WHEN FC Oswestry Town won the final of the Commander Ethelston Charity Cup last week, they were presented with the most magnificent trophy in Shropshire football. And you might be excused for thinking that the cup would take pride of place in the trophy cabinet at The Venue, the club’s headquarters. No chance, I’m afraid. The trophy is considered too valuable for the winners to keep for 12 months, and shortly after it is presented at the final, it is returned to the bank vault in Whitchurch which is its permanent home. “I suppose you could say it was our five minutes of fame,” said Ian Jones, the chairman of FC Oswestry Town. “It was an honour just to be invited into the competition this season for the first time, and we were delighted to win a trophy with such a great history. “We played at Prees on Saturday, and hanging on the wall of their clubhouse is a picture of their team who won the Ethelston Cup in 1957!” The cup was created during the 1908-09 season in memory of Commander Alfred Peel Ethelston by his brother Edmund, who lived at the family home – Hinton Hall in Whitchurch. Ten years earlier the naval commander, serving aboard HMS Powerful in the Boer War, had been killed at the Battle of Graspan. Ethelston was a keen cricketer and a fine footballer, having represented the United Services. After he died, the Royal Navy installed memorials to him at Portsmouth, Chatham, Dartmouth and Plymouth, and in his home town of Whitchurch he would be remembered by a silver-plated football trophy which – with a diameter of 50cm and a height of 54cm – was bigger than the original FA Cup. It bears the Ethelston family crest and details of the battle in which the commander lost his life, and the great man’s campaign medals are set into the base. The first winners of the cup were Whitchurch Working Men’s Hall. The money raised by the Commander Ethelston Cup was originally donated to Whitchurch Cottage Hospital, but many other local charities have benefited in recent years. Entry to the competition is by invitation only to clubs from Shropshire and Cheshire, and the final always takes place at Yockings Park, the home of Whitchurch Alport. Six years ago, the cup committee organised a 100th anniversary dinner at Whitchurch Civic Centre, when the guest speaker was former Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan. Members of Commander Ethelston’s family attended from all over the world.