Firstly, a huge thank you to the 455 that attended Mondays match and those that travelled to Bracknell on the Saturday. The players, management team and the board really do appreciate your efforts and support. Shame our video man for goals was caught out by the audacity of Karl’s superb lob for our third at Bracknell!
For us, the past week has been fantastic, picking up six points over the Bank Holiday weekend with victories over Bracknell & North Leigh. I thought in my own mind that going into the weekend, I would have been perfectly happy with four points from the two games in 48 hours, so to come away with all six is excellent in our quest for promotion. In truth, the 1-0 win over North Leigh felt a little disappointing because we were so dominant and could have scored more, but the 3-0 win at Bracknell surpassed expectations as that is one of the toughest places to go in our league – possibly one of those weekends where if the two results had of been the other way around, we would all be buzzing with excitement. But maybe it is good to keep our feet on the ground.
Roddy has his scan this week and we should know at the start of next week what the prognosis is. Once this is known, our physio Matty will set in place a recovery plan for however long it needs to be. Good news though is that we have Jordan Gibbons very close to fitness and he may make the bench this weekend.
Our ground grading renewal visit happened this week and we were left with only 4 technical points for us to work on which they will all be completed by the end of this week, once that’s all signed off we will have a further 3 years grace for our ground and a full and proper Grade C grading!
Our annual Fireworks Spectacular has this week been confirmed for Fri 4th November 2022, 7.30pm. Tickets will be made available online in the coming week. Unfortunately, like all organisations we are having to increase prices this year as the firework costs themselves have increased by 30% (as an example, the company we use has had their transport costs increase to £33,000 for a container to be shipped in, when last year it was £11,000) and so we have taken the step to increase our prices but we are absorbing some of the price increase ourselves which will allow us to maintain the same length and quality of show we did last year for our community. Prices this year will be £25 for a family ticket, £8 for adults and £6 for Under 18s.
A meeting is due to take place very shortly to finalize our Treorchy Male Choir Event, with our own local Chess Valley Male Voice Choir in attendance on 3rd June 2023 at St Mary’s Church at 7.30pm This event will be raising much needed funds for our club Charity “Bucks Mind” that is in desperate needs of additional funds. Please book this date now in your diary because when tickets go on sale soon, we are certain it will sell out very quickly as this will be an amazing event with one of the world’s finest Male Choirs.
Our online club shop has now been revamped for the season showing many new additions and variations including both our new and away home kit, training and warm up T Shirts, Tracksuits, ¼ zip warm up kit and other numerous items. Please go to www.cheshamunited.co.uk/shop have a good look through and order what you would like. We have also still 7 away shirts available for sale directly in the club at £37 each. Please contact retail@cheshamunited.co.uk for these and any other questions that you might have.
Now this weekend brings us into the FA Cup competition, the oldest and most famous cup competition in the world. The FA Cup has the potential to create lifelong memories and if you get lucky or have an exceptional run like we had in 2015/16, to generate significant income that can help the stability of any club and also provide the finances to dream bigger – be that with addressing ground grading requirements for the next level, creating a community hub for the club or piecing together a team that can take us to the next level and widen our fanbase in the local area.
We welcome Peacehaven and Telscombe to the Meadow for what will be a close encounter to see who progresses to the 2nd Qualifying Round of this wonderful competition. I look forward to seeing you at this fixture, Mavericks Bar and the tea Bar will be open along with Billy’s Diner as well as our clubhouse will be open for you.
I might not be seen as much this Saturday though as I must again don the chef’s hat for the day so that both sides players, officials and our own staff get some food after the game. And on that note, I am calling for volunteers, this time for helping on the gate for matches is greatly needed and appreciated. Please contact me chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk as we are down to the bare bones this week for staff.
Thank you for the time you devote to our club!
Best wishes to you all,
Peter Brown
