London Saints AGM 2024 Minutes
LONDON SAINTS SUPPORTERS CLUB AGM,
1930 THURSDAY 13TH JUNE 2024, THE SEKFORDE, SEKFORDE STREET EC1R 0HA
Present: Mick Strickland – Chairman/Travel
Andy Saunders – Vice Chairman/Membership
Nick Head – Treasurer (via Zoom)
Reg Betts – Sports & Social
John Smith – Website
Jenni Poulter – Newsletter
Gill Prichard – Secretary
Attendees: John Middleton, Keith Richardson, Dave Thomas, Matt Lucas, Dom Bilham, James White, Rory Praill, Neil Tonge, Naomi Tonge, Alan Willis, Peter Francis
Apologies:
Eric Shadick, Jim Cooper, Terry Trevis, Tom Walter, Mark Callen, James Whitworth, Calum Stewart, James Ross, Stephen Jarvis, Oskari Miettinen, John Grapes, Nicholas Chapman, Bernie Hand, Ben Collis, Mike Mcintyre, Rob Bryan, Mike Roberts, Jeff Sherriff
Minutes of 2022/23 meeting
The minutes of the 2022/23 meeting read and approved. They were proposed by John Middleton and seconded by Jenni Poulter.
Chairman’s report
Mick was pleased to see the number who attended. This time last year Saints were in a mess, a lot of the staff had left and we had to find a new contact. Our contact now at Southampton is Jacqui Campbell. Mick explained to Jacqui the history of the London Saints. Jacqui helped organise the Player of the Year presentation to James Ward-Prowse as she had a contact at West Ham.
We held our pool and darts competitions and all other domestic events. Mick thanked Terry Trevis, Paul Calais, Steve Grant and Dave Thomas for all their help and also thanked the committee who had done very well and also thanked everyone for attending the AGM.
Vice Chairman/Membership
Last year the membership stood at 172. Andy had a target to reach 200 by 2024. The membership now stands at 227. The subscriptions were discussed at the last meeting. The discussion was should we offer three year membership for those on concessions but it was concluded that there would be no benefit to this.
Treasurer
The landlord of the Cricketers gave us £300 towards the cost of the newsletter. The cricket was paid in May not April
Accounts for 2023/24 bellow:
| Subscriptions | £1,815.00 | ||
| Travel | £45.80 | ||
| Interest | £0.00 | ||
| Newsletter | (£423.04) | ||
| Sports & Social | (£460.00) | ||
| Trophies | (£122.00) | ||
| AGM | (£94.50) | ||
| Officers Expenses | (£10.11) | ||
| Subscription system | (£75.00) | ||
| APFSCIL fee | (£5.00) | ||
| Website | (£216.00) | ||
| Paypal fees | (£62.32) | ||
| Other | £0.00 | ||
| Total | £300.00 | ||
| Current | £1,72587 | ||
| Deposit | £8.12 | ||
| Travel account | £791.78 | ||
| Paypal | £4912 | ||
| Travel prepayment | £0.00 | ||
| Leicester trip | £0.00 | ||
| Accumulated funs | £2,574.32 | ||
| Sport and Social | 0 | ||
| Golf | £100.00 | ||
| Darts and Pool | £102.00 | ||
| Cricket | £0.00 | ||
| Christmas Drinks | £258.00 | ||
| Total | £460.00 | ||
Notes: This year we have had three newsletters instead of two and the £300 other income was a very generous contribution to the newsletter cost. In May £300 was paid to the cricket club and £20 for pool subscription.
The subscriptions were discussed and it was decided to keep them the same for the next year. This was proposed by Gill Prichard and seconded by Andy Saunders.
Secretary’s Report
Terry reported as follows:
End of Season Away Ticket Sales Report 2023/24
What a season, despite a desperately poor previous season, our members seemed to be right behind the team from the very start this season, and demand for us first two away games at Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth, despite Friday night and Saturday lunchtime kick offs and both being on TV, was amazing.
