It’s been another busy week at the club with lots of snippets to keep you updated on as we continue apace with preparations for the season ahead, although Tuesday’s postponed friendly at Enfield is a timely reminder of the precarious situation we are still in as a country and we must not get complacent.
Fortunately we are currently still able to host football matches at our level, which we are delighted about, but I do encourage all our supporters to act responsibly when attending games, and indeed when carrying out your everyday life. As a town it is so important that we can get businesses, pubs and restaurants returning to normality a soon as possible, and we can all play our part in helping that happen.
I know everyone is eager for more information on the planned ground move. We are currently working through legal matters for the Heads of Terms Agreement with the Sports Trust and the landowners and we hope to have drawings presented to the Board by the end of next week. However, at this stage we will not be publicising these drawings, sorry, as the first stage will be to send them straight to the council to get their feedback and comments before taking them to the next stage and going public.
I was saddened to hear that one of Under 13’s youth players was involved in one of the road accidents that happened in Chesham last week, we understand he is recovering well at home, but it is likely to be some weeks before he is back on the pitch. On behalf of everyone at the club we wish him a speedy recovery.
I have talked previously about the importance of the youth at our club, and what an honour it was to see our academy put up such a strong performance in the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday night. Unfortunately they could not quite pull off the victory, but to watch this team of 16 and 17 year olds representing the club under the floodlights, with a decent crowd watching them, is a reminder of what a fantastic club we have, with so many committed supporters and volunteers.
It is always difficult to stay on top of thanking those that do so much, but I would like to give a special mention to Barry and Sue Hart who did a fantastic job of providing the hospitality food in the boardroom last season, they have understandably chosen to stand down for the forthcoming season whilst this pandemic still causes such a risk. Our thanks go out for all they have done for the club over many years.
With so much going on it becomes a challenge to mention everything each week. Our relationship with Bucks Mind continues to evolve with some exciting plans in the pipeline. You may well have seen that the charity have also announced the partnership on their website and social media – Please do make a point of following Bucks Mind on social media, yesterday being World Suicide Prevention Day is a timely reminder of why it is so important that we build these relationships and raise awareness.
This week it was great to see one of our other charity partners, Kit Aid, share with us the story of a young boy in a Romanian village who was offered a scholarship by a soccer school, but initially had to turn them down as they could not afford the travel or accommodation in the city. The KitAid local partner worked with the school to come back with an offer to cover the costs. The charity had overseen everything up to that point, but the lad had no proper kit either, so he was able to choose from the donations KitAid had sent – He wisely chose our 2014/2015 shirt! Chesham United were the first ambassador club to Kit Aid, going back to January 2011, and are proud to be a part of such an innovative charity.
Finally, on the pitch, we look forward to welcoming a Wycombe Wanderers XI to The Meadow tonight, 7.45pm kick-off. Please do follow all the advice on the website and social media to follow our Covid-19 Guidance to help everything run smoothly. We also have Chesham United masks back in stock and available from behind the bar for £5.
Thank you for your ongoing support, busy and exciting times, we couldn’t do it without you.
Peter Brown, Chairman
Chesham United Football Club
