Post by COYS on Jul 19, 2010 22:04:44 GMT
News Update - 19th July
With pre-season friendlies underway, it is time to welcome in 2010/11 and to give you an update on Saints City Trust's activities during the close season.
This update shows how you can get involved in promoting and occasionally helping at Saints home games; reports on key expenditure undertaken in the last couple of months and provides an update on the two competitions that have been running during that time. If you have any questions about the issues raised, please do not hesitate to contact any member of The Trust's Acting Board.
Volunteers Needed The Trust and the football club are reliant on a small group of volunteers to undertake fundraising and to ensure spectators' comfort, health & safety on matchdays. Inevitably the composition of the group changes from time to time as the volunteers move on and new ones are needed to fulfill these vital roles.
The most oft-quoted reason given by volunteers for moving on is that they have to do it match after match with little recognition, which detracts from their own enjoyment of coming to a game. As such, The Trust is looking to create a larger pool of volunteers who can be called on to undertake these duties from time-to-time, depending upon their availability. Training will be provided for the roles which include turnstile operators; programme, raffle tickets and merchandise sellers; steward and public address announcer. The Trust will also discuss with volunteers and the club ways in which the their contributions can be appropriately recognised.
A new page has been added to The Trust website that shows where gaps in cover exist and allowing fans to volunteer, which we hope that you will be prepared to do on occasion. Your help will ensure that supporters' generosity can continue and, frankly, so that there is no danger of games being played behind closed doors for safety reasons, so please help where you can.Discussions with St Albans District Council have also highlighted opportunities to participate in other, voluntary community activities and these will also be posted on the website as they occur. If you would like more information, please contact Richard Thompson or any member of The Trust's Acting Board.
Ground Improvements The resolution passed by members in March to make funds available to the club for ground improvements was put into action during the close season when The Trust paid for the relaying of the pitch, as well as contributing to the costs of materials to re-paint the main stand and purchasing new fixture boards for the Hatfield Road side of Clarence Park. The latter two contributions were made possible after plans for a female officials dressing room were postponed, although the pitch re-laying was more expensive than originally expected because of the VAT element, for which The Trust is currently not registered and therefore unable to reclaim.
Membership Renewal Details of the arrangements for membership renewal and The Trust's annual general meeting will be sent to you shortly; the notice for the AGM (which will take place in late-September) will also include a copy of The Trust's Annual Report, prepared by the Acting Board. If you are interested in contributing to the operation of The Trust and would like to know more about the roles and responsibilities involved prior to the Annual General Meeting, please ask any of the acting Board or contact chair Laura Graham or vice-chair Ian Rogers for more information.
Posters Are you able to display a poster advertising forthcoming games at Clarence Park at your home or in your place of work? Could you persuade your local shopkeepers to put up a poster too? These posters (which can be downloaded from the football club website and the SaintsChat fans forum) are a valuable way of encouraging local people to attend Saints' games and your help in spreading the word would be really appreciated.
Please note that Trust members living in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Londinium, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Vale of Glamorgan, Norway, Czech Republic and Cyprus are excused asking their local shopkeepers.
Charitable Donations The sponsored walk undertaken by six, footsore fans on 27th March raised £751 and payments of £135 were recently made to each of The Trust's nominated charities for this year: Open Door, St Albans Disability Association and the St Marys Luncheon Club, with the balance being taken into Trust funds. Thank you to everyone who sponsored the walkers Laura Graham, Barry Hilliard, Duncan McLeod, James Palmer, Ian Rogers and Richard Thompson who, undeterred by bunions, blisters and en route boozers, made it all the way around the nine miles route and back to Clarence Park for that afternoon's league game.
The Trust is carrying on the supporters club's tradition of adopting local charities each year and if you would like to suggest one that it could support during 2010/11, please contact Ian Rogers.
It's not too late There is still time to enter our photo competition in which you can submit a snap of yourself in your Saints colours (although preferably not showing off your lucky blue & gold undercrackers) while you are out and about this summer - whether it is a well-known local or UK venue, an unusual setting, an exotic overseas location or even a celebrity-sharing moment. The objective is to show how fans can spread the word about The Saints and encourage other people to attend games or to find out about the football club. The prizes on offer are a 2010/11 season ticket, £50 voucher to spend at the club shop and matchday tickets.
We have extended the closing date for entries to 3rd September, realising that this will give fans a better chance to take in any trips, holidays or family activities while the nights are still long, but please don't do anything dangerous like going for a swim in Verulamium lake (it's not a wet tee-shirt comp) or running half-naked through St Albans market (in which case your photo is only likely to appear in The Police Gazette).
The latest entry is from Club President and Saints City Trust member Malcolm MacMillan. We look forward to receiving your entry too.
Congratulations To the twenty fans who put their footballing reputations on the line recently to participate in our World Cup prediction competition using a format that was borrowed from our friends at Sandridge Cricket Club. The competition winner was Richard Thompson who finished just three points ahead of 'Eli' in second place, 'The Voice That Ran The Rangers' in third and Matt Morris in fourth place. These four players and 'Laura' - who won the consolation prize for finishing in last place - will receive their prizes of a goody bag (not a jamboree bag, as one had thought) from the club shop at an early-season home game.
Playing away Finally, please take the opportunity to take part in the straw poll on the Trust website to tell us which away trip that you are most looking forward to this season.
If you have any questions about these items or would like to discuss Saints City Trust's role and activities, please don't hesitate to contact any of the acting Board members.
