The records show the following honours for this period. It is not clear when they first joined the South London Alliance League and the records are scarce for this period but there is mention of joining in 1975 and final league tables are available for season 1976/77.
First Team
1988-89: South London Alliance - Premier Division - Runners Up
Queen Mary Premier Cup Winners (beat Blackheath Wanderers in the final)
1987-88: Queen Mary Cup Runners Up (losing to Sangley Sports in the final)
1983-84: South London Alliance - Division One Winners
1980-81: South London Alliance - Premier Division Winners
1979-80: South London Alliance - Division One Winners
Reserves
1986-87: South London Alliance - Division Two Runners-Up
1984-85: South London Alliance- Division Two Runners-Up
1983-84: South London Alliance - Division Three Winners
1982-83: South London Alliance - Division Four Winners
1980-81: South London Alliance - Division Two Winners and Elizabeth Jacques Cup Winners
1977-78: South London Alliance - Division Three Winners
Season 1976/77
History Insight:
Club colours for this period were yellow shirts and socks with black shorts.
First Team
South London Alliance League
Division 2 Finished 4th / 11 P W D L F - A PTS
1. Metrogas 20 15 5 0 59-27 35
2. RACS Reserves 20 12 8 0 41-15 32
3. Molins Sports A 20 11 5 4 54-33 27
4. Cray Valley Paper Mills 20 11 4 5 51-30 26
5. Belvedere 20 10 3 7 48-46 23
6. Furness Withy 20 5 6 9 21-26 16
7. Farnborough Old Boys Guild 20 6 3 11 29-37 15
8. Blackheath Wdrs Res 20 6 3 11 30-46 15
9. RASRA 20 5 4 11 34-53 14
10. Unilever 20 3 5 12 26-49 11
11. Blackheath (Boys Bde) OB 20 2 2 16 20-57 6
J&E Hall Reserves withdrew - record expunged
Reserves
South London Alliance League
Division 3 Finished 8th / 12 P W D L F - A PTS
1. Stonehouse Hospital 22 17 0 5 69-25 34
2. Peek Frean 22 14 6 2 78-34 34
3. Bridon 22 13 6 3 57-23 32
4. Standard Telephone Res 22 9 6 7 59-54 24
5. Orpington Res 22 8 7 7 49-42 23
6. Molins Sports Reserves 22 9 5 8 38-42 23
7. Delta Sports 22 9 3 10 64-72 21
8. Cray Valley Paper Mills Reserves 22 9 3 8 38 - 42 23
9. Johnson & Philips Reserves 22 5 6 11 39-81 16
10. RACS A 22 4 6 12 37-56 14
11. Metrogas Reserves 22 5 3 14 49-69 13
12. Brockley Reserves 22 4 4 14 44-70 12
History Insight: Taken from an article by Peter Goring written for the match day programme Cray Wanderers v Cray Valley (PM) step 3 Isthmian Premier League fixture on 13th August 2024, the first competitive game at the Wanderers new ground at Flamingo Park. This provides fascinating details from someone involved at the time which were not previously recorded in the Millers archives around the time of the Nash Mill in 1981.
What happened in 1981
"... After the war, CVPM dropped down a couple of levels, but by the late 1970's they had a strong team, which competed in the South London Alliance. In August 1980, the Wands first team took on the Millers in a pre-season friendly, which was staged at Nash's Mill sports ground on the site of the mill/factory in St Paul's Cray, close to Crittall's corner.......both Wands and CVPM were champions of their respective leagues in the 1980/81 season. But both faced some uncertainty in the summer of 1981. The Wands were denied promotion due to the inaddquacies of Oxford Road and their management team resigned feeling they had taken the club as far as they could. At CVPM the closure of the mill meant the club had no ground to play at. Brian Faulkner, who was an official of CVPM at the time and later Chairman of Cray Wanderers, explained to me that a lot of effort was made to find an appropriate alternative ground, but without success."
At this stage the writer tells us "Brian and his colleagues approached Cray Wanderers with a proposal that the CVPM team should become the Wands reserve side (Wands had not run a second string in 1980/81). They had the balance of CVPM's funds, which might have helped the Wands committee to agree to the idea. Many of CVPM's players made up the new Cray Wanderers reserve team which duly won the South London Alliance in 1982/83. Some including Neil Adams and Mickey North, made it into the Wands first team."
Fortunately for the future of CVPM ..." Some of the team decided not to link up with Cray Wanderers and continue in the South London Alliance." Brian told the writer "two of the prime movers in this decision were Tony Palmer and Micky Clark. Of course they were no longer the works team of Cray Valley Paper Mills and the South London Alliance made them start in a lower division. Playing at a sports ground in New Eltham they adopted the name Cray Valley (PM)...reminding everyone of their heritage."
....." They soon made progress back through the divisions of the South London Alliance. They spent quite a few years in intermediate football, playing on various grounds in the lower divisions of the Spartan League, The London Intermediate League and eventually the Kent County League.
As a follow up Del Vernon a Cray Valley player at the time the mill closed and one who stayed confirmed that Tony Palmer (mentioned above and the Cray Valley goalkeeper at the time was indeed one of the prime movers to keep the Cray Valley team going. A new committee was formed to enable them to continue as Cray Valley in the South London Alliance League.
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