Welfare Ground
Rear Commercial Street
Brandon
County Durham
DH7 8PL
Ground Number: 1276
Thursday 14th March 2924
Durham Cestria 4-0 Norton & Stockton Ancients WFC
Womens National D1 North
Womens National D1 North
DURHAM CESTRIA WFC - A BRIEF HISTORY
Cestria Girls were established in 2007 and, after some success as a junior grassroots club, they entered senior football after a successful merger with South Durham – who themselves were County Cup winners on a few occasions – becoming South Durham Cestria LFC in 2012. That same season County Cup success followed promotion to the Women’s Premier League. However, after a successful bid to join the new FA Women’s Super League with Durham University, the club simply became Durham Women FC. Not to be confused with the more senior Durham WFC who play in the Women's Championship, they play in the Womens National Division 1 North although they are effectively a partner club. They've been at step 4 since 2019 and last season finished as runners-up to Newcastle United on goal difference. Several Cestriaplayers have gone on to play in the FA Womens Super League and at International level and have won the County Cup with Durham – most notably Jen Jennings, Beth Hepple, Lauren Briggs and Zoe Ness. They normally play their games at the Graham Sports Centre, sometimes known as Maiden Castle but this game was moved to Brandon United, possibly due to the weather.
BRANDON UNITED FC HISTORY
Brandon United was established in 1968 as the works team of a waste paper company and were initially shared the name of the company Rostrons. They joined Division Three of the Durham & District Sunday League, winning the division in their first season. They went on to win Division Two the following season and were promoted to Division One. The mid-1970s saw Brandon win Division One four times in successive seasons between 1974 and 1977. They also won the Durham Sunday Cup in 1974, 1976 and 1977 as well as the FA Sunday Cup in 1976. In 1977 the club switched to Saturday Football and joined the Northern Alliance, winning back-to-back championships in their first two seasons in the league, also winning the League Cup in their first season. Although they only finished fourth in 1980, the club entered the FA Cup for the first time and reached the first round. Drawn at home to Bradford City, the match was moved to Spennymoor United's ground, with Bradford winning 3–0. The season also saw them win the League Cup for a second time. In the summer of 1980 Brandon left the Northern Alliance to join the Northern Amateur League, but after a single season, they were elected to the Wearside League. Two seasons later, they moved up to Division Two of the Northern League. After finishing fourth in 1983–84, they won the division the following season and were promoted to Division 1.[4] In 1988–89 they reached the first round of the FA Cup again; after drawing 0–0 at Doncaster Rovers, the replay was also played at Doncaster's Belle Vue, with Rovers winning 2–1. Brandon United was relegated to Division 2 in 1994 but returned to Division 1 after winning the title in 2000. The club were Division 1 champions in 2003 but finished bottom of the table in 2006 and were relegated back to Division 2. They've been there ever since but have tended to struggle.
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MY VISIT
Originally on this day, we intended to go to Jarrow near Newcastle. I'd be already up in the north and the rest of the party were driving up on Thursday. However, owing to the weather the game had been moved to the Ford Hub, home of Sunderland West End. It was one that a lot of us had been to, so we needed an alternate plan. With the others going to Crook, I was planning on going to West Auckland for the reserve game. It was a club that I'd wanted to visit for ages, but sadly that game was also moved to a random sports hub. A couple of days before, Durham Cestria WFC announced that they would be playing their game at Brandon United. The others were very keen but I'd pencilled it in for the night before. Thankfully, there were many backups, so I would go to Silksworth Colliery Welfare on Wednesday instead.
The day of the game came and I awoke just before 7 due to the noise of traffic outside my room. I still had a bit of time to kill, not needing to check out until 11. I had a shower, got dressed and had breakfast before going back to my room. Leaving at 10.55, I bought a Durham Day Rover ticket that got me unlimited travel on the buses in County Durham for £4, a real bargain. I decided to go to Consett. There was a Wetherspoons there plus another well rated pub and a great bargain shop. It turned out to be a disappointment. The Spoons was closed and the other pub didn't have anything special on cider wise. I decided against a pint and instead picked up some snacks and drinks from the shop before getting the bus to Chester Le Street. There was an upside with some great deals on steak meals at the later pub and a good drinks selection too. The 78 was really busy. I kept myself entertained by listening to a Twitter space about Wycombe's remarkable decision to attempt to buy Reading's training ground. I was in Chester Le Street just after 2. The steak was not going through on the app, so I assumed availability issues. Nevertheless, a mixed grill and two pints of Black Dragon were enjoyed at the Wicket Gate, a pleasant venue. From there it was a bus to the Travelodge. The bus overshot by one stop so I had a twenty-minute walk back to my room. After dumping my bag, I thought I was the wrong way of the dual carriageway to get back to Durham. So off to Spennymoor Spoons it was. A ground that I'd love to go back to but unlikely as I've already been. In fact, we went through Durham on our journey but I had time to kill and never need an excuse for a pint. The journey was slow though Durham but eventually we got a shift on.
The amusing sight of Police seizing a toy car was my first sight in Spennymoor. But the Spoons was the main attraction and 313 in the chain, The Grand Electric Hall was a seriously smart place. Despite Old Rosie being on offer, I opted for a pint of Stowford Press in very pleasant surroundings. The bus back to Durham was decent and Consett aside, it had been a cracking day. Typically, Dan and the other hoppers were at Brandon over two hours before kick off, so I said I'd meet them there. Back to the wonderful Station House it was. First up was a pint of Peardrop Explodes from Olivers, a steep £7.10 a pint. But my attitude was, this is an honest place and where else am I going to be able to try it. Colin had elected to go to Crook by now and the others had given him a lift. Second up for me was a bottle of Northumbrian Browns, a great drop brewed locally. Back to the bus station, the 18:32 21 service did not turn up. On the 18:46 it was then and a nice friendly driver. Owing to the previous bus being absent, it was a busy service but a few pints deep, I wasn't bothered. We got there in the end, via Billie Jo's for an enormous half-pound Parmo burger. I met up with Dan outside, paying £4 to get in, plus a go on the football card as Reading.
Durham Cestria were in second place only to Newcastle United on goal difference whilst Norton & Stockton Ancients were in 7th. The hosts had won four in a row, including an 8-0 victory at Chorley in the last game. The visitors had won three in a fow, lastly beating Merseyrail 2-0. Both teams last defeats had come against the leaders Newcastle United. The first half saw Durham Cestria apply all the pressure. It was not the greatest of games but the Norton keeper played well. On 40 minutes, Durham took the lead through an attack down the right, finished in the bottom corner by Abby Jones. A pint of Dark Fruits was enjoyed at half time to help out the club. Norton had a brief rally but it was Durham Cestria who extended their lead on 57 minutes, Abby Holmes following up after the initial shot was saved. Holmes completed her hat trick on 62 minutes, following up another effort. Durham made it 4-0 through Daisy Clark late on, the excellent Jones supplying the assist. 85 were in attendance, including Paul from Groundtastic Magazine.
THE GROUND
The WELFARE GROUND is a decent venue to visit. There is just the one stand which holds around 200 seated and standing. The rest is open stepped terracing. There's also a basic bar and teabar plus plenty of parking. Regular buses run to the ground and there is a takeaway and convenience store a few miles away.
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