The Derry Hill United Friendly Festival

A date for your diary.

I am pleased to announce that DHUFC will be holding a small, friendly festival at BSG for Under 7, Under 8 and Under 9 age groups. The event will take place on Saturday 21st June. The event will be non-competitive and is promoted as strictly developmental for players of all ability. We shall be encouraging DHUFC teams to be entered as mixed ability, no 'A' or 'B' teams, and also be communicating this message to our invited guests. There will be no scores recorded, no league tables, no winners, no losers. Just five opportunities to play meaningful length games against matched opposition. All players will receive a medal to celebrate their participation. From past experience I know that our players love this 'home' event with its unique format and atmosphere and I'm delighted to be able to put it on again after a break last season.

I am delighted to say that Adrian Gingell has volunteered to lead the event organization. I am most grateful to him for taking on this task and want to take this opportunity to express my thanks to him. The festival takes considerable time to organize and resource to put on. Please offer him your full support.

Help make this event a success by offering your time and support to the tasks that need to be done. Volunteer when asked. If it helps you consider your own involvement I can confirm to you that I won't be asking anyone to dig the toilet pits, empty or refill the chemical toilet, I shall be taking these roles. Your involvement is essential and your help will be required to help with tasks from refreshments and registration to ground preparation and car-parking.

You will hear more about the event in the coming weeks from Adrian and your team secretary. Please make sure you get involved and help make this a really wonderful experience for your child.

Finally, the festival will bring many families to the ground and offers an excellent platform for local businesses to promote their activity. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to discuss the opportunity of partnering with us. Many opportunities exist from programme and pitch-side adverts to medal presentations. Get in touch with me for more details.

Late Spring Update

1. Sign-On Day
2. End Of Season Presentation And BBQ
3. DHUFC Kit Orders
4. Chair's Report Season 2007 - 08
5. Keep Up To Date
6. Breaking News


Sign-On Day
Message: Secure your child's place with their squad for season 2008 - 09.

Date: Saturday 17th May
Venue: Bowood Sport Ground
The Club has Sign-On Day on the morning of the 17th May. All the paperwork and staffing is at the ground, as it is both difficult and inappropriate to do this activity at another time/place. I'm sure you can appreciate the amount of effort it takes to organize this hugely important event for our 180 members. We have to submit our League entries by 1st June hence our need to get this done at this time. Please ensure a parent comes to the ground at the time assigned for your squad's sign-on. We need your time and signature, you'll need your papers and money.

After Saturday morning we will be assessing how many vacancies are in each squad and will start recruitment to fill these places in order to move forward with League applications. You should have received information about Sign-On Day in previous mails (incl. your sign-on papers and cost).

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. As you can imagine this is an extremely busy period for Wendy and myself and your support is key to helping us through this time.


End Of Season Presentation And BBQ
Message: Tickets only available for sale at BSG Saturday 17th May. Strictly no late-comers.

Date: Saturday 28th June
Venue: Bowood Sports Ground
An opportunity for every player to celebrate their participation in football at Derry Hill for season 2007 - 08. Trophies and photos, fun and games at the field. A really great evening for all the family at Bowood Sports Ground. Your chance to say thank you to your coaches and team secretary for their commitment and energy to your child's football development through the season. Tickets £4 each only available on sale at BSG, last chance to purchase is Saturday 17th May, please make sure you get yours.

I encourage you to mark the date in your diary and take this last opportunity to purchase your tickets this weekend.


DHUFC Kit Orders
Message: If you need kit for the start of season 2008 - 09 now is the time to order.

Orders must be placed by Saturday 17th May. We order once a term so if you miss this deadline you won't get kit until December. Go to the website to get your order forms.


Chair's Report Season 2007 - 08
Message: If you want to know what we have done and what plans we have then read the report.

Please download and read the Chair's Report for season 2007 - 08. This was presented and discussed at our recent AGM. If you have have any comment or questions please feel free to get in touch with me. As part of the AGM activity we posted each squad's achievements and goals sheets, each written by the team's coaches.

It is important to recognize the commitment, effort and consideration each group of coaches puts into developing the squad each season, and the squad report offers a brief summary of this activity. The Squad reports are now posted in the Derry Hill Dug-Out for you to read. Please try and spend a little time reading what your child's coach thought about the season and what goals are being set for next.


Keep Up To Date
Message: Always up to date, always available. Not sure what's on? Visit the website, it's all there.

All current news and diary events for the Club are maintained and available on-line at, make sure you visit them frequently.

• Club News
  
• Club Diary
  

Breaking News
Congratulations to the Derry Hill Thunder who this weekend won the League Title in the Wiltshire Womens' and Girls League Under 14s division. A magnificent achievement for this squad of dedicated girls and their coaches Mark Saint and Chris Bogg. Well done to all of you.