Wanting a break from driving we came off the A1 at Bedale, a smart thriving market town and a gateway to the Yorkshire Dales.
Before finding a cafe I went in search of Beadale F.C. a football club that has been high profile in the past few years because of its kit.
As often I ended up at the wrong ground, this time the home of Bedale Junior Football Club.
The set up looked fantastic with lush football pitches and club house for their girls and boys teams between the ages of 5 and 18 that rightly won them the County Community Club of the year award in 2015. This Standard Community Club is successfully run by many volunteers. Luckily for me there was someone checking the grounds who was able to tell me that Bedale F.C. was at the other end of the town.
Bedale F.C.
I finally found the Heck Stadium home to Bedale F.C. who have just gained promotion to the North Riding League Premier Division. The club, Bedale Association Football Club have been going since 1933 although there appears to have been a previous team in the town called ‘Gas Works Celtic’ (shame that that name was lost to time).
But it has been in recent times that the club has gained some notoriety especially since their sponsorship by local company Heck Foods increasingly known for their sausages and expanding rapidly.
Bedale have in conjunction with their shirt sponsors ‘Heck’ have been using the shirts to not only promote the shirts and the sponsor but also to raise cash and awareness for prostate cancer.
Their kits have gained acclaim, notoriety and even being temporarily banned by the F.A.
The most recent kits have been, the Bangers and Mash Kit 2019/20, the Vegan Kit 2020/21 and the Transparent Kit/Prostate Cancer Kit 2021/22.
I will now make time to go and see a match at the Heck Stadium and foresee a bright future for the club with a great youth set up in the town, good sponsorship, a tidy ground and what appears to be some enlightened people running the club. Lets look forward to their future development.
Payonthegate 