Representatives of the Trust In Yellow board will be meeting with Charlie Clapham before the Braintree match on Saturday, 1st February.

Items to be discussed will include the proposed new floodlights and possible Trust support for the club's community programme.

1. Apologies for absence

Katrina

2. Matters arising from last meeting

All were covered further on in the agenda.

3. Treasurers report

The Trust’s balance currently stands at £25,476. The Race Night in November raised £820 with £50 of sponsorship money from Merseyrail expected shortly. The Trust’s public liability events insurance has been renewed at an annual cost of £278 as well as Supporters Direct membership at £100. A total of £15000 remains in a six month fixed rate deposit which will yield interest of £130 upon maturity.

4. Membership

Membership has jumped to 235 after an influx of new members. A fair amount of these are juniors who have joined on coach trips.

5. Coach Travel

After the abandonment of the Chester match on New Years Day, Arthur has very kindly offered to reduce the cost of hiring the coach to the re-arranged fixture by £100. Therefore it was agreed that those who had booked and paid in advance for the previous trip will be able to travel to this game for £5. A procedure was also agreed upon should an abandonment occur again in the future. Should it be a local fixture where no break is required for the driver then a vote will be taken over whether to attend another game or return home. Should the driver legally require a break then another game will be sought for supporters to attend. In other matters relating to travel it was unfortunately agreed that a weekend away is unviable this season due to prohibitive costs.

6. Communications with club

The Trust is still waiting for the club to agree to a date for a meeting to discuss off field developments. It is hoped however that this will take place sooner rather than later with the club having suggested it is looking at a major project in the near future.

7. Trust priorities for 2014

With the aforementioned developments hopefully taking place this year it was agreed that fundraising was the major priority with plenty of ideas being suggested below.

8. Future fundraising and other events

A wide range of ideas were put forward by those present including a community day, an auction, a slave auction, a supporters game, a casino night, an Ebay shop, a games night with the players, auctioning off a place on the squad list and team photo and a buy a brick scheme. The committee will look into each of these before the next meeting with the aim of taking some of them forward and putting them on as fundraising events in the next 12 months.

9. News from Supporters Direct

The club have said that they would like the Trust to apply for an Asset of Community Value for the ground, although it is highly unlikely that it would ever need to be called upon. Members present were extremely uneasy on the possibility of Southport becoming a ‘feeder club,’ especially as it would probably be to a League One standard club at best. The Trust would also like fans to be able to vote on future kit designs as is done at several clubs including Chester and Macclesfield.

10. Trust badge

It was agreed by those present that the Trust doesn’t require a new badge at this time but thanks go out to those who put in time and effort to send in designs.

11. New website

The new website is now live and all agreed that it looks superb. The Trust will send a formal thanks to Dan Hayes for all his hard work.

12. Any other business

St John’s Primary School in Crossens are holding a sponsored walk in memory of Paul Comstive on Sunday 19th January which will take in the Merseyrail Community Stadium. It was suggested that refreshments could be provided at the ground and walkers could have a chance to do a lap of the pitch. The club will be consulted about this.

13. Dates of next meetings

Thursday 6th February – Committee Thursday 20th March - Members

1. Apologies for Absence.

2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising

3. Treasurer's report

4. Membership.

5. Coach Travel. Procedures when matches are postponed at late notice, future trips, weekend trip.

6. Communications with club. Follow up from Trust ballot.

7. Trust Priorities for 2014. What members think should be the Trust’s priorities this year.

8. Future fundraising and other events. Planned events and discussion of new ideas from board members and other members present

9. News from Supporters Direct. Some of the latest news from Supporters direct and issues to be discussed (e.g FA discussion on introduction of feeder clubs, Asset of Community Value, etc;)

10. Trust Badge

11. New website

12 Any other business

13. Dates of next meetings

The Trust's next open meeting will take place on Thursday 9th January at 7.30pm in the Vice Presidents bar. All members are welcome.