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Painswick RFC

, in Gloucestershire, is the oldest village rugby club in England - a fact commemorated in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.

Early games were played in white or work clothes making it difficult for the players to distinguish who was the opposition, so the Painswick vicar at the time persuaded his wife to cut up her red curtains for sashes for the home team and the 'Cherry and Whites' name was born. Painswick still proudly wear the colours today.

The story goes that Painswick lent Gloucester a set of shirts at their inception, but the Cherry and Whites from Kingsholm never returned them. To commemorate Painswick's 130th anniversary, and to return the favour done by the village side all those years ago, Premiership side Gloucester presented Painswick RFC with the full set of Zurich Championship winning shirts (see below) as worn at Twickenham in June 2002, when they defeated Bristol Shoguns.

(Extracted from Cherry Ripe on RFU Site copyright
acknowledged)