The warm-up for the start of the non-league season gets underway this weekend with the delayed Euro 2020 tournament – A good performance and a long run in the competition for England can do wonders for the morale of our country and the desire to watch more football. Let’s hope England, Wales and Scotland perform well and all of us smaller clubs that have suffered so much over the past 15 months can benefit from the euphoria created by the tournament.
The Chess Suite will be open at weekends throughout the Euros, a great environment to watch the games with your friends, on a big screen with drinks served at your table (until we are told that you are allowed to go up to the bar yourself) – What more could you ask for?
Maybe you would like to enjoy watching the games looking out over a neat and tidy ground with clean terraces? Well, we can all help to make that happen. Tomorrow (Saturday) we are once again having a terrace weed cleaning session from 9.00am; what is the old saying, many hands make light work? Please, if you can come along with gloves, buckets, hoes, dustpans and brushes it would be hugely appreciated. There were not many of us last week, and we really could do with the help.
Talking of help, you should by now be familiar with our desire to install a scoreboard at The Meadow that will not only enhance the supporters experience, but also enable us to further promote our sponsors. We have some donations already in place for the scoreboard and have now set-up a GoFundMe page to enable anyone else that would like to help us to raise the remaining £3,000 to do so. All donations welcomed, no matter how large or small. Donations can be made here: https://gofund.me/b0a8cfe5
The great thing about the scoreboard is that it is something that we will be able to take with us to the new ground when that goes ahead, so that it becomes an investment for the future, with immediate benefits now, and it will all be funded by generous donations outside of our budget for the forthcoming season.
The vision for the new ground came a step closer this week with a base plan and costings being agreed. I know you are probably sick of hearing about how much is going on behind the scenes and are keen to see some details for yourself, I can assure you that this is on its way, and there really is so much going on behind the scenes!! I am very hopeful that we are now close to signing the Heads of Terms document that will move us into the planning stage, and that is when the excitement can really start to build.
A huge thank you to everyone that has so far purchased season tickets, we have already sold over 110, in addition we have agreed that all members of our youth set-up, up to the age of 18, will receive complimentary season tickets as part of their association to the club, which is over 700 free tickets being given out to our next generation of players. The coaches and management of our youth section are doing an excellent job and I hope we can encourage many of the young players along to first team games and truly feel a part of Chesham United.
Our Academy side have had a fantastic season despite losing their final game 8-1 against an incredibly strong Mickleover Sports side that seemed to feature players from their first and reserve teams which make the score line nowhere near as bad as it sounds, It has been a tremendous season for our young academy, we are very proud of their achievements and look forward to a bright future for them in the game.
Next season we will again be welcoming girls and boys from our younger sections along to games as ball boys and girls, the club has recently invested in special waterproof jackets to help them stand out on a matchday, and to keep them warm at the less summery matches!
Like everyone, we are keeping our eye on the plans for the next phase of coming out of lockdown, hoping that it is June 21st, but respecting any decision made. This will all have implications on our planning going forward, including the charity match on 19th September and what ground capacity we will be able to operate with. We have currently put 600 tickets up for sale, of which over half have already been sold. A fantastic day in prospect.
Finally, on behalf of everyone at Chesham United, may I pass on our best wishes to former goalkeeper Shane Gore who announced his well-earned retirement this week. Shane made over 300 appearances for us, including a masterclass performance in one particular game down in Bristol that I am sure many Chesham United supporters will remember. A goalkeeping legend.
