HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAVERS!

The Supporters’ Trust was incorporated on 29th April 2008 and as we celebrate our first anniversary, I thought that it would be useful to reflect on our first year of operation: I am pleased to report on a year of steady progress.

As with any business, we started out with a realistic financial budget that would have to be achieved to fund our community objectives. Pivotal to this was the need to generate a membership base whose subscriptions would provide the initial impetus to the generation of the Trust’s funds. What a response! You signed up in your droves and we rapidly reached a membership well in excess of 200 including a good number of Life Members and in the process generating well over £5,500 in subscriptions and donations. This, and a generous equipment purchase grant from Richmond Council’s Initiatives Fund, enabled the football club to offer free football coaching to 100 children over two weeks in August last year run and financed by the Supporters’ Trust. It also provided the springboard for further holiday fun weeks in October last year and again this Easter and the reintroduction of the Saturday morning mini soccer run by Trust’ Director, Russell Clarke, that now has over 50 children signed up, with regular attendances of over 30.

The club was represented at various summer events last year including the Richmond May Fair and the Hampton Carnival during which our Supporters’ Trust volunteers spread the word about our increasingly successful football club and generating funds from the ever popular “Beat the Goalie” competition. We will continue with this work during the summer starting with the Richmond May Fair on 9th May. Various social events have been held, organised by the irrepressible Lesley Rance, including the ever popular quiz nights. I would also like to extend, a special thanks to Trust Member, Sandy McLelland, who with his band “The River”, has now put on three excellent performances at Trust events at considerable personal expense.

There is obviously a lot of work to do. The Trust was born with a 26% shareholding in the football club, courtesy of a sale of most of his shares by former club Chairman and benefactor, Graham Wood, to the Trust, for a nominal consideration of £1! It is our intention to work with the Club on community focussed projects including the improvement of the facilities at the Beveree, particularly where we are able to use our position as a “not for profit” organisation to attract Grant funding. I see this as being the most practical and effective way for this to be achieved given the likely amounts required relative to the size of the Trust.

The Club and the Supporters’ Trust have recently made a start in coordinating our respective commercial activities and to this end Trust Member, Phil Weller has been hard at work in the past few weeks developing his contacts and other leads. To assist in this endeavour the Trust has purchased programme space from the Club for the remainder of this season and next.

The first financial year end will be on 31st August 2009 following which the annual report and accounts of the Supporters’ Trust will be prepared. These will be presented to our members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) that I anticipate will be held during November. I will write to you in due course in advance of the AGM, which will provide all members with the opportunity to raise any questions that you may have in respect of the running of the Supporters’ Trust, the financial position of the Trust and our objectives.

Larry Dann, Chairman, Supporters’ Trust