It was good to see so many of you back at The Meadow last weekend, a great day was had by all and it was fantastic to finally be able to acknowledge the achievements on and off the pitch with our overdue end of season awards presentation – Congratulations to all the fully deserved winners.
The clubhouse will once again be open this Saturday from midday to 6.00pm, so please do pop along for a drink, safely meet up with friends and enjoy being back out on the terraces. There are more encouraging signs that we could have a start date for the season to look forward to in the not too distant future. I’m really hopeful that we will be back watching football at Chesham again in September, with a new and exciting season to look forward to.
Talking of looking forward, we have this week reached another milestone in our plans to move to a brand new stadium with our desired piece of land now completely promised to us by the existing landowner. This will enable us to move forward to the next stage, still a lot of legal issues to be discussed and resolved which does take longer than we would all hope, but it does need to be done right.
I appreciate many of you are desperately keen to know what is happening and what the plans are for the move, the football club is an important part of your life and I understand there will be certain reservations about leaving The Meadow with its special memories and idyllic setting. I can assure you that it is not an easy decision to make, but for the long term future of the club it is essential that we are able to put a strategy in place that removes the heavy reliance of private money paid in by individuals for the running of the club.
A new facility will give the supporters the reassurance that the club will be financially stable looking ahead, whoever the future Chairperson and Board members happen to be, with some of the best facilities and income streams around. A new ground is not just about meeting our aspirations to take the first team to a new level and look to compete at National League level, it is a far bigger project than that. A new ground will enable us to provide facilities for all the teams associated with Chesham United, and the local community as a whole. Yes, we all like to talk about wanting to be a community focused club, providing entertainment and facilities for all ages; but the reality of doing that where we currently are is just not possible. However hard we try; however brilliant the people are that help the club out.
A new ground will solve all of that and give us something we can all be very proud of. We certainly do not want to forget our history, we certainly do not want to forget The Meadow, and we even have some ideas of bits that we can take with us to maintain the link. When we are in a position to do so, I will share more information and make this a journey we can all look forward to together.
In other news, this week we have officially appointed Giles Stevenson as the official club Historical Officer, I know he has been doing a lot of work pulling together statistics, organising events and making sure there is a permanent record of everything about the club throughout its past. We will also be organising a vote on the previously mentioned subject of when the original date of the current club should be recognised from, with Giles providing all the information ahead of the vote…Now there is a novel idea, presenting all the information clearly prior to having a vote!
Thank you for your support.
Peter Brown, Chairman
Chesham United Football Club
