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Bishop Auckland left £300,000 in will by fan Colin Rowell

Heritage Park: Home of  Bishop Auckland who hosted Sunderland in a friendly last year
Image: Heritage Park: Bishop Auckland hosted Sunderland in a friendly last year

Non-league football club Bishop Auckland have scooped over £300,000 thanks to the will of a generous football fan.

Colin Rowell died aged 79 in January and having been an avid supporter of the semi-professional club based in County Durham for over 70 years opted to leave most of his estate to the team. 

His ashes are to be scattered on the pitch and a section of its Heritage Park ground may be named after him at the Northern League Division One club.

Club officials said the generous gift would help secure the future of the world's most successful amateur side, claiming it was like "Manchester United being given £3 billion".

Chairman Richard Tremewan said the generosity was "unprecedented", adding: "Although we have received one or two bequests before, we've had nothing like this."

This magnificent gesture gives us the opportunity to do some of the things around the ground we would like to do
Club director Terry Jackson

Darren Brown, of Hewitts Solicitors in Bishop Auckland, said: "Colin never married and he had no children so it was, perhaps, the natural thing for him to leave it to the football club that had given him so much pleasure over the years.

"After he died we found a drawer full of newspaper clippings about Bishop Auckland FC and the team's new ground at Heritage Park. Clearly, he followed them until the end."

Brown stated that Rowell had insisted the cash to be used to improve the team's home ground. Executor of Mr Rowell's will, Karen Eyre, said: "Colin loved sport of all kinds, but football, in particular.

"Shortly before he died, he said to me that his dream would be to have his ashes scattered on the penalty spot at the new ground. He would have been delighted to know that's what is going to happen."

Colin’s friend Nora Robson said: “Football was his life. He used to talk about the team and the matches he’d been to all the time.”

Club director Terry Jackson said: "This magnificent gesture gives us the opportunity to do some of the things around the ground we would like to do, as opposed to what we can afford. It’s up to us to honour Colin’s memory by making sure every penny is spent wisely."

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