Well, I think we are all pleased to have had storm Eunice finally blow away, it really does seem one thing after another at the moment so hot on the heels of the pandemic (which still has not yet gone away), but when we start to moan about our own misfortune it is important to put a bit of perspective on the situation. What is going on in the Ukraine right now and the situation some people found themselves in makes you realise how fortunate we are with what we have, our thoughts are with those that are suffering the most. Let’s hope that events can reach a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.
Last Friday’s notes were changed at the last minute and then ended up being called into question as the farcical situation over the postponement of the match against Weston-Super-Mare unfolded. After the storm had damaged electrics plunging the turnstiles, scoreboard, safety lights, toilet lights, tea bar, main stand and boardroom into darkness without power and damaged electrical infrastructure, the secretary of our visitors very willingly agreed that the match should be postponed.
We then announced this fact, giving supporters and players a chance to re-arrange their weekend, only for us to find out forty minutes later that the Weston-Super-Mare manager did not want the game postponed so the match was then “un-postponed” (a new word I created) to keep everyone happy; until 9.30am the following morning when it was agreed with the league that the match should be postponed on health & safety grounds.
To be honest, it is just as well the game was called off then because a couple of hours later on the Saturday a monsoon hit Chesham and the game would have been called off for a waterlogged pitch later in the day, probably after the visitors had started their journey. Unfortunately this does now mean that the game has been re-arranged for Tuesday 15th March 2022 at 7.45, we know what that journey can be like after we had to do that journey in the opposite direction back in December 2020 at a time when we were also heading into one of the highest risk COVID areas at the time.
So that was what went on this time last week – hopefully it will be a fantastic match when we do meet!
Another victim of Storm Eunice was the roof of the disabled shelter, we are organising a work party to fix that at 9.30am on Sunday morning, if you are able to come along and help that would be appreciated. A big thank you to Ray Trafford and Jamie Pile for putting the pitch perimeter boards up that had also been taken down by the storm, hopefully that is the last of the bad weather we see for a while.
Meanwhile on Tuesday night we sneaked back into a play-off spot with a 4-1 home win over Tiverton Town, all the goals coming in the first-half of what was a very dominant performance. A big thank you to everyone connected with Tiverton, the changing rooms were left in immaculate condition – not something we can say every week!
On behalf of everyone at the club I would like to pass on our best wishes to joint manager Michael Murray who has spent six days in hospital revisiting his hip replacement, he came out on Monday and remains on antibiotics, but hopefully now on the road to recovery.
Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the floodlights appeal. I am also pleased to say that we continue to receive donation offers away from the GoFundMe page so I remain very hopeful that we will reach our ambitious target and be able to install the new floodlights in time for next season, but we do still need your help, if you can contribute, no matter how large or small, please do so. Donations can be made here. As stated previously, the new lights will improve the safety, be more economical, more eco-friendly and make viewing matches a much more pleasant experience. As a result, we will be in a position to return to a claret and blue home kit next season, without the risk of losing visibility of players in the poor light.
Tomorrow we travel to Hartley Wintney for another important league fixture, it would be great to see as many supporters as possible make the trip and cheer the team on. Our next home game is on Wednesday when we face Championship side Reading in the quarter-final of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup, kick-off 7.45pm. I hope to see you there.
Thank you as always for your support,
Peter Brown, Chairman