The club changed their arrangements with the regional supporters clubs for this season, which enabled us to obtain up to 50 tickets for each away game, a number which we achieved on numerous occasions, including easily for Wembley. These 50 were also supplemented by some members who preferred to get tickets using their own season tickets, to preserve their historical away attendance records, so for a Millwall and QPR games we were able to get over 70 tickets for our members.
As a result it was rare for me to be unable to get tickets for members, which was vital given how many new members were requesting tickets. We had over 1,300 tickets for the season. These included tickets for our overseas members from Finland, Holland, Spain, Greece and France throughout the season and at Wembley.
As the club have increased the number of tickets from 30 to 50 and cut staff numbers, they no longer record tickets against supporters names. The concern with this is that our members now have no history of having attended any away games and how that could affect them further along. Mick will speak to Terry about this to see if we need to arrange a meeting with the club for further discussion.
For Wembley, we obtained more tickets thanks to mainly season ticket holders being able to purchase their own tickets, plus using customer numbers. I then gained access to an additional four tickets on the Friday and Saturday before the game. These came courtesy of Steve Kneller and Martin Gammon. Although some members still missed out, we obtained an amazing 96 tickets. This gave me several nights of little sleep panicking over sorting out members via email and social media and whether the tickets, which added just under £5,000 to my credit card, would arrive in time. However it was well worth it.
All in all a really unbelievable season most despite some ups and downs. Now we look forward to a return to the Premier League, which will know will be a struggle, but hopefully we will be more competitive than we were 22/23.
I’m not sure whether we will still be able to get 50 tickets per game next season, but hopefully that will be the case, and we have seven London games, plus two south coast games to look forward to. I am sure demand for all of those will exceed the allocation. I therefore recommend that members consider travelling further afield occasionally if possible to stand more of a chance of getting tickets. Despite the costs of travel, these are often the more enjoyable trips, but trips to Ipswich, Villa, Wolves, Leicester and Forest and all easy enough to get to.
Anyway enjoy the summer break, and prepare for new season which starts Aug 17th, with fixtures out June 18th.
Away Ticket Sales 2023/24
| Bought on | Bought | Total | ||||
| SFC Tickets | Season Tickets/ | Customer | Tickets | |||
| Allocated | Memberships | Numbers only | Bought | |||
| 4Aug | Sheffield Wednesday | 47 | 47 | |||
| 8 Aug | Gillingham | 38 | 2 | 49 | ||
| 19 Aug | Plymouth Argyle | 50 | 5 | 55 | ||
| 2 Sept | Sunderland | 20 | 20 | |||
| 23 Sept | Middlesbrough | 23 | 7 | 30 | ||
| 3 Oct | Stoke City | 10 | 2 | 12 | ||
| 21 Oct | Hull City | 35 | 5 | 40 | ||
| 25 Oct | Preston North End | 30 | 4 | 34 | ||
| 4th Nov | Millwall | 50 | 26 | 76 | ||
| 25 Nov | Huddersfield | 35 | 8 | 43 | ||
| 9 Dec | Watford | 50 | 15 | 65 | ||
| 13 Dec | Coventry | 22 | 1 | 23 | ||
| 23 Dec | QPR | 50 | 28 | 78 | ||
| 1 Jan | Norwich | 24 | 7 | 31 | ||
| 20 Jan | Swansea | 27 | 7 | 34 | ||
| 27 Jan | Watford (FA Cup) | 37 | 3 | 40 | ||
| 3 Feb | Rotherham | 50 | 7 | 57 | ||
| 13 Feb | Bristol City | 37 | 8 | 45 | ||
| 17 Feb | West Brom | 33 | 6 | 39 | ||
| 28 Feb | Liverpool (Cup) | 17 | 4 | 21 | ||
| 2 Mar | Birmingham | 50 | 18 | 68 | ||
| 16 Mar | Leicester City | 39 | 4 | 43 | ||
| 1 Apr | Ipswich Town | 50 | 14 | 64 | ||
| 6 Apr | Blackburn | 47 | 7 | 54 | ||
| 20 Apr | Cardiff City | 39 | 7 | 46 | ||
| 4 May | Leeds | 23 | 11 | 34 | ||
| 12 May | WBA (Play Off) | 50 | 7 | 57 | ||
| 26 May | Leeds (Play Off | 34 | 12 | 96 | ||
| Wembley) | 50 | |||||
| 1,033 | 247 | 12 | 1301 | |||
| Maximum allocation of 50 received from SFC | ||||||
Website
Things have been very good and stable. John has been trying to keep it up to date. Darts and pool are on the web. John would like anything that happens to put on the web. It all links in with social media. We also need to keep our history. John Middleton thought that the AGM minutes should be on the website. Jenni said she could put brief info onto the web. John Middleton also said there is nothing to see on Twitter/X. John Smith will speak to Steve Grant about this. John said the drop down menu is up to date but he also need to have information to ensure this is maintained. We could also have a photo of the season completion. Reg will take this forward.
