Chairman's Update January/February 2009 - Gerry Callanan

Firstly, please accept my best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year
with plenty of enjoyable football. In my view football is the best game in
the world and I have had many great years playing and coaching it. In our
own ways we each contribute to providing a chance for our children to enjoy
it within our Club.

This note contains a few Club updates...

FA Charter Standard (CS) Renewal.
As you may know we achieved FA CS over 4 years ago.
This standard illustrates that in the view of the FA our Club demonstrates
good practice. This accreditation has become more widespread since we
achieved it. Alongside many other clubs we are now in a renewal phase.

At a recent FA road show centered on renewals (attended by myself and our
Child Protection Officer Kim Boot) the FA detailed the process,
documentation and effort that will be required to achieve this renewal. The
FA noted that many clubs will find this process hard to achieve for a
number of reasons and our club is no exception. The Coaches and Committee
are now planning actively towards getting this job done this season.

Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Checks
Over 30 CRB checks have been progressed now across all the teams. We have
an obligation to our members to get these completed. A sad fact of modern
life but we need to complete nonetheless.

Volunteers for elected Committee roles
It is obvious to me as Chairman and someone who has been involved in
running youth football clubs for more than 10 years that we need to get
more input to the Committee roles. I know that a number of elected members
will have 'served their time' and will step down at the AGM at the end of
this season.

At our Committee meeting on 22 Jan I detailed the roles that are likely to
be vacant. This will give us a few months to fill - but in reality if any
kind of hand-over is to be viable we need nominees asap. If we do not fill
these roles the club will struggle next season.

Roles confirmed as being vacated at the end of the season;
Membership Secretary. Needs a level of organisation. Good communications.
Part of the Committee. No formal training required.
Child Protection Officer. Currently this position is held by a police
officer but that is not a requirement. We need someone who is keen to
uphold this important area. 2 evenings on a course to qualify plus own CRB
checks etc...

Plus current vacancy;
Kit coordinator. Looks after the kit part of the budget. Deals with all age
groups. Mostly a close season / start of season job to get the boys turned
out nice... Space in the garage / shed useful.

Please consider this and any offers to discuss the roles can be forwarded
to a Coach or contact made via this website.
We need to fill these roles. Hand-overs available of course.

On behalf of our membership I would like to thank all our Coaches,
volunteers and Committee members for the voluntary input provided for our
Club.

best regards,

Gerry. Chairman.