The Dale Trust committee met on Wednesday evening, and here is a review of that meeting.
Last Summer saw a number of Dale supporters raise funds to allow Spanish Dale to come to Spotland for the very first time (BBC report). We have been contacted by Trust member John Beckett to let us know that there was a surplus of funds left over of £171 that he wanted to pass on to Edgar’s Gift – a charity we’ve had dealings with over a number of years after first being introduced through Peter Vincenti. It was decided to round this up to £250. We have contacted Edgar’s Gift and they will be looking to attend a Dale game early in the season for a presentation.
Preparations have started towards the Trust’s AGM which usually takes place late October / early November. As a way of boosting attendance at the event, we discussed the idea of hosting it before a home match at midday if that was easier for people. It was decided to put it to a survey on the Trust website. The survey can be found here. An announcement on this will be made very soon.
Our membership secretary Scott Goulding explained the membership numbers so far for the 2018-19 season. So far we have 384 members signed up before our first home game of the season, leaving us approximately fifty members away from the full total for the 2017-18 season. Out of that figure, we have 120 exiles signed up already just five short of last season’s record breaking total. Membership is open online and at Trust desks before home matches. The annual re-sign membership has been taken off line but will be back up and running next May due to its success with 49 members using this to sign up this Summer.
Given the recent suspension of Russ Green, a discussion took place to our contact at the club. It was stated that we had been working with David Bottomley and an excellent relationship was being developed. He has been very supportive to the Trust on a number of recent issues, and we are looking forward to this continuing.
We have recently started acting as a Goldbond agent for our Exiled members with a view to increasing revenue for the club, and hopefully bringing good news for our lucky Exiles. We have contacted our Exiles already but will continue to push this in the next few weeks, but in the mean time any Exile who would be interested in signing up can contact the Trust at info@daletrust.co.uk.
We are looking at hosting a photo opportunity in the next few days for the two players the Trust are sponsoring this season. We are sponsoring Ian Henderson as he was voted as the Supporters’ Player of the Season for last season, and Calvin Andrew who was named as the PFA Community Player of the Season. We’re hoping this will take place on Saturday.
Further discussions took place on a major fundraising project for the Trust for the 2018-19 season. Discussion are taking place with the FA at this moment, but all the signs are positive at this moment, and we hope to bring an announcement very soon on this. As always, any donation over £2,000 will be put to a ballot of members for approval.
The recent forming of the Rochdale FPA was discussed. We’ve had 14 players who have signed up so far, and a fair amount of interest from a few others. We intend to spend a bit of time contacting former players in the next two or three weeks to boost this beyond fourteen. Anyone who is eligible to join and would like to can do so by registering on the website. Discussion have already taken place about forming a FPA committee to take a lead on this.
We have recently completed a survey on the kiosks at Spotland. That survey has now been completed, but the results need analysing before publishing and being discussed with the club. We were delighted with the number of responses with 243 replies to the survey.
On the FITC side, Keith Hicks explained that they have been very successful obtaining two grants – one for £25,000 off the EFL for work to be taken with the BME community and £17,500 from the Council for the Rochdale Safer Community to work at interlinking communities. These awards will go towards making new appointments to further the work that is already taking place across the town (job adverts here).
He also explained some of the work taking place with the KITS programme. The club received a grant of £15,000 to work with 180 young people across the town at various centres (Balderstone, Heywood, Kingsway etc). They have actually worked with 317 young people which may lead to a bigger grant being received.
It was generally felt amongst the committee that the work being undertaken by the Football in the Community department is excellent, and were surprised to the extent of the work taking place. It was said that this is something the club should be singing from the rooftops about and this would be discussed with the club.
The Walsall match sponsorship will take place on Saturday 25th August with Tommy Lee as our guest. Whilst there is a chance that Tommy might be involved back in football by then, all signs are good at this point. There will be a draw taking place the week before where Trust members will be picked out to be our guest on the day. Following this our next matchball sponsorship will be when we host Accrington. Discussions have taken place about a guest for this game and we’ll announce this when confirmed.
We discussed the recent Fans Forum which was generally felt to be a very positive event. The only downside was the numbers in attendance. However, it was considered to be a sign of positivity as the place tends to be packed to the rafters when the natives are restless.
Recent committee member Bob Morrisey discussed the work that he is doing in resurrecting the Friends of the Trust whereby local businesses would offer discounts to Trust members upon production of the membership card. A number of businesses have already been discussed and will be added to Daletrust.co.uk in the coming days. If anyone owns a business or service that could offer such a discount to our members, or you know of an organisation who could, tthen please email friends@daletrust.co.uk.
It might be a few months away, but planning has already started on the Curry Night which will take place next April. A speaker has been suggested and will be approached soon. No news on prices or menus at this moment in time.
Another event that is some time off is the Exiles Day which will coincide with our last game of the season. A former Dale player is being approached to be our guest on the day. We are looking at the possibility of an Exiles Awayday. This has been suggested in the past but plans are coming together with discussions already taking place with an opposition club to host the event. This will hopefully be something that can be confirmed before the end of the month.
Our World Cup Prediction Competition has yet to find a winner. Two people came equal top and so the competition has entered sudden death with predictions now taking place on Dale games. Unfortunately, the victory at Burton failed to provide a winner and so it goes on to Peterborough at home.
Preparations for this month’s Footgolf continue. Three trophies have been ordered for the winners for the male, female and U16 victors. Whilst there are trophies, the emphasis will be on it being a fun event. It costs just £5 to enter and promises to be an entertaining afternoon. Places can be booked here.
It was decided that this year’s Sponsored Walk will take place to Accrington. It is hoped that this can be a fundraiser for our forthcoming major project. A similar fundraising event will take place with a Bike Ride to Bradford in October when we travel to Valley Parade. More details will be announced closer to the time.
The recent decision to merge our parent body Supporters Direct with the Football Supporters Federation was discussed but details from HQ are low on the ground at the moment, so more will be discussed when we know more details.
Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 5th September.