Richard Bloomfield

I am pleased to say that the club won the Northern League programme award this season. This was due in no small part to a series of articles about the history of the club from the formation of the Mechanics in 1949. Thanks to everyone on here who was able to chip in with bits of information.

It was Bedlington Terriers. The author was probably short on space and so omitted the word Terriers.

I don't believe that they did. With help from a number of sources, I have been ironing out the history of the club. For some years the club history said that the club played in the Tyneside Amateur League for the 1979-80 season as Bedlington United. Right League, wrong name. The club was known as Bedlington Town (and in 1978-79 as Bedlington Colliery Welfare). Town reached the Challenge Shield Final and the wonders of ebay has enabled me to get the programme for that game. None of the players in the photo of Bedlington Rangers are listed as playing for Bedlington Town.

Thanks Pete. That confirms the date in accordance with the attached article from the Journal dated 19 September 1961.

I hope no one minds me coming back to this as I have been able to get some more information. The Mechanics were formed in 1949 and played at Millne Park in the Miners Welfare League. For the 1952/3 season they were promoted to the Northern Combination and then for the 1955/56 season to the Northern Alliance. The club was turned off Millne Park at the end of the 1960/61 season and disbanded at the end of the 1962/63 season. The club reformed and played the 1965/66 season as Bedlington Colliery Welfare in the Northern Alliance. For the 1979/80 season the club changed its name to Bedlington Town and played in the Tyneside Amateur League. For 1980781 season the club adopted the name Bedlington Terriers and returned to the Northern Alliance. I am still missing two bits of information if anyone can help. 1. Where did the club go after leaving Millne Park? I believe it was Bedlington Station Welfare but cannot confirm it. 2. When did the club move to Dr Pit Park? I have seen reference to 1968 but cannot confirm this either. If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. As an aside the original Welfare team folded at the end of the 1962/63 season according to the Terriers old website.

The Morpeth Herald reported at the end of the 1960-61 season that the Mechanics had been turned off Millne Park and that Mr. Millne wished to build a road through it giving access to his business. From 1965-66 season the club played as Bedlington Colliery Welfare and did not adopt the name Bedlington Terriers until the 1980-81 season. The Welfare team disappeared in the mid 60s and the best evidence I have seen is that the Mechanics moved to Welfare Park for the 1968-69 season. From 1961-68 the Mechanics played at Bedlington Station Welfare.

Anyone got thoughts on where the photo was taken? There is clearly some sort of stand in the background.

All these old photos are fabulous pieces of the history of football in Bedlington. I have recently seen a couple of old photos. Bedlington United in the 1920s appear to have worn all white shirts, while the early Mechanics shirts look to he slightly darker, perhaps red. It's the difficulty with black and white photos!! The Welfare started playing football competitively in about 1927 and ceased around 1968 when the Mechanics moved to Welfare Park. The only Bedlington team in stripes was the Welfare.

Bedlington Mission played the rest of the league in October 1913.

Pity. I will have to take if off the programme cover for Saturday!!

That looks like Bedlington Mission from just before the First World War: https://www.bedlington.co.uk/forums/topic/4968-earliest-bedlington-photobomb/ I believe that Bedlington United played in white shirts.

You are right about the Welfare playing in the Miners Welfare League in the 1930s onwards. I thought that they had joined a Junior league first but I may be wrong. Will check.

The original ground was at Hollymount, not Millfield. He is also wrong about United moving in 1922 (it was 1920) and about them folding in 1930 (it was 1938). I will see if I can post some newspaper cuttings confirming this. The book is right about Welfare Park as the football team appeared for the 1926/7 season.

I have seen the old maps. I am not that familiar with the Hollymount area but.... When the club moved to Church Lane in 1920 the press article mentioned the area where the ground was at Hollymount being part of a building scheme. The article said: "this has been taken for the building scheme". So if someone knows whereabouts houses were built at Hollymount around 1920, you can locate the old ground.

