Durham Amateur Football Trust

	Welcome to the website of the Durham Amateur Football Trust, "Celebrating the Golden Age of Soccer" The trust was recently established with the assistance of a grant from the "Awards for All" office in Newcastle. The 1940's and 50's are acknowledged as the high point of Amateur Football in England and in particular, Durham County, with Bishop Auckland winning the F.A. Amateur Cup on numerous occasions.
			Latest News.... Many things have happened since the last newsletter in January and we feel that progress has been made towards our aims of: (a) collecting relevant memorabilia and (b) reaching as many people as possible who have the necessary experience of the Amateur Cup era. The exhibitions and film nights have been very well attended and the committee have been delighted at the public response. Articles in local and national newspapers have been instrumental in promoting the Trust and resulted in several people from outside the area making contact to give valuable input to the store of material. While the film shown by Tyne-Tees TV on Monday 26th March in their local news programme was a great boost to our becoming known in the area.
	More News.... The Willington Exhibition An exhibition opened in Willington Library on answered questions from the audience. As they were the only people invited the attendance from the public was very encouraging. Monday 22nd January. The Northern Echo sent a reporter and photographer along to give it publicity and displayed for the first time were Bert Steward’s cup-final shirts and 14 framed photographs of “The Bishops” kindly loaned by Barclays Bank of Bishop Auckland. Howden-Le-Wear This was our first venture solo without the back-up of library staff and we found that we had collected sufficient material to make a good display in an old classroom in the Community Centre. Thanks are due to the local history society and the community association for the loan of display boards. Clayport Library, Durham This venue was given a huge boost by the Tyne-Tees TV crew’s presence, along with Radio Cleveland, The Journal, The Evening Chronicle and The Northern Echo. The librarian said that ours was by far the most popular and well attended of all her exhibitions and interest had been evident from a wide area throughout the 3 week period. The evening of the film show in the library was attended by over 50 people, while Barry Storey, Neil Walton and Neil Marshall were the players sharing their reminiscences. Daily Telegraph Article Ricky George, the Telegraph’s non-league correspondent, wrote an article on the Trust on January 23rd giving us national coverage for the first time. Several interesting contacts were made as a result of the article and John Phelan was inundated with letters from around the country. The National Football Museum On Tuesday 16th January some members of the Trust visited the museum at Preston North End’s ground at Deepdale. It was interesting to see the full range of the museum’s collection and the ways in which items were displayed. We were grateful for the help and talk given by the museum’s research officer, Peter Holm.
	More on these stories and others can be found on the DAFT Newsletter. To receive the newsletter please join DAFT. For information on joining pease click Here
	The purpose(s) of D.A.F.T. is To record this sporting and social history by establishing an archive of Amateur Football in Durham County. To collect newspaper reports, audio and video footage, vintage newsreels and to collect memorabilia. Organise exhibition material, lectures and maintain this website for the benefit of clubs, schools and community groups. To promote interest in the history of Amateur Football and non-league football in an effort to get young and old involved in local clubs, playing, helping and supporting.