North Village Community Club (NVCC) are celebrating their 50th anniversary this month.

And to commemorate the historical landmark club officials, players and fans alike have attended family fun days, church services and a gala banquet in recent weeks with the month-long festivities set to conclude in St.George's today with a golf tournament.

North Village were formed in 1957 and since then have continued to evolve into a reckoning force on the domestic front at both senior and youth levels.

"We are on par with some of our sister clubs such as PHC and Somerset Trojans who have been in existence twice as long in terms of cup titles, particularly in the FA Cup where we are all have nine wins. And now we are celebrating 50 years of glorious existence at North Village," NVCC president Shervin Dill stated.

Village kicked off their 50th anniversary celebrations in a divine fashion by attending church services at St. Monica's Mission - which was influential in the club coming into existence - and then staged a family fun day at Bernard Park following a march from the Rams' humble beginnings at Pig's Field.

"That was the field where we used to train and play our first games (uphill versus downhill)," Dill said.

Last Saturday the Rams held a gala banquet at Hamilton Princess where both current and former players as well as founding members and all those having made contributions to the club in the past were acknowledged.

"It was a very succesful event where we highlighted the history of the club from whence it started to where it is today. We had a number of our founding members present and we were able to bind together generations of North Village personalities that have made contributions the club over the years," Dill added.

Like perennial rivals Trojans and Zebras, Rams possess one of the proudest cup winning records on the Island having bagged seven Premier league titles, seven Martonmere Cups, seven Friendship trophies, five Dudley Eve titles, nine FA Cups and six Charity Cups.

Village have also won the coveted triple crown (league, FA and Friendship) on two occassions, most recently in 2005/06. And in 1965/66 they defeated defunct Wellington Rovers 1-0 to become the first team to lift the Friendship Trophy. Village's maiden league title arrived in 1973/74 and in 1978/79 the Pembroke club held every major cup title at the same time, a feat few teams can boast.

Rams have so far dominated the new millennium, having clinched three league titles, five FA Cups, five Charity Cups, three Friendship titles and two Martonmere Cups during Dill's term as president that has seen five different coaches (Kenny Thompson, Scott Morton, Kentoine Jennings, Dwayne Adams and Elliott Jennings) at the helm of the team.

"We picked ourselves back up in 2000 and since then we have been by far the most succesful club of this decade," Dill said. But inspite of recent league and cup glory, it's the club's "diverse" youth programme that Dill cherishes most.

"We attribute our recent success to our youth development programme which is still thriving in abundance," he said. "We have a diverse group of talent down here which embraces our many different cultures here in Bermuda.

"We have joined together various cultures at the youth levels that continue to play together in harmony and unison which I think is helping us make an impact on some of the social ills that are out there in the community such as discrimination, violence and drugs."