After another extraordinary week, I am feeling a lot more upbeat and positive than perhaps I have been over the past couple of weeks…That may well be instigated by a magnificent performance and win in the FA Trophy at Weston-Super-Mare on Tuesday night. It is such a shame that supporters were not allowed along to witness the game last week, without wanting to rub it in, it felt such an honour to be a Chairman of the club when you see all the hard work, effort and commitment by the players rewarded with such a magnificent win. We all got home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but it somehow felt completely worth it.
I know that many of you will have stayed in touch with the game via Twitter, thank you to Ryan Woolnough for doing an excellent job in keeping everyone up to date with the action as it happened, sitting waiting for the Twitter updates can be more nerve-racking than being at the actual game! In the next round we are away to Aveley, next Tuesday, supporters will be allowed to attend that match as it is just the right side of the Dartford Bridge and therefore still in Tier 2. The capacity will be reduced, so please do turn up in good time to guarantee entry and cheer the lads on for what we hope to be another memorable cup win.
Whilst visiting Weston-Super-Mare on Tuesday evening I had an appointment with our kit supplier, Karuta Sports. We discussed the potential kit for next season, and they gave me great insight into kit design and colours. The main statement made by them when considering a new kit is that the darker the colours, the more light (measured in Lumens) is required to make it visible, particularly at an evening game under floodlights. Our floodlighting at the Meadow is currently of 140 Lumens, at which point they recommended that “we need a lighter colour of kit so that players can instantly recognise their teammates in fading light”. and that to wear darker colours, their recommendation is that you need a minimum of 200 Lumens, and the higher the Lumens then the darker the kit can be and still be easily recognised.
Now, we have received numerous wonderful designs for our competition, and we are still very much open to new entries until the New Year to then be judged by the Board. So, to all you fantastic kit designers out there, for next season’s home and away strips, please get your design entries in to shirtdesigns@cheshamunited.co.uk and try to make your colour choices as light & vibrant as possible, as that is the route we will look to follow – until we move to our new ground which is planned to have lighting of 250 Lumens, which means we can run around in a fully dark claret kit on the darkest of December nights and still be able to see all the players stand out perfectly!
On the subject of competitions, today is the day we open up our free to enter 12 Days of Christmas quiz with a small prize to give-away every day. The question for today is on our Facebook page, please check back at 6pm every day until December 22nd to enter that day’s quick. The winner will be randomly selected from the correct answers. So, put your thinking hats on and keep an eye out for the questions.
If you have not already, please also complete our Supporters’ Survey which is on the website @ cheshamunited.co.uk/survey, we have already had a lot of completed questionnaires, thank you for that; obviously the more responses we receive the better understanding we can get of what we need to do to keep improving the club for your benefit.
I hope to see some of you at Aveley on Tuesday, we are keeping a very close eye on the next government update with regard to the tiers so that we can look to see when our league season can be up and running again, with supporters, and ideally with an open clubhouse to enable us as a club to make the campaign viable.
Finally, it would not be a Chairman’s update without the launch of a couple of new branded products available to purchase at the online club shop and help to spread the name of Chesham United. We have this week ordered some new beanie hats that will be available from the club at £12.50 each, two different styles of American varsity sports shirts on offer in club’s colours at £26 each, available in the next few days, along with some Snoods to keep you warm over the winter as announced last week. We have also received a further stock of face masks at £6 each. These would all make excellent gifts, stocking fillers or even just a treat for yourself. For more information, or to place an order, please contact me at chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk.
Thank you for your support
Peter Brown, Chairman
Chesham United Football Club
