Today on our way up to Sunderland museum trustees
@killerjerrylee @charltonnick and myself called into Boldon Villa C.A.F.C the Northern Premier League side where both Sam Bartram and Jack Shreeves began their careers before signing for the Addicks.
Following a flurry of emails we were able to sponsor their 'main' stand that now bears the museum logo, the floodlights were installed a decade ago by big Sam's family and everywhere in the most welcoming clubhouse were Addicks related memorabilia.
Each year the 'Sam Bartam Cup' is played against local rivals South Shields and the ties between us have been rekindled almost 90 years on.
We were met by their chairman, groundsman and manager and given a tour of the ground and clubhouse. Boldon were promoted last year to the 6th tier of football, after 125 continual years in the Wearside League!
There pitch is as good as anything we have played on this season and they offered it to our first team squad to train on in the future!
Beers were had, stories were swapped, differing play off memories discussed and we hope to return the favour and get them down to the Valley later this season.
A few pictures of our trip (and the excellent Ship ISIS Real Ale Pub we are in now if your coming up tomorrow its worth a visit).
Comments
It's good to know the museum have sponsored their main stand and our club still has a strong connection there.
Thanks for all the photos and all the information about Bolden Villa CAFC which I found very interesting. Looks like you had a very enjoyable experience. Well done!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_Northern_Football_League#Division_Two
Promotion for them has come at a financial cost, the are entirely volunteer run with no 'owner' as such.
It's the same pitch that they used in 1892 when formed and the high wooded banks that surround it are all that remain from the pithead/coal seam that Sam B used to work in (as did the current chairman and secretary until it closed in 1982).
Their furthest away game this year is to Carlisle and they hold raffles to raise funds to hire a coach.
It's a £5 admission, average gate 150 and they have a striker Levi someone, local lad who earns £20 a game and has bagged 21 goals in 13 games so far this season!
Anyway, I have 4-5 pin badges they gave us to pass on to any Addicks that collect, drop me a line if you want one and I will sort something out.
Boldon is around 10 minutes drive from Sunderland so next time we are up here perhaps we could take a few to their social club and put some money across their bar, we would be guaranteed a warm welcome.
Well done everyone involved.
why we support this wonderful football club.
It takes a huge amount of effort to keep football running at that level, so hats off to them.
Possibly Reading?
What an excellent idea!
Not only would the hire fee help towards the costs of getting their team to away matches, but also it would serve as a reminder to our players of how the "other half" of the footballing world lives, and might make some of them more appreciative of what they have.
Well done to the Museum team for making and cultivating this link with one of our legends.
Do they have a membership? I’d be happy to pay an annual membership to help.
https://www.facebook.com/CABoldon/
They had a great 4-0 home win on Saturday against Blyth Town.
:-)
Jokes aside, I’m sure they’d be quite a few interested in taking in a visit / game one time we are up the North East
Sam was invited to it, my dad worked on this project and I've seen a photo of it a long time ago, don't know where it is now.
What was the date?