I will not take up much of your reading time this week as I hope you are enjoying an extended Bank Holiday weekend and any plans you have to celebrate the jubilee.
That said, if you are not really into street parties, want to get out of the house or would just like to offer some of your free time to help out around the club with any summer tidy-up and repairs around The Meadow, I would love to hear from you!
A big thank you also to those volunteers that have done a cracking job of painting the white lines around the terraces, it is looking excellent, but we are still looking for volunteers for further improvements including painting the goalposts and weeding around the place. We are also looking to replace and paint all the wooden tops on the pitch perimeter so anyone with a small saw and/or electric drill we would love to hear from you – we have the screws and wood available.
If you are not much of a handy person, but would still like to get involved or have any free time that you would like to give, please do get in touch, I am sure there will be many ways you can help to make a positive difference to our club, email me at chairman@cheshamunited.co.uk.
We now know our pre-season fixtures ahead of the 2022/23 campaign. Seven full first team friendlies plus a Chesham XI game have been confirmed, beginning on Saturday 9th July with a visit to the Middlesex FA’s Rectory Park to take on Egham Town (Combined Counties Premier Division South) before visits to Bedfont Sports on Saturday 16th July (Isthmian Division 1 South Central) and Berkhamsted (Southern Division 1 Central) on Tuesday 19th July.
Saturday 23rd July sees us in a double header as we travel to Risborough Rangers (Spartan South Midlands Premier Division) to mark the occasion of the opening of their newly built stand, and a Chesham XI travels just up the hill to Amersham Town for the John Hearn Trophy.
We have two home friendlies with the visits of Vanarama South side Hemel Hempstead (Tuesday 26th) and EFL League One side Wycombe (Friday 29th) to the Meadow, our first chance to play on our renovated playing surface which by then will be unrecognisable from the tail end of last season.
Our final pre-season friendly will be on Tuesday 2nd August, away to Uxbridge (Isthmian Division 1 South Central) at Honeycroft. The Southern League Premier Division South season then starts on Saturday 6th August, and we would normally expect these fixtures to be announced in early July, but you can at least for now put these friendly dates in your diary.
On Tuesday we said farewell to our beloved supporter Fred Wallis with standing room only available at the crematorium where I felt privileged to read a eulogy remembering Fred on behalf of everyone at Chesham United. I was very proud to be able to talk about such a great supporter and from the acknowledgements I received afterwards, I know my feelings and memories were shared by many in attendance.
Have a fantastic extended weekend everyone and thank you for your continued support. We are making progress and I have been particularly touched by a number of kind comments and emails that have been received recently. It often feels like a thankless task, but it is reassuring to learn that more and more people are sharing our vision.
Have a great weekend.
Peter Brown, Chairman
