RICHES AND A CHEMISTRY IN THE NORTH-EAST

Watch out Bedlington, the boys are in town. After an enthusiastic day cycling on beaches, walking to Barter's Bookshop and playing with another jigsaw, this evening is fully devoted to the Earnest Armstrong Memorial Cup tie at Bedlington Terriers FC. They play Billingham Synthonia, the derby of syllables.

Earnest was a Sunderland born lad who made his way in the Leeds Teacher Training College, eventually he became a headmaster in Junior education and served on the Sunderland Council chairing the education committee. He was the MP for North Durham and this was passed on to his daughter Hilary when he retired in 1987. So well qualified was he as a politician that he was the advisor to the TV series "House of Cards".

So well done Earnest and thank you for leaving this marvellous trophy in your name. The Cup is for Northern League Second Division teams.

I have done blogs on Bedlington and Billingham before so you might drift off into those, but here is the tie in a nutshell:
Bedlington- once formed as a works' team (Mechanics and Colliery Welfare) the high point for the club was FA Vase Runners Up in 1998-9 losing to Tiverton Town at Wembley.
In the early 2000s the Terriers looked likely to win the championship in Division One but were runners Up at best.
In 2006-7, the club suffered financial problems and had to be bailed out by a convenient American billionaire, aptly named Robert E Rich Jnr. His wife found ancestral links to the town and suddenly there was an electronic scoreboard and a new pitch. So we look forward to seeing that tonight.

The money inevitably led to a revival in the club's fortunes and they had a short run of stability before dropping out of Division One in 2015-6. In 2012 the BBC filmed a programme about the investment called "Mr Rich and the Terriers", which included a tour to play FC Buffalo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22JJ7qmSBPs The video has to be seen-got 32 minutes?

Billingham Synthonia (the Synners); name based on synthetic ammonia!! Yep I thought it might be a romantic musical "root" but the club name is based on an agricultural fertiliser produced by ICI in Stockton. They are another works' team. 2006-7 saw the club get to the semi-finals of the FA Vase, losing the semi-final to AFC Totton (another southern club) on penalties. They too were relegated from Division One of the Northern League in 2014-15. The club has reached the 1st Rd of the FA Cup 7 times but not recently. They also reached the FA Trophy and old Amateur Cup quarter-finals once in their history.