I hope you and your family had an enjoyable break this Christmas and that you return to football fit, healthy and ready to go.
Although most squads commenced football last Saturday in preparation for League games scheduled for the following day; which were subsequently cancelled due to the frozen pitch conditions, I wanted to take this opportunity to offer some Club messages before we get going in 2009.
If you have any queries or concerns please get in touch with me on admin@dhufc.org
Regards,
Alan
1. Refreshments
2. Christmas Party
3. Winter Training Clothing
4. Pitch Hotline
5. Kit Orders
6. Clubhouse Project
1. RefreshmentsI would like to thank the following people for their help and support with providing refreshments on Saturday mornings:
Colette Som
Margaret Bell
Sarah Lowe
Fiona and Paul Stanford
Jen Jackson
Jill Brooks
Sarah Grimshaw
Claire Hanks
This activity is an important addition to the services offered at the Club offering players, coaches and parents a most welcome opportunity to have a hot drink and snack. The service also provides an important cash stream to the Club helping us to keep fees low.
We are always keen to take on more volunteers in this role as this spreads the load across more people. If you are able to offer 2 hours of your time to help out on an occasional Saturday morning please contact Colette Som.
2. Christmas PartyOnce again our part for the younger members of the Club was highly successful with most of those eligible to attend doing so. My thanks go to Karen McCormack and her team of very able helpers who made the event such a success.
3. Winter Training ClothingWith the appearance of the colder weather this is a timely opportunity to remind all parents that it is your responsibility to send your child to football in appropriate clothing.
Please ensure you send your child to football clothed appropriately for the conditions. Coaches have been asked to contact parents to collect children who they feel are inappropriately dressed.
4. Pitch HotlineThank you to everybody who has used the DHUFC Pitch Hotline over the past few weekends. In general the message will be updated each Friday evening providing the latest information on the status of the ground. In times of surprise, extreme conditions as occurred on our final training day of December we will endeavour to update the message more frequently.
The surprise conditions prior to Christmas caused us some problems with our procedures for updating the hotline, but following analysis we have amended our procedures to make them more reliable for such conditions. The message here is that the hotline is the most up to date and reliable way of determining whether the ground is open or not and should be contacted before traveling if you consider the conditions may prevent your child's session from taking place.
Remember however that the hotline provides a status for the ground not the status for your squad. There ay be times when the ground is open but your coaches consider the conditions inappropriate for the age of the children within their squad. You will be contacted by your team secretary and coaches if your session has been cancelled but the ground is open.
Pitch Hotline: 01249 811952
Pitch Status Banner: www.dhufc.org (banner at top-left of page provides current pitch status)
5. Kit OrdersThis term's kit order will be submitted to our supplier on Monday 9th February. Please ensure you have all your orders to our kit coordinator, Catherine Saville, by Saturday 7th February. This will be your last chance to get hold of Club kit before Easter so please ensure you get your order in by the deadline. Orders received after the deadline will not be submitted until the next kit order at the end of the season.
You can find an online catalogue and kit order form on our website.
6. Clubhouse ProjectI am delighted to inform you that our plans to build a Clubhouse at Bowood Sports Ground are moving on with pace. We now have the first tranche of funding to acknowledge and celebrate. North Wiltshire District Council have recognized that our project represents a great opportunity to provide fit for purpose facilities for our members and have committed £75,000 to our funding pool. As a result they would like to organize a photo opportunity at which the cheque will be presented. This will take place at Bowood Sports Ground at 10.45am on Saturday 17th January. We are keen that as many players and parents attend as possible as this will help demonstrate our appreciation of the grant as well as show other funders how important our project is to so many people.
If you are a parent who usually collects your child at 10.30am after the first session please stay behind to take part, also if you normally attend the second session then get to the ground early. We are hoping for a huge turnout and if we are successful this will mean pressure on our car-park. Can I please ask that you consider parking in the Soho Inn car-park for this event.
There is still much to do before we finally close on our plans and start building a Clubhouse for our members. We await with much excitement and anticipation for the outcome of our bids to Community First and The Football Foundation for the remaining £205,000 needed to meet our funding requirements. Be assured I will keep you informed of our progress as we have news.
In the meantime please try to support the photo opportunity on the Saturday 17th January as this represents an excellent chance to show the funding bodies what a great number of people our project effects.
