Notes from the Chair – Creeping closer to a new normal
As you hopefully know by now, tomorrow (Saturday) we finally get to host our 2019/20 End of Season Awards Presentation – The weather forecast is looking good enabling us to use the terrace area to ensure everyone has a good time in safe surroundings. The bar opens from midday with the presentations taking place between 1.00-4.00pm. Please do come along for some great food, great beer and great company – We have invested in excess of £1,400 to make the facilities covid-19 secure so rest assured we have done everything possible to make sure things proceed safely.
Talking of investment, I am excited to announce that we have this week obtained grants for the repair of the Popular Stand roof and also to install a ramp from the ground into the clubhouse to provide wheelchair access. We have also appointed builders for the work, and everything will be completed by the first game of the season.
Talking of which, following the announcements from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports yesterday, we have received notification from the FA that they are now working to submit an action plan and guidance for government approval before publishing for the grassroots community. In the meantime, we have been told that we, competitive grassroots football, can prepare for a return and look forward to the start of the new season. We have no confirmed dates to work to yet, but as long as everyone can stay safe, we are optimistic about the return of our wonderful game.
We also finally managed to have a Board meeting this week, and at the end of the three hours of discussions a number of decisions were made to take the club forward. There will be some organisational changes. As previously announced, Brian McCarthy has been appointed Club President, and this week Tina Reading has moved across to fulfil a much-needed Hospitality role at the club. Tina will, as we all do, continue to have an involvement in the commercial side as well as looking to bring more people and events to the club. I would like to personally thank Tina for all her hard work so far and am excited about the club being able to extend its offering through the new role created.
This does mean that we are actively looking for a Commercial Manager who can help to bring in valuable sponsorship money, and in the current climate we would be interested in working with an individual paying commission for new business and a reduced commission fee for securing renewals. With the prospect of an exciting season ahead and our plans to increase usage of the facilities with more events, as a sponsor myself through my own business, I do believe that we genuinely offer excellent sponsorship packages that can provide beneficial exposure for local businesses.
In addition to this, we continue to look for volunteers and get more people involved with roles at the club, the latest vacancy we are keen to fill is an editor for all our match recordings and interviews with the management before and after games for social media. No camera work is needed as all the filming will be done, but ideally, we are looking for someone that can edit the recordings down and have them with the managers on Sunday for their approval before it is posted on social media.
If you are interested in either of the available roles, please let me know by emailing chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk.
A huge amount going on at the club at the moment, including areas where I would like to get supporters involved, for example the possibility of providing a text message update service and, perhaps when we are all back together regularly at The Meadow, the question has been raised about the official start date of the club: Should it be when the two teams in Chesham amalgamated in 1917, or when the teams that ‘united’ together first formed? A topic for hot debate I am sure! More on all of this later.
For now, I look forward to seeing many of you at the club tomorrow, thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.
Peter Brown, Chairman
Chesham United Football Club
