CUSG Meeting Summary, East Stand Offices, 15.04.19
Attendance - Simon Clarkson (Chair, London Branch), Terry McCarthy (London Branch), Jim Mitchell, Alastair Woodcock (CUOSC), Keith Elliott (CUSAT), Barry Carter (Disabled Group), John Ireland (West Cumbria Travel), Keith Ward (Scottish Supporter), Andy Hall, Amy Nixon, Nigel Clibbens (CUFC)
Apologies – Geoff Weston (Supporters' Liaison Officer), Kate Rowley (CUSAT), John Kukuc (CUOSC), Dan McLennan, Matt Spooner (TheCumbrians.net)
The minutes of the last meeting were accepted. An adjustment was requested in the answers given to questions from messageboard users. John Nixon's loan for 2017-18 accounts was £112k not £92k.
Action List
All outstanding items to be covered in agenda.
CUFC Updates
Ground maintenance – CCTV systems and kitchen equipment had recently been updated/installed. CCTV upgrades were ongoing. New software was being acquired to run CCTV feeds.
New scoreboard plans were being progressed and worked on by the commercial team. Still on course for installation in time for next season.
The large flags had not been seen at games yet due to a lack of volunteers to wave them.
The Jimmy Glass beer would be sold at Brunton Park out of bottles, once a price had been agreed.
Season tickets had gone on sale today. The marketing video launched online had earned a lot of praise. 156 season tickets had been sold today.
The Chairman said it would be remiss not to give supporters' groups representatives the opportunity to share their views on the manager with the Club. Each attendee at the meeting gave their opinion to the Club.
Events
The Jimmy Glass evening had gone really well and was well received. Some lessons had been learnt about how to put on such an event which would be useful for the future. Ticket sales had been strong – 140 or so had attended. There was strong media interest. Money from the bucket collection, which also included monies collected at the recent fans' forum, came to £344 which would be donated to Jigsaw. Profit remaining on the night was £600 which would go to CUSG.
Terry reminded the group that next season would mark the 25th anniversary of our 1994-95 title winning season. One event was already being organised for Harraby Catholic Club. Andy suggested fans should work together to have one big event to mark it.
No date had yet been fixed for the July Fun Day.
Finances / Fund-raising
The Jimmy Glass pin badges were in the post to Terry. Efforts would be made to sell them on Good Friday before the Lincoln match, at a price of £2 each. The club shop would be happy to sell them. Constituent groups to be given badges to sell.
Bank balance was now £1055.75, with a liability of £444 for pin badges and a further liability for hire of mics for the Jimmy Glass event.
Disabled facilities
Club had now received payment from Disabled group for the shelter. The London Branch logo had been acquired in 'wrap' form for placing on the shelter. The update for disabled fans was shortly to on on the Club's website. Signage on women's toilets in the West Stand indicates a disabled toilet inside. This requires updating to reflect only disabled women can use it. A problem had been identified with a toilet in the Pioneer Stand – the shed bolt needs replacing with a radar key and the alarm needs moving. A question was asked about evacuation chairs in the Pioneer Stand.
Barry said he was consulting his members about the planned upgrade to the Paddock platform. It was hoped to get this work completed in the summer. There had been some debate about resurrecting plans for the Pioneer Stand but these were considered impractical. Barry had a contact for producing drawings for the Paddock and planning consent would be needed.
Memorabilia
There had been a breakthrough in attempts to find the one missing home shirt from the last 30 years. Somebody had informed Dan that they possibly had the shirt. Dan was putting details of all old programmes that had been acquired in spreadsheet form. Nigel said using mannequins torsos for displaying the shirts in the Pioneer Stand, by the staircase up to the ticket office was possible. Club to try and source mannequin torsos.
Naming of bars
Dan was progressing plans to use social media to consult fans on the re-naming of bars.
Group updates
CUOSC – Were organising a quiz night but this would now either be held in pre-season or next season. Efforts to get Ivor Broadis on the honours list had been unsuccessful despite the sending of several letters. Following Ivor's sad death at the weekend, efforts would be made to ensure his contribution to the Club and the game in general would be properly marked.
CUOSC reiterated that they had made efforts to persuade EWM to make public their long-term plans for CUFC.
TheCumbrians.net - click HERE to read the latest replies to questions submitted via the messageboard.
West Cumbria Travel – Reported that there was still support for Steven Pressley despite some disquiet at recent results. WCT members also wanted more answers from EWM. The date and format of the next fans' forum would depend on events at the Club, said Nigel. There had been no recent developments in planning for a new stadium. Discussions were ongoing. Plans for 'sports hubs' were being discussed around the country, with potential government support.
Scottish supporters – Asked how many season ticket holders would renew? Club said it was not possible to accurately predict.
London Branch – Had received no invoice from the Club for funding of goalposts and video camera. Club would sort this asap. The Branch extended thanks to David Holdsworth for donation of club shirts to the LB supporters' team who had worn them in their match at Stevenage.
Any Other Business
Approximately 2,000 tickets had so far been sold by Lincoln City for the Good Friday match.
Next meeting: Monday May 20 at 6pm.