Tributes paid to much loved sports personality and poet from Bridlington

Don Bemrose and his wife Audrey in September of 2018. Photo Courtesy of Jon Bemrose.

Mr Bemrose was born in 1933 as part of a large family, and was brought up in Barmston before moving to Bridlington.

He was well known across the East Riding for his sporting connections and beautiful local dialect poetry.

He played cricket for Barmston and a number of Bridlington teams, as well as becoming a local football referee and president for the East Riding Referees Association.

Mr Bemrose also became a stalwart of the Driffield and District football league and was MD of Bridlington Town during their first Wembley appearance in 1990.

His love of football didn’t stop there, and he was involved with several junior football visits to Germany. He became a member of the Local Karnival Club and was part of many junior tournaments in France.

Mr Bemrose was also a member of Bridlington Rugby Union club, and played bowls and darts in the local area.

Beyond sport he appeared in a number of productions with the Bridlington Amateur Operatic & Dramatic Society, and was a founder member of the East Riding Dialect Society.

Dialect and language was a passion that Mr Bemrose turned into beautiful dialect poetry, often reflecting upon his agricultural upbringing in Barmston.

He shared this passion with others by publishing a number of books of his dialect poetry, which were also available on cassette and CD.

Mr Bemrose performed hundreds of spoken pieces at WIs, village halls and farmers’ clubs across the county and beyond. Such events included the British Legion Conference in Harrogate, and at the Purcell Rooms in South Bank in London.

Many other local organisations have benefited from the work of Mr Bemrose, including the Bridlington Harbour gala, where he was on the committee for several years.

Alongside his incredible creative and sports work, Mr Berose worked for many years for Yorkshire Water.

He met hundreds of people in their time of need, often getting midnight call outs to fix broken pipes for residents across the region.

Mr Bemrose lost his wife of 62 years, Audrey Bemrose, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He battled on with the assistance of his close family but died of old age on April 5 2024, at Scarborough Hospital.

He had three children; Chris, Jon, who are surviving, and Rachel, who passed away a few years prior. Mr Bemrose also leaves two grandchildren and two great grandchildren.