A crowd of well over 1,000 saw Lewes FC mark their 125th anniversary on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat against Chelmsford at the Dripping Pan.

The club was formed on 23rd September 1885 following a meeting at the Royal Oak public house in the town.

Nick Williams, one of six executives now running the club, told BBC Sussex: "We want to re-connect the football club to the town.

"We're trying to make every game an event and let people enjoy it."

The Blue Square Bet South side were taken over by the 'Rooks 125' consortium in the summer, following two years of financial uncertainty.

"Six of us got together to help form the community club that we now are," Williams added.

"I moved to Lewes nine years ago and I've been getting more and more involved over the years."

One volunteer at the club, Lee Cobb, raised money for the club's anniversary fund by going on a sponsored walk.

"I decided I would walk 125 miles in 125 hours. I didn't enjoy it one bit because the weather was so awful," Cobb told BBC Sussex.

"There's a lot of people at the club who put in a lot more hours than I do."

The club have played at the eccentrically named 'Dripping Pan' since their inception, with the ground thought to have originally been the site of a salt making industry run by monks from the nearby Cluniac Priory.

A special cake was baked for the club's anniversary

Kieron Ridley, the club's kit man, said the club's ground gave a different atmosphere to the club.

"It's very different from everywhere else. Here you can stand pitch level, 30 foot above it - whatever you want," he said.

"We nearly didn't get here so fingers crossed for another 125 years."

Lewes manager Steve Ibbitson added: "It was a super crowd. I'm really pleased for everyone who turned out. Unfortunately it wasn't the right result."

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