New Delaval Knights Bowls club is tucked away in South East Northumberland in the town of Blyth. New Delaval is a mining village with a proud heritage where the local community have always been supportive of each other and the various sports clubs in the area. None more so than than here at New Delaval Knights. The club is fast approaching it’s centenary year and is taking great strides forward to ensure the club remains not only competitive in club, County and National competitions but to also provide an inclusive club where it’s a place where all members of the public are made most welcome.

 

New Delaval bowls club was affiliated to the EBA (now Bowls England) from when formed. The club remained members until the English Bowling Federation was formed in 1945 after the Second World War. New Delaval then switched codes to support the newly formed venture and were very supportive of the EBF and Northumberland EBF. Success followed with the club winning the Senior Cup regularly and individual success notably in 1965 when Joe Bray and Charlie Findlay brought the club its first National honour in winning the EBF men’s pairs title.

 

The club has always encouraged members families to get fully involved on the playing side and during the 1970s three examples of this were the Rowe, Robson and Young families. Eric Rowe and his two sons Ian and Keith were all excellent players who brought success to the club over this period.  George Young played alongside his son Peter who was one of the youngest members in Northumberland. Tom Robson joined and played alongside his two sons Stephen and Dean who were both under 7 years old. 

 

During the 1980s the club came through a lean period to really flourish towards the end of the decade, Tom Robson had taken on positions of both Chairman and Secretary and he drove the club forward with ambitious plans and attracted new members from all over Blyth and Northumberland to the point where a cap was placed on the membership as the club had become so popular and successful.

 

County honours were now a regular occurrence for the club. Some of the notable ones were Stephen Robson becoming County junior champion at 12 years of age and County 2 Bowls singles champion at 17. Tommy Robson was County pairs champion with son Dean and also 2 bowls singles champion. Keith Rowe a double 4 bowls champion and Charlie Findlay also winning at county level. The Robson’s were awarded the Blyth Valley sports family of the year award in 1984 and received their trophy off Kevin Keegan at a special awards night.

 

Towards the end the 1980s the club again welcomed new families into the club. Stu, Tom and Ricky Humes joined and Denis and Stephen Wood as well as the Mcgahan family, all these families were excellent members for the club over a long period. The clubhouse was redeveloped in 1989 all done by the club members. This gave the club real pride when they welcomed any visiting players and the public who were always welcome.

 

In 1989 the club were sponsored by The Federation Brewery and part of this agreement saw the club join forces with Newsham and New Delaval Social club, This became the clubs new name. The Federation classic was formed and played for at New Delaval with £1000 prize money. This, in 1989, was one of the largest sport sponsorship deals in the North East of England.The club attracted players from all over England to play In it and the first title was won by the Hirst Park trio John White, Colin Chapman and Alec Wallace. The competition and sponsorship continued successfully over the next ten years and was the brainchild of Tom Robson who used this links with Jim Ramshaw Chairman of the brewery to ensure this deal was renewed yearly. The same season the brewery provided the club with a Scoreboard which is still, to this day, the biggest in Northumberland and possibly in England.

During these years the clubs family spirit shone through with the ladies playing an important part organising and presenting Buffets and functions, the help of Lyn Robson, Joanne Robson, Ann Smith, Sheila Parkin, Gladys Smith , Pauline Allen, Shirley Humes, Christine Wood and more all so vital to the smooth running of a successful club.

 

The Nineties saw the club become a real powerhouse within the County, more county honours went to the Robson’s with all three winning Numerous County singles,  Dean and Tom both losing in National singles finals put the club on the map nationally and then George Parker, Joe Howe and Stephen Wood won the National Triples in 1999. This was a major coup for the club.

 

The millennium year arrived and the three Robson’s achieved a unique double by winning both the National 2 bowl and 3 bowl triples in 2000 something which nobody else in England has achieved. By now the club were becoming such a strong force that honours were always around the corner. To enable the champions the club always had a strong togetherness among all members, the casual players and their families were as important as the competitive players, this made for a great team morale and healthy club. This team spirit epitomised the clubs feel good factor which made the members proud to represent the club at all levels and the community tapped into this with tremendous support at games and also at the functions the club held which were always a sell out in Newsham.

 

Tom Robson again held negotiations to secure funding for the redevelopment of the club house once more with the help of the committee they oversaw the changes. 

 

Many more county honours have continued to come to the club to this day, in recent seasons more National titles - Graeme Robinson and David Leightly as well as Liam Hann with Aaron Robson ( Toms Grandson )have won the National under 25 pairs, Aaron Robson the National Indoor singles and Ricky Humes National 2 bowl singles.

 

In 2019 the club won the National EBF club knockout trophy at Skegness defeating a side from Northants in a close final to lift the Durham Centenary trophy, this was one of the proudest moments in the clubs history of which we are all proud. 

Look North TV did a feature on the club prior to the final and gave an update on the final the following week. On the back of that success the club decided to rebrand to New Delaval Knights. The first outdoor club in England to do this which again showed the foresight and ambition of the club not to stand still but to build a platform to attract new members to the club and involve our community and welcome them to join us.

 

The Ladies team have also achieved much success over the years, Nan Carroll, Joyce Findlay, Pam Snaith have all played a major role in ensuring the ladies section have always played a strong part in the community and achieved titles and represented the club at Leamington spa in National finals.

 

Bowls and New Delaval has played a massive part in all our members lives, it’s the game, once you’ve tried it, you wonder why you haven’t tried before and you can’t wait to go back and try again! The list of names of so many members over the years which have made this such a special club is too long to mention them all, but the club always played a big part of all their lives. 

 

The club have always valued the role of the family and on many occasions have held social events and trips to make sure everyone feels valued and part of the team. Being a member of New Delaval Knights gives people the chance to be part of a special club steeped in history, there will always be someone available to help you learn to play or for advice on how to improve your game. We’d love to see the next generation of the community join and be part of this historic club on our doorstep