Meet Under The Clock Issue 2/24

Meet Under The Clock Issue 2/24

Welcome from Our Chair, Heather Hoggatt

Hi fellow Cherries fans and Cherries Trust members. Welcome to the latest edition of ‘Meet Under the Clock’.

I’d like to thank all the members that have joined recently, also to those that have shown their faith in what we are doing by renewing. it is only by demonstrating that we are an important voice of the fans that we can expect serious and worthwhile dialogue with the club.

We’re in the boring stage of the year – no football! As Cherries fans though we can look back on a fantastic season. Many so-called experts had written us off before a ball was even kicked and our difficult start seemed only to reinforce that view. We knew though, and once our team gelled and found their feet under new manager Andoni Iraola, what a ride they took us on. Not only did we secure Premier League status for another season, but we did so in style. Our highest PL points tally, and a number of records broken along the way. It wasn’t only the men’s team showing everyone what they can do. The Women’s team were absolutely amazing. To go all season without being beaten was fantastic, sadly a draw with Exeter in the final game of the season saw them promoted and a 2^nd place finish for the ladies.

In terms of club engagement. We remain constantly in communication with the club, speaking to them at least weekly on a number of topics. On the fun side we were proud to be involved in a joint project with the club and Talking Cherries for the Luton rearranged game. Whilst it was fun working together important messages were delivered on the night in terms of cardiac awareness and mental health. It’s not been all fun and we continue to have dialogue and ask the hard questions when needed. We have had another formal Board to Board meeting, the minutes for that can be seen here: https://www.afcb.co.uk/news/supporter-liaison-updates/cherries-trust-minutes-may-2024/ We continue to have several more informal meetings between various board members and club staff, a lot of work and discussions go on the background.

I hope you enjoy the rest of this newsletter – if anyone has any comments or suggestions for future editions, please drop one of the Board a line, use our enquiries@cherriestrust.co.uk e-mail address or contact us via our X (formerly known as Twitter) account @CherriesTrust. And don’t forget to spread the word to your friends about the Trust and get them to join!

UTCIAD, Heather

Meet the Board

Our Board is currently made up of 9 Cherries fans. They are aligned to roles as follows:

• Chair: Heather Hoggatt – chair@cherriestrust.co.uk
• Secretary: Gayle Hope – secretary@cherriestrust.co.uk
• Football Trusts and FSA Officer: Matt Jackson – trusts@cherriestrust.co.uk
• Membership Secretary: Gareth Case – gareth.cherriestrust@outlook.com
• Overseas Member Champion: Travis Gibson – global@cherriestrust.co.uk
• Marketing & Identity: Barry Smith – web@cherriestrust.co.uk
• Treasurer: Robbie Sargent – treasurer@cherriestrust.co.uk
• SLO: Sam Viney – info@cherriestrust.co.uk
• Youth Ambassador: Adam Sevenoaks – youth@cherriestrust.co.uk

There are still positions available (ideally we would like to have 12 on our Board) so if anyone is interested, please contact one of the above!

During these newsletters we like to highlight the role of one Board member, noting a bit about them, also what their responsibilities are within the Trust. This time we meet one of the longer serving board members, Gayle Hope. Gayle is our secretary.

Gayle Hope – Secretary

Hi everyone, I’m Gayle and I have served on the Trust as the Secretary since November 2022. I’m originally from, well all over the place really, in terms of heritage I am mostly Northern Irish, with a bit of Irish, Jamaican, and Hungarian thrown in. I work within referee Mental Health and am also a qualified referee coach, mentor, and observer (assessor). I’m also one of the Mental Health First Aiders with Talking Cherries.

I went to my first game, at just a couple or so weeks old, rather too long ago now! January 1968, FA Cup 3^rd round 0-0 draw vs Liverpool. I was blissfully unaware of how big the game was as I slept soundly parked up in my pram by the tea hut in the new stand. It has been an interesting ride, right through the years when we were on first name terms with all of the local bailiffs to the lofty heights of today. I am a huge fan of Iraola ball.

After 25 years as a season ticket holder, due to work I had several seasons where I only attended one or two games, if any. Being based in Hungary at the time, my life revolved around Hungarian football, and I was referee coaching or assessing on match days. I still followed results, read reports, and watched highlights but it wasn’t the same. Nowadays I attend as many games as I can, I’m working on building up my points. As a wheelchair user, row A can be pretty grim, I’m still drying out from the Liverpool cup game… More frustrating though is the attitude of way too many of my fellow fans, please look where you are going and don’t yell at me when you fall over my wheelchair because you haven’t bothered to do so, please stop standing at the front of the stand, even worse don’t have a tantrum because you’ve been asked to move so I can see the pitch, I don’t pay to look at your behind. It’s rude and insensitive, please just be a bit more aware, we’re all there to watch the team we love a
nd cheer them on.