Newsletter/Social Media
Jenni might do a newsletter if she can get a deal on the printing. We have 1,495 followers on Twitter/X. Jenni has won Newsletter of the Year twice and she will enter for a third time. Well done Jenni.
Sports & Social Report 2024 AGM
Darts
Back in division two where we are much more competitive as a team.
Our player of the year last year was Nice Pint. He is also our most improved player and the roar is no longer a rarity (though it still startles other people in the pub!
So far we have played 3 in the league winning two and losing narrowly in the other. The results to date have been:
Saints 6-3 Exeter
Saints 4-5 Newcastle B
Saints 5-4 Gillingham
Cup, we lost first round to Leicester.
Currently 3rd in the league (Group of 8)
Whilst we have a large squad to choose from other teams seem to be struggling, so arranging games is getting harder and harder. Man United as usual are very hard to get hold of yet alone arrange a match (Chris Turner who is running the league is aware of this.) We have until August to complete fixtures so will try arrange some fixtures very soon, though Euro’s are getting in the way a bit now.
Golf
There has been just the one LSSC golf event. The well attended annual Summer Open, held as the pre-West Country Tour game, on Friday, 14th July at the Westbury Golf Course. We will go there again as it’s an ideal course for high handicappers with flat, wide, open fairways and you play the same 9 holes twice. Views of the cement works and the white horse carved into the hillside make the course a ‘one-off.’
It did rain the proverbial cats and dogs, starting on the Friday and continuing, pretty much, all weekend.
Although we tried to play 18 holes at the very accommodating Westbury Golf Course, which offered a round for the bargain £15, which may have contributed to the excellent turn out. Our group of drowned rats headed for the changing rooms after just nine holes, leaving a very wet trail behind us.
The extraordinarily wet and blowy conditions affected many of the golfers and only the most experienced golfers played somewhere near their handicaps. Sheena Quinn took the LSSC Summer Open Trophy for a fifth time over some 20 years, beating me and her husband John, on count back. The pair beat both Peter Rattue, who won two bottles of good vino by one stroke, into third place. In fourth spot, but some four strokes behind, was Ray Betts, who took the Prosecco.
Gary’s daughter Lana was awarded the ‘Noah’s Ark’ prize for voluntarily getting drenched for two hours without hitting a shot, and took home the Shiraz.
A good time was had by all, despite the weather, and it could be the only sport played outside for the whole weekend, with Saturday’s cricket cancelled and a question mark hanging over Sunday’s match.
A big ‘thank you’ to the LSSC committee for again agreeing to subsidise the day!
For the coming year we hope to be a little more active, with plans in the early stages for holding both the Summer Open and an end-of-season tournament.
Cricket
Review of the Season 2023
The club’s 43rd year saw us play our 469th match
1 new player in 2023 making 221 different players over the 43 years.
28 players were used, 27 of whom batted, 21 of whom bowled.
