- This event has passed.
No-Brainer Book Launch – Ferryhill
The book telling the amazing life story of Dean Bank miner’s son Bill Gates – and the closely related campaign to highlight the neurological dangers of repetitively heading a football – will be launched at Ferryhill Workmen’s Club on Tuesday May 7 from 6.30pm.
The date is fitting – 50 years to the day since Bill’s sell-out testimonial match against Leeds United at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park ground marked the end of his 333-game career with the Boro. After living with a form of dementia for many years, he died last October.
Among those attending the launch will be former Middlesbrough and England central defender Gary Pallister who’s interviewed in the book.
Promoted as The match of the champions, the Leeds game was the first Boro game he ever saw. Tony McAndrew, another former Boro and Chelsea favourite, will also attend.
“It would be great to see those who remember Bill and his family but there are plenty of other stories about those early years around Ferryhill and at Spennymoor Grammar School we’re keen to share,” said Dr Judith Gates, Bill’s widow.
“The venue’s really appropriate, not just because it’s on the Gates family’s doorstep but because the workmen’s is where his grandfather, and probably his father, enjoyed a beer.”