18/08/2025
Preview of the press report in this weekends Darlington and Stockton Times and Hambleton Today.
A wine and cheese celebration was held at the Bedale Sports Club and Community Centre last Saturday to mark 50 years since the inception of the association. Club president and co-founder Adrian Grayson reminisced about the early days forming a steering committee comprising Dorothy Firby, Eddie Coward, Brian Ellis, Kath Stockdale, John Atkinson, Dick Hall and Joe Noone to create what is now, the association of sports clubs. Once funding was in place to build the current clubhouse, the squash club was formed along with ladies’ cricket, table tennis and hockey clubs. Leading lights in the early 1970’s were Colin Tipton, Chris Natrass, Brian Hall, Keith Meynell, Archie Dalton, Bryan Cockburn, Peter Parlour, Mike Clapham, Arthur Keighley, Dave Brown, John Sharp and Ollie Davison. The clubhouse was eventually opened in August 1975 and has recently seen the Bedale and Aiskew Running Club and the Bedale and Dales croquet club join the ranks. Adrian paid tribute to Trish Melhuish, Althea Draper, Sue Cliffe, Carole Peirson, Rose Hart, Sheila Tipton, Andy Clapham and Martyn Coombs for the work they continue to do in and around the association.
Club chairman Martyn Coombs talked about the financial support the association has received over the last 10 years from the section 106 money, Awards for All, National Lottery, the Rectors 4 & 20, Bedale and Villages Community Forum, The Jack Brunton Trust, Bedale Town Council, Broadacres Community Development Fund, the NYCC Locality Budget, Yorventure Landfill Communities Fund, Tarmac, Covid recovery grant, NYCC Making A Difference, Sport England Active Together (Crowdfunding), Darlington Building Society, Persimmon Community Champions, Heck Foods, the Football Foundation and of course the 196 benefactors who donated to the £75k Adrian Grayson Function Room extension. He was proud that over recent years the association has supported many charities including the Injured Jockeys Association, Teenage Cancer Trust, Swaledale Mountain Rescue, Bedale Meals on Wheels, Yorkshire Cancer Research, Prostate Cancer UK, Herriot Hospice Homecare, the RVI in Newcastle, the Christie Hospital, Hambleton Foodbank, Young Lives vs Cancer and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
Coombs said, ‘as an association, ww have laid a new patio, refurbished the bar and cellar, bought 10 outside patio tables, bought 100 piece crockery set and 100 piece cutlery set, replaced and refurbished the toilets, installed hand driers, redone the car park, extended the main hall, laid new carpets in the lounge, electronic shutters on the bar, new entrance walls with lighting, a new Toro grass cutter and associated bits of equipment, new signage throughout, solar panels, adopted new security arrangements throughout the site, installed CCTV covering the rear and front of the premises, installed a new wooden gate (courtesy of Melvyn Peacock), bought a beer storage shed, created a disabled toilet with baby changing facilities, purchased new tables and chairs in the main hall, bought 6 baby high chairs, purchased 6 round tables with linen table cloths for events (we have two wedding receptions booked in next year), installed WiFi, put in a hearing loop, put on new beers that people like, installed a hot water tap for hot drinks in the bar, bought new fridges, an ice making machine and new dishwasher, helped to buy a new fence at the bottom end of the cricket pitch and bought a 75” colour internet TV. It doesn’t stop there and hopefully, if our £70k grant application is approved, we will be refurbishing both outside changing rooms.’
A commemorative plaque was unveiled marking the 50th anniversary.
Photo l to r Martyn Coombs (chairman), Sheila Tipton (treasurer), Althea draper (secretary) and Adrian Grayson (president).