Played 10, Won 2 (the same as the last 7 years), Drew 0 and Lost 8
Best win v Nascott – Berkeley + Thomas scoring best ever 10th wicket partnership
West Country tour in Somerset was very wet
Golf on Friday abandoned after 9 holes
Quiz in the evening (we didn’t win this year)
Parkrun Sat morning
Saturday game called off for rain so bar billiards and darts v the oppo – we won
Sunday game reduced overs due to threat of rain – we lost
Player of the Year = Ben Collis with 55% of the vote with David Nanton in 2nd place
The Garry Burrell Duck trophy = Paul Pearce.
Batting – Most runs = Mike McIntyre, Best Average = Ben Collis
Bowling – Most wickets = Dave Thomas, Best Average = Phil Rogers
Fielding – Most catches = Mike McIntyre and Dickie Cushion
Champagne Moment = Lana Twintub for a fantastic run out
Tourist of the Year = Lana Twintub – attended all activities and drank the most
Clubman of the Year = David Nanton
2023 Dinner and Awards night = very successful with 28 players and Chairman Mick
2024 Season so far
Played 3 and won 3 – best ever start to a season
3 best ever batting records have been set
Phil Rogers produced 2nd best ever bowling figures of 7 wickets for 10 runs
3 new players taking total to 224
95% of all players are LSSC members
75% of all players are Saints fans. We always try and keep above 75%
Pool
Last season ended with us sneaking 4th place on frame difference ahead of Nottingham Forest, with both of us on 58 points, but some way behind eventual champions Newcastle (80).
Forest got their revenge by beating us in the cup semi-final and eventually went on to win it by surprisingly toppling Newcastle in the final.
This season has been a mixed bag so far, with 4 of our 6 games being decided by the odd frame, with an 8-1 win and last night’s 6-3 defeat the exceptions. That was a result that currently leaves us in 3rd, but having played more games than everyone else as we are at the beginning of the latest three-week cycle where we aim to get each “round” of games fitted into a fixed three weeks. So far, so good on that front, so we’re aiming for a late August finish. That might even mean that the Summer Cup starts in what remains of the actual summer.
Quiz Team
No Progress unfortunately.
Saints Player of the year
The POTY shield was presented by Simon Goodwin and Ed Gibbons to James Ward Prowse at the West Ham training ground (Romford) in early April…..at 0930 in the morning!
Thanks should go to SFC and West Ham FC for their much valued help in making this happen.
Other Points
Around 100 London Saints members turned up at JJ Moons (Wetherspoons) in Ruislip Manor before the Play off Final against Leeds) This included members flying in from as far afield as Finland, Holland, Brazil, Spain, France & Australia. We even had a surprise guest celeb with Antti Niami turning up with his Saints mad son, thanks to Pekka.
Christmas Drinks
Before the Watford away game we had about 45 members turn up at the White Lion pub near Watford Junction Station where the committee put just over £250 behind the bar.
Pool & Darts Championships
We had a good turnout again this year with 16 members in each competition. The new format of taking an advanced £10 entrance fee on line, which includes two pints and free pizzas has gone down really well and has avoided the ridiculous no shows of previous years.
This year’s Champion in the pool was David Barnes who beat Paul Calais 2-1 in the final and in the darts Simon Goodwin beat Harry Rogers 2-1.
Travel
There were four trips this season, we made a profit of £46. There were 11 potential trips which were changed either to midweek or at awkward times. Some people went up for the weekend so no trips organised. The fares are still quite high. There are quite a few long distance trips next season which won’t be cheap. The fixtures will be out on 18 June. Jenni said could an email go out to say there is no trip. Mick has to wait until people get back to him first when trying to arrange a trip before he could send out an email.
APFSCIL
APFSCIL is 50 next year. Dave Thomas said not much happens at the meetings and he is not sure how relevant APFSCIL is these days. The only part that is really relevant is the darts and pool leagues.
Elections
The committee all agreed to stand again. No one attending the AGM wanted to stand for any of the posts, therefore committee was elected on bloc. This was proposed by Dave Thomas and seconded by John Middleton.
Any Other Business
Meeting closed 21.52
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