They moved from Hollymount to Church Lane in 1920. A "grandstand" was built at Church Lane when they moved. The stand at Hollymount was only built in 1913 so they only used it for playing purposes given the intervention of the First World War. The last time they won the league was the 1907/8 season when they won the East Northumberland League and were promoted to the Northern Alliance. No trophies were won between 1913 and 1920 when the stand was there at Hollymount. It is difficult to tell from a photo but the stand doesn't look brand spanking new so I think 1928 as the Senior Cup was won in 1923 and 1928. The two shields probably symbolise the two Senior Cup victories. So I think 1928/9 ish.

The shirt style is 1920s. The stand behind is too grand for either Millne Park or Welfare Park. So I think it is Bedlington United and is probably the Senior Cup win in 1928. By that time the cup would be 45 years old and it looks quite battered.

Perish the thought but could it be Ashington?

Is it possible that the two plaques relate to the same competition? And so it had been won 20+ times in all? Bedlington United won the Senior Cup twice in the 1920s. The last time they won a league was 1908. One of the local tournaments was the Tynemouth Dispensary Cup. That started in the 1900s. So by the late 1920s there would have been 20+ winners. If this is a Bedlington team then it has to be United.

The cup and shields make have some relevance. In the 1920s United won the Northumberland Senior Cup twice. My guess is that the Cup relates to that tournament. The shields are likely to be from the endless tournaments played in those days.

The grandstand at Hollymount was officially opened in March 1914. Millne Park was little more than a field. Welfare Park is never shown on the grand scale depicted in the background. In 1920 a new ground was built at Church Lane known as Burdon Park with a stand costing £1,000. It has to be United.

Not sure what colours United played in. It looks like a "proper" ground which I am not sure that Millne Park was. United built a covered stand at Holly Mount in about 1912 and then had a ground at Church Lane suitable to host professional club reserve teams. I would put money on Bedlington United.

There were a few before the War as well. Bedlington Royal Oak springs to mind and I am sure Bedlington YMCA was pre war. I have the Welfare back to about 1926/7 and thought that they had left the Miners Welfare League at the end of 1951/2 to go to the East Northumberland League but will recheck that. It is a sad indictment of modern day youth that they appear to have little interest in actually playing football which is why so many teams have folded.

That is incredible and amazingly helpful. This is all the sort of material that needs recording. Anyone who was 10 emwhen the club started will now be 80 so it needs capturing. Over the course of the season I have researched football in Bedlington. The first ever competitive game was on 1 December 1883 when Bedlington Burdon FC beat Rothbury in the first ever round of the first ever Northumberland Senior Cup. Burdon never progressed further than the Blyth & District League and folded in about 1909. The most successful team was Bedlington United who joined the East Northumberland League in 1898 before progressing to the Northern Alliance and the North Eastern League before dropping back to the Alliance and then going bust in 1938. United played at Hollymount until 1920 when they moved to Church Lane. There is 135 years of football there. Even if it is limited to a page and a half per season with the league table and a small commentary about the season it gives a 200+ page history of our local towns clubs.

Thanks for your responses. It has been a great help. I began to research the club history in the programme and found a lot needed correcting, especially the early years. The club was founded in 1949 (May I believe). It started on the Northern Section of the Northumberland Aged Miners League (not the Northern Combination as the programme said). That league was won in 1951/2 and the club promoted to the Northern Combination. There were three cups along the way which did not feature in the programme. Home games were played at Millne Park until the end of the 1960/61 season (there is a press cutting confirming that date) when the club appears to have moved to Bedlington Station Welfare. Can anyone confirm this? The club appears to have moved to Welfare Park in 1967. Again can anyone confirm this? We are aware that there a lot of people who can contribute to the early history of the club but we need to get a move on.

2019 is the 70th anniversary of the founding of Bedlington Mechanics. I am editing the programme and would like to use the photograph of the first ever team (as shown above) on the programme cover. Can anyone confirm who the image belongs to and if it is ok to use it? We are trying to capture memories of the club. If you are willing to spare an hour to talk, please could you email terriersprogramme@gmail.com. Thanks.