People ..........
There is more to the Cleveland Hall organisation than children running out on the football pitches of the North East every Saturday and Sunday. Bills have to be paid regularly, insurance has to be sorted out for players and officials and equipment and referees have to be paid for. The logistics of putting over 250 children out on the football pitch every week-end are much more troublesome than is obviously apparent and the people who do this unglamorous work are honoured below.
Click on the names to go straight to the profile:
| Club leader Bob Boustead | Club Treasurer Ken Collins |
| Football Secretary Jim Sinclair | U15 Secretary Bobby Beat JP |
| General Manager Stan Lapsley | Club Vice Chairman Fred Elliott |
| Club Chairman Gordon Spring |
| Bob Boustead Club leader
|
Of current stalwarts Bob has the longest involvement with CHBC. He began as as player in 1963 and continued playing up until the age of 21. Following a 4 year sabbatical (to get married amongst other things) Bob became involved again with the running of the only club team, at under 18 level in 1973. Due to the amount of players attracted to his training sessions Bob oversaw the initial expansion of CHBC by forming a successful U18 `B` team in the JOC league. In 1976 he took over as club leader, a post he was to hold for 18 years, until work took him to South America. In that time with his irrepressible combination of energy, enthusiasm and pragmatism the club expanded from 2 teams to 8 and he took the transformation of the premises on Chowdene Bank as a personal crusade. The saddest moment of Bob`s CHBC life was being over 8,000 miles away, when in 1996 arsonists wrecked the building on Chowdene Bank that had been his project. Our move to Lyndhurst has rekindled his excitement and now back from Argentina he has plans galore for the further development of the club and the premises. Back to top |
| Jim SinclairFootball Secretary
|
Jim deals with administration
for all Cleveland Hall teams. He is also the Chairman of the recently inaugarated Tyneside
Junior League (Under 18) and the football co-ordinator for Durham Association of Boys
Clubs. On top of all of this he acts as secretary for the under 18 team. Jim has been involved in the running of the Boys Club for 20 years and lists his proudest moment as seeing the under 18 team reach the Durham County Cup final in 1992. (A game remembered all too well by the author of this website!) He is also massively proud of the fact that the club has grown from two teams to the eighteen teams currently running while he has been involved. Jim has recently been elected a full councillor on Durham FA. |
| Ken Collins Club Treasurer
|
Its said that money makes the
world go around and Ken, as treasurer, is responsible for seeing that the club is able to
function economically. A keen Sunderland fan, Ken has also been responsible for
introducing numerous sponsors to the club over the past decade. Ken doubles up as the secretary and physio of the Under 12 team, a job he has been doing for the past 10 years and lists his proudest moment as the whole 1990/91 season when the team won the Gateshead Youth League with a 100% record. |
| Stan Lapsley General Manager
|
The elder
statesman of the club (although he would not thank me for saying so), the areas that Stan
has contributed have been far too widespread to list. He is currently the club general
manager as well as secretary to the under 15 team and also overseer of the end of season
presentation night. He has been deeply involved in club affairs for the past 22 years,
from a time when the club had 26 young players to today where membership is over 200. Stan has trouble picking his favourite moment from a montage of memories but when pushed names being present at Wembley when two Cleveland Hall players made their England under 16 debuts against Scotland. Stan recently won a prestigious national award for volunteers who have performed unpaid service to the community. Totally deserved say all who know him. Back to top |
| Bobby Beat JP U15Secretary
|
A local magistrate, Bobby acts as team Secretary, referee for hire and also helps out in the management of both the Under 15 and Under 18 teams. He claims to have represented Newcastle United "N`s" team in earlier life and is well known figure on the youth football scene in Gateshead. Bobby is proud of a number of achievements by teams he has been involved with, more particularly winning the prestigious Blackpool International Tournament with the Under 15 team and back to back league titles with the Under 18 team. He did not enjoy one particular cup final loss to Esh Winning in the Chester Hospitals Cup final on penalties. |