As Secretary, I have varying responsibilities: ensuring we have all of the legally required policies, procedures and protocols written and kept up to date with current legislation and ensuring that the board as a whole carry out their duties diligently, honestly, and with the purpose of benefitting our members. I deal with all of the communication with the FCA including writing and submitting the annual return, preparing agendas for board meetings or meetings with the club, recording the minutes and ensuring all paperwork is maintained, organised and up to date. I’m the one who sends out the surveys and emails to members and prepares any reports on survey results or board meetings. It can get very busy, especially in the lead up to the AGM, preparing the timeline, all of the paperwork needed and ensuring everything goes out on time and to the right people.

On match days I tend to go into the DC lounge pre-match and into the tent, I mean the Kings Plaza marquee, post-match. If you see me feel free to come and ask any trust related or Mental Health related questions or just say hi.

AGM News

A quorate AGM was held on 23 May. The 3 longest serving board members, Gayle Hope, Gareth Case and Matt Jackson stood for re-election as per the rules. Sam Viney who had been co-opted onto the board earlier in the year stood for election along with Adam Sevenoaks, who we are delighted to introduce as our new Youth Ambassador. All five resolutions passed unanimously. Gayle has already started the preparations for next year’s AGM – the tentative date is 22 May 2025. A survey will be sent out to members early in 2025 to establish if the majority of members would like it to be held online or hybrid.

Cherries Trust in the Community

Cherries Trust is proud to support local charities through donations made from its Community Fund. The trust offers its members opportunities to nominate deserving local charitable organisations, and the recipient is decided by a vote from Trust members.

The first campaign of 2024 saw three nominations, and the winner of the vote was the Poole and District Children’s Cancer Fund.

On presentation of the cheque by Cherries Trust Community Champion, Neil Weedon, the Chairman of the PDCCF, Dr Martin Hussey, thanked the Trust and the members who voted. Dr Hussey added that the donation has been earmarked for paying towards holidays for families of young cancer patients which are always greatly appreciated.

Cherries Trust will be running another campaign later in 2024 and plans to make three donations per year from 2025. Details will be made available through Cherries Trust members’ communication channels.

Featured member of club staff: John Jennings – Disability and Engagement Officer

We all know the manager and the players but at every club there are many people working away in the background to ensure everything runs smoothly. Today we meet one of those staff. John Jennings is the club Disability and Engagement Officer. His role is two-fold, firstly working closely with supporters with disabilities and/or accessibility needs and secondly lots of match day preparation.

In relation to working closely with disabled fans, or those with other accessibly needs, John takes the time to speak to those fans, learn about their individual needs and what can be put in place to assist them on a matchday, e.g., providing a sensory pack. It also involves meetings, both formal and informal, with supporter’s groups, in particular the DSA and Cherries Trust to discuss accessibility issues, look at solutions, to any raised issues and any improvements that can be made for the future.

Match day work includes him ensuring supporters accessibility needs are met. This includes both home and away fans. He liaises with his counterparts from other clubs to discuss any accessibility needs of our fans travelling to away games and away fans travelling to Dean Court, issue of sensory packs, or parking needs for example. John is based in the ticket office and some of his match day work involves working with the ticket office. He enjoys the role and says every day is different with a variety of issues to deal with.

John is a vocal advocate in relation to Mental Health. He recognises the importance of football with positive mental health. He’s keenly aware that attending football matches might be the only social contact some supporters may have and works hard to aid combating loneliness, spending time with some elderly fans just having a cuppa and chat. The club have plans for future schemes and match day projects promoting mental health, some club led and some that will be joint projects with fan’s groups, and he looks forward to being a part of those and continuing to advocate for positive mental health going forward.

Thank you, John, for taking the time out of his day to tell us a bit about his role and his work for positive mental health. If you see John around the club, be sure to say hello.

Upcoming Key Dates

Next Board meeting: 24 July 2024
Community Fund next campaign launch: 21 August 2024

Until the next time…

We hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter and remember, if you have any suggestions for items to include in the future, please drop one of the Board members a line. We hope to see you at forthcoming fixtures.

UTCIAD.