Bishop Auckland St Mary’s Juniors FC have been chosen as winners of the County Durham Junior Sports Club of the Year for 2014, at a glittering awards ceremony held at Ramside Hall on Friday 10th October.
Katy Mclean MBE, captain of the World Cup winning women’s rugby team, presented the award to one of the club’s youngest players, Cobie Woods, who has gone through life threatening leukaemia operations to come back to play for St Mary’s Under 8s.
The club began in 1986 when it was founded by Tommy Kelly, who is now president of the club and can often be found watching the teams play.
Now with Steve Coulthard (chairman) and Catherine Pearson (club secretary), along with hard working officials Will Blacklock, Kevin Waterworth, Gaven Berry and Andy Fletcher, as well as over 50 hard working volunteer managers, coaches, secretaries and clubhouse managers, the club has been brought into a position to be awarded the best Junior Sports Club of the Year in all of the county.
With 20 teams and over 300 players, boys and girls, the club plays games every weekend in both the TJFA and Russel Foster leagues with the help of lots of business sponsors, Bishop Auckland College, St John’s R C and Bishop Barrington Schools. It is now one of the largest junior sports clubs in the county.
A recent visit to the club from the Rt Rev. Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, also resulted in him getting on board as a patron of the club.
“We hope to award a signed certificate from the Bishop of Durham to each member of our club to commemorate this fantastic achievement,” said a spokesperson.
The club is currently raising funds to take three of the Under 16 boys teams and a girls team to compete in the Barcelona Junior Cup next July.
“Any support will be greatly appreciated,” continued the spokesperson.
For more information, or to find out how you can support the club, visit www.basmj.net.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
