Meeting With Supporters Direct On 10.11.06

On Friday (10 November) Colin Savage and myself met up with Jacqui Forster from Supporters Direct to discuss progress and in particular our work towards the Open Meeting. Jacqui had been attending a course at the COMS in the morning and we met her in the City Café for some lunch, the first time I had ever eat there (and I can recommend the tuna crunch and the coffee wasn’t bad either!).

First of all, we filled in Jacqui on progress (including Colin S becoming a local radio star and the blog going past the 5,000 hits mark) before getting down to the real business. Jacqui had some comments on the first drafts of our Question & Answer document and Trust Aims which we have taken on board (for further amendment). We also mentioned some of the work we are currently undertaking including an information pack which will form part of our PR/ Media campaign.

During our meeting with Jacqui she mentioned that we were neck and neck with a group of Sunderland supporters also setting up a Trust. We also discussed that we were looking at venues for the Open Meeting and had earmarked late January or early February as dates.

The meeting lasted nearly 3 hours but we did get sidetracked with talk of other football matters! I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Jacqui for her time, not only for the meeting on Friday but for all she’s done for us so far. Her input and feedback has been excellent and greatly received by all four of us.

Finally, meetings with Jacqui (who is a very, very, very busy lady!) are like buses, we’ve been trying arrange one for ages and then two come along in as many days as we’re due to meet up with her again on Sunday at the North West Trusts Regional Meeting at Spotland, which is being hosted by our close neighbours Rochdale F.C. Both Colin S and myself will be in attendance and we will look to put together a report from the meeting to keep you all up to date on progress.

Keep the Faith and keep spreading the word!

Colin Howell