1. Apologies for absence
Alan S, Bill
2. Matters arising from last meeting
All were covered elsewhere on the agenda.
3. Treasurers report
The Trusts balance currently stands at GBP24276. A payment of GBP1500 has been made to the club for primary school coaching and a limit of GBP4000 has been set for this project. A total of GBP510 has been spent on next match signs this season and coaches have run at a GBP242 loss thus far.
4. Membership
Membership is down to 210 however 3 new members have joined in the past month.
5. Report from meeting with the club
The recent meeting with the club was very positive with Charlie Clapham assuring the Trust that the floodlight project will go ahead this summer regardless of league status. The Football Stadia Improvement Fund is meeting on 23rd April and an application has been made that will be heard at this meeting. The club is seeking new quotes as the previous ones have are out of date. The coaching in primary schools is supposedly going on until the end of the season although the Trust is still waiting for official confirmation before releasing any more funds. The club did not want the Trust to apply for an Asset of Community Value for the ground as it was felt this may disrupt the excellent relationship with Sefton Council.
6. Coach Travel
A questionnaire was recently sent out to members giving them a chance to give an opinion on coach travel. The issue of pricing was discussed and it was pointed out that whilst some Conference clubs may offer slightly cheaper coach travel they dont offer a concessionary price and have a larger fanbase which means they can price coaches on the provision that they will be full. The Trust has offered discounted trips to Tamworth which ran at a loss and Salisbury where the coach was barely half full. Suggestions from Trust members present included arriving at certain away matches earlier so people can bring partners, families etc and looking into the cost of a minibus. Arthur may be able to access a 26 seater coach from Vision and will look into the costs. Aside from the obvious reasons of atrocious away form and cheap train tickets, supporters were also put off travelling by uncouth behaviour most notably on the Leyton Orient trip and the fact that travelling by car offers more flexibility. It was agreed to advertise the Gateshead coach as GBP15 and GBP10 for members presuming that 40 people will travel.
7. Fan of the season
The deadline for nominations is 31st March and several have been received so far. A trophy will hopefully be presented to the winner at the clubs presentation night.
8. Fundraising
Unfortunately the Co-op energy scheme advertised on the Trusts website hasnt taken off as planned due to bad publicity received by the Co-op recently. The Buy a Brick scheme is still in the planning stage and the Trust hopes to hold an auction at the clubs end of season presentation night. Rob also put forward a fundraising idea whereby he will wear a Liverpool shirt on a matchday if GBP1000 is raised and for GBP10000 will sing Youll Never Walk Alone on the pitch.
9. Trust Webshop
Martin reported that 75p has been raised in the last week simply by supporters using Easysearch which donates half a penny to the Trust with each search. With commission also being given for each online purchase made through Easysearch this has the potential to raise a significant amount of money for the Trust annually once more supporters are aware of it.
10. Use of social media
Trust member Adam Cailler who works in social media has kindly got in touch with the Trust and made some recommendations on how to improve the use of the website as well as the Trusts Facebook and Twitter accounts. Some useful points were made which will be helpful in enhancing the Trusts interaction with supporters online.
11. Any other business
Wrexham Supporters Trust have offered Trust members the chance to join them on their sponsored walk up Snowden on 29th June. Any members taking up their offer would be able to raise funds for Trust In Yellow.
12. Next meetings
Committee – Wednesday 16th April
Members – Thursday 15th May
