More than 50 former players from a once successful village football team have been reunited after more than three decades.

Eastern Daily Press: Reedham Football Club reunion at the Ship pub in Reedham.Players from the 1968/1969 squad on the pitch.Picture: SuppliedReedham Football Club reunion at the Ship pub in Reedham.Players from the 1968/1969 squad on the pitch.Picture: Supplied (Image: Archant Norfolk © 2016)

Members of Reedham Football Club's former Saturday team travelled from far and wide for the event held at The Ship earlier this month.

It followed a plea by ex-players Keith Patterson and Malcolm Forder who had hoped to reunite the club following its closure in the mid-1980s.

Mr Patterson said: 'It was great to see everyone again. Some had changed and some hadn't, one or two would walk through the door and you would scratch your head and think 'I'm sure I know him', whereas others I recognised straight away.

'It was so well attended that we may have to have another one in the future.'

The 73-year-old played for the club across four decades after joining in November 1958, aged 15.

He said one of the highlights from the evening was seeing the ten remaining players from the 1969 Carrow Road team.

That season the club made it to the finals of the Norfolk Junior Cup played at Carrow Road, but lost 3-2 to Potter Heigham.

Ex-players from as far as Scotland turned up for the event having seen it advertised on the Yarmouth Mercury.

The team, known as the Reedham Rats, experienced varying success in the Great Yarmouth District Football League.

It won six league titles, reached five Wiltshire Cup finals and eight league Cup finals, winning six.

The club also reached the junior cup finals on three separate occasions.

Despite its success over the years, a dwindling supply of players led to its closure in the 1980s.

It returned for a brief spell a decade later, but failed to take off. There is now only a Sunday league football team based in the village.