and gashes.

“As well as these roles Roger also found time to deal with the kit for all the club’s teams, laundering, repairing and collecting – woe betide any player who attempted to leave the dressing room with a pair of shorts concealed in his bag. Doors would be locked and bags searched before he was satisfied all was collected in.

“As if that was not enough, throughout this time Roger has also been chairman of the ground committee, tending the pitch and ground to ensure the facilities at Regentsholme are kept amongst the best in the county.

“It is difficult to encapsulate his worth to Lydney RFC over his 40 years of sterling service in just a few paragraphs.”

Below is the full list of winners:

Les and Joan Sanigar (Bristol Telephone Area)
Peter Shortell (Cheltenham Civil Service)
Phil Odam (Cheltenham North)
Tim Thompson (Cirencester)
Ross Reeves (Dursley)
Angie Valentine (Dursley)
George Ellis (Fairford)
Helen Smith (Frampton Cottrell)
Fred Smith (Gloucester Old Boys)
Derek Golding (Kingswood)
Jackie Tomkins (Longlevens)
Roger Wildin (Lydney)
Will Garrard (Minchinhampton)
Suzanne Chadwick (Old Bristolians)
Richard Berry (Old Bristolians)
Brian Higgins (Old Cryptians)
Mark Knight (Old Patesians)
Keith Holbrook (St Mary’s Old Boys)
Nicky Gamble (Stroud)
Beatrice Fensome (Thornbury)
Stewart Stacey (Yate)