Hallen

The club was formed by members of a new community living at Lawrence Weston on the outskirts of Bristol, which had been developed shortly after World War Two. The club was named Lawrence Weston Athletic and played in the Bristol & District League, and it has moved forward steadily since moving to the village of Hallen in 1979, to conform with League Ground grading. Much of the credit for the progress of this club can be accredited to the late Frank Fairman and his family. His son Francis, and grandson Lee continue the link with the club. In fact Lee played a major part in our fight for survival during the summer of 2015, when the club was in danger of losing its home. So it was no surprise when long serving Chairman Barrie Phillips nominated Lee to take over the chair from himself, at the next AGM. The club became known as Lawrence Weston Hallen when it moved to Moorhouse Lane, joining the Gloucestershire County League in 1982, and under that title were runners up 1987-88, and Champions 1988- 89, after which the club dropped Lawrence Weston from its title to become known as simply Hallen. The club completed the double in 1992-93, when winning the Gloucestershire Challenge Trophy and the League title. Promotion was achieved, joining the Hellenic League Division One, and after further improvements to the facilities (particularly the erection of floodlights and a 200-seater stand), a runner-up position in 1996–97 led to another step up, to the Hellenic League Premier Division. The club had always considered the Western League as its goal, as this League was more familiar with Bristolians than the Hellenic League. Their wish to transfer over was granted at the second time of asking but it was insisted that the club join the First Division for season 2000-01. The club finished fourth in its first season in the Western League and reached the last sixteen of the F.A.Vase losing to Brigg Town 6-5 in extra time. Further progress was made when new manager Gary Damone led the team to the Division One title in Season 2003-4, and fourth place in the Premier Division at the first attempt. The club also reached the final of the GFA Trophy and were denied a place in the first round of the F.A. Cup when losing to Nationwide Conference side Canvey Island in the fourth and final qualifying round. This success saw Southern League side Taunton Town tempt Gary Damone to try his hand at a higher level, which in turn saw Hallen have a dip in form, as players were also tempted away. It is however well known that a high percentage of players are happy to return to Hallen, and for season 2009-10 the club welcomed back Gary Damone as manager and many former players too. The club finished in a disappointing twelth position in 2009-10, but a crop of long term injuries did not help. The club however were to lift the Western League (Les Phillips) Cup for the first time. The club had experienced a bad start to the 2010-11 season, which saw the departure of manager Gary Damone who chose to take charge of his own town club Wellington. Club stalwart Paul Owen was given the task of steering the team to safety. With just one win prior to taking over in November, he and his assistant John Tierney changed fortunes around and we were safe from relegation with six games left. Paul Owen's first full season as manager saw the club challenging for the title, but a dip in form saw the club slip to fourth. Off the field, the club had ensured promotion would not be denied, had the club won the title by obtaining the ground grading for Southern League football.
Season 2012-13 saw no repeat of a challenge for promotion, but the season was kept alive by reaching the final of the Les Phillips League Cup for a second time. In the final Willand Rovers won 1-0 before a crowd of 400 at Cribbs Friends Life FC. As Paul Owen had already decided to step down at the end of the campaign, it was unfortunate that he could not see his side lift the cup. By mid May the club announced that Hengrove Athletic manager Jamie Hillman was to take over as manager, He had been at the helm for eight years at Hengrove, and had just guided them to the Premier Division as runners up in April. The 2013-14 season under Jamie and his assistant Grantley Dicks, was a mixture of highs and lows. The highs being success in lifting the GFA Trophy for a third time and reaching the fifth round of the FA Vase losing away to West Auckland Town. In contrast we finished the League campaign without a win in fifteen games.

Manager Jamie Hillman announced that he would be leaving, and previous manager Paul Owen agreed to return for the 2014-15 season. By November the League form was yet again cause for concern and Paul decided it would be best to bring in a new face, rather than wait to the end of the season. Steve Winter a former Walsall and Torquay player was appointed with a view, of him settling in, prior to the coming season. He was to resign in December 2015, and long serving player Tom Collett took on the role as player manager assisted by Rayan Wilson for the 2016-17 season. Following another poor run of results, Tom Collett made way for former player Ben Willshire to return as the new manager. Ben guided the club away from relegation, but when fortunes did not change in the next campaign, it was decided his assistant Rob Sage should take over the helm prior to Christmas 2017, with Ben remaining as a player. The resignation of Rob Sage forced the club to seek another manager in February.

Former manager Gary Damone returned as interim manager, whilst the club decided on a replacement from a record number of applicants. The successful candidate being former player Ray Johnstone, who had guided Odd Down to the title in 2016. Ray recruited another former Hallen player Tony Davis as his assistant for the 2018-19 season, unfortunately Tony had to step down during the course of the season. It was a season which saw a more settled side, finishing in twelfth place the best for several years. Further progress was made during the 2019-20 season, with Ray being assisted by Dean Horseman, before it was brought to an abrupt end due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ray’s departure early in the season 2020-21, saw Dean takeover as Manager in what turned out to be another pandemic disrupted season. A poor run of results at the start of 2021-22 resulted in Dean and his new Assistant Tony Beecham departing the club. Stuart Jones and his trusty Director of Football Andy Hawkins took over, but unfortunately they could not magic a way out of the situation the team had been left in and we were relegated to step 6, which saw us back in The Western League, due to The FA’s lateral movement. Early on in season 2023-24 we saw Stuart step down from the managerial role, and replaced by Karl Baggaley, who added some new faces to the squad and ended the season just outside the play off positions. In his first full season (2024/25) Karl built a team to win the Division One title by a 13 point margin to get Hallen back to Step 5 football. Last season saw us consolidate our step 5 status finishing 15th in The Hellenic League Premier Division, whilst enjoying an amazing run in The FA Vase, reaching the semi-finals, where we eventually lost to Stoneham who went on to win the competition at Wembley.