With pre-season friendlies underway, it is time to welcome in 2010/11 and to give you an update on Saints City Trust's activities during the close season.
This update shows how you can get involved in promoting and occasionally helping at Saints home games; reports on key expenditure undertaken in the last couple of months and provides an update on the two competitions that have been running during that time. If you have any questions about the issues raised, please do not hesitate to contact any member of The Trust's Acting Board.
Volunteers Needed The Trust and the football club are reliant on a small group of volunteers to undertake fundraising and to ensure spectators' comfort, health & safety on matchdays. Inevitably the composition of the group changes from time to time as the volunteers move on and new ones are needed to fulfill these vital roles.
The most oft-quoted reason given by volunteers for moving on is that they have to do it match after match with little recognition, which detracts from their own enjoyment of coming to a game. As such, The Trust is looking to create a larger pool of volunteers who can be called on to undertake these duties from time-to-time, depending upon their availability. Training will be provided for the roles which include turnstile operators; programme, raffle tickets and merchandise sellers; steward and public address announcer. The Trust will also discuss with volunteers and the club ways in which the their contributions can be appropriately recognised.
A new page has been added to The Trust website that shows where gaps in cover exist and allowing fans to volunteer, which we hope that you will be prepared to do on occasion. Your help will ensure that supporters' generosity can continue and, frankly, so that there is no danger of games being played behind closed doors for safety reasons, so please help where you can.Discussions with St Albans District Council have also highlighted opportunities to participate in other, voluntary community activities and these will also be posted on the website as they occur. If you would like more information, please contact Richard Thompson or any member of The Trust's Acting Board.
Ground Improvements The resolution passed by members in March to make funds available to the club for ground improvements was put into action during the close season when The Trust paid for the relaying of the pitch, as well as contributing to the costs of materials to re-paint the main stand and purchasing new fixture boards for the Hatfield Road side of Clarence Park. The latter two contributions were made possible after plans for a female officials dressing room were postponed, although the pitch re-laying was more expensive than originally expected because of the VAT element, for which The Trust is currently not registered and therefore unable to reclaim.
Membership Renewal Details of the arrangements for membership renewal and The Trust's annual general meeting will be sent to you shortly; the notice for the AGM (which will take place in late-September) will also include a copy of The Trust's Annual Report, prepared by the Acting Board. If you are interested in contributing to the operation of The Trust and would like to know more about the roles and responsibilities involved prior to the Annual General Meeting, please ask any of the acting Board or contact chair Laura Graham or vice-chair Ian Rogers for more information.
Posters Are you able to display a poster advertising forthcoming games at Clarence Park at your home or in your place of work? Could you persuade your local shopkeepers to put up a poster too? These posters (which can be downloaded from the football club website and the SaintsChat fans forum) are a valuable way of encouraging local people to attend Saints' games and your help in spreading the word would be really appreciated.
Please note that Trust members living in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Londinium, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Vale of Glamorgan, Norway, Czech Republic and Cyprus are excused asking their local shopkeepers.
Charitable Donations The sponsored walk undertaken by six, footsore fans on 27th March raised £751 and payments of £135 were recently made to each of The Trust's nominated charities for this year: Open Door, St Albans Disability Association and the St Marys Luncheon Club, with the balance being taken into Trust funds. Thank you to everyone who sponsored the walkers Laura Graham, Barry Hilliard, Duncan McLeod, James Palmer, Ian Rogers and Richard Thompson who, undeterred by bunions, blisters and en route boozers, made it all the way around the nine miles route and back to Clarence Park for that afternoon's league game.
The Trust is carrying on the supporters club's tradition of adopting local charities each year and if you would like to suggest one that it could support during 2010/11, please contact Ian Rogers.
It's not too late There is still time to enter our photo competition in which you can submit a snap of yourself in your Saints colours (although preferably not showing off your lucky blue & gold undercrackers) while you are out and about this summer - whether it is a well-known local or UK venue, an unusual setting, an exotic overseas location or even a celebrity-sharing moment. The objective is to show how fans can spread the word about The Saints and encourage other people to attend games or to find out about the football club. The prizes on offer are a 2010/11 season ticket, £50 voucher to spend at the club shop and matchday tickets.
We have extended the closing date for entries to 3rd September, realising that this will give fans a better chance to take in any trips, holidays or family activities while the nights are still long, but please don't do anything dangerous like going for a swim in Verulamium lake (it's not a wet tee-shirt comp) or running half-naked through St Albans market (in which case your photo is only likely to appear in The Police Gazette).
The latest entry is from Club President and Saints City Trust member Malcolm MacMillan. We look forward to receiving your entry too.
Congratulations To the twenty fans who put their footballing reputations on the line recently to participate in our World Cup prediction competition using a format that was borrowed from our friends at Sandridge Cricket Club. The competition winner was Richard Thompson who finished just three points ahead of 'Eli' in second place, 'The Voice That Ran The Rangers' in third and Matt Morris in fourth place. These four players and 'Laura' - who won the consolation prize for finishing in last place - will receive their prizes of a goody bag (not a jamboree bag, as one had thought) from the club shop at an early-season home game.
Playing away Finally, please take the opportunity to take part in the straw poll on the Trust website to tell us which away trip that you are most looking forward to this season.
If you have any questions about these items or would like to discuss Saints City Trust's role and activities, please don't hesitate to contact any of the acting Board members.
