Saturday Special
A scorching hot day saw a good
number of London Clarets gather in the Sekforde Arms for our annual meeting.
Attendees heard the views of our Chairman, Andrew Firmin, and reports from
the various Committee members.
Highlights of the day were undoubtedly
the addresses by our guests, Barry Kilby and Peter Pike MP. Barry gave a
frank assessment of last season, and updated us on the Club's current situation.
Peter supplied a wider perspective on a number of key issues affecting both
Burnley FC and football in general.
We would like to thank both Barry
and Peter for giving up their time to attend our meeting. We would also like
to thank Bill and Wendy at the Sekforde for their hospitality, and for providing
the excellent buffet.
Members
will receive the minutes of the meeting via the magazine in due course, but
there are a few issues we'd like to update you on now.
Committee
The Committee remains unchanged, except
for the resignation of Adam Mitton from running our football team. A change
of job has meant that Adam is unable to continue in this role. We'd like
to thank him for his efforts over the past year.
This means,
of course, that we're now looking for someone to run London Clarets FC. In
other words, we need a Stan. Someone to marshall our squad for the occasional
fixture, usually five-a-side and against other London-based supporters' teams.
The time commitment is fairly minimal, and neither do you have to be particularly
good at the beautiful game (as most of our players would confirm!). If you
think you could help, why not get
in touch?
Following Adam's
resignation we have updated our Who's Who
page -
members will of course find full contact details in the magazine.
Contributions
required!
Phil (mag)
and Pauline (website) appealed for match reports and articles, and encouraged
new contributors to come forward and join our existing team of excellent
writers.
Match reports
and comment pieces are probably the types of article we publish most often,
but we're also delighted to receive poetry, philosophy, humour... you name
it, we'd like to receive it! The only requirement is that it's relevant to
Burnley FC, the London Clarets, or football.
You don't
have to be a writing genius - all you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and
an opinion. You can email
your contribution, or post it to Phil or Pauline
using the details in the magazine.
We'd particularly
like to get more younger contributors on board,
and some more female writers. (That's more writers who are female,
not writers
who
are
more female..)
Why not give
it a try? The worst that can happen is that you become addicted to seeing
your opinions in print!
Political
football?
Jane (APFSCIL
Liaison) mentioned the All Party Parliamentary Football Group (APFG), which
many of us were unaware of. The APFG has over 150 members from
both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and focuses on policy
issues affecting the football industry - from grassroots and fans to the
professional end of the game.
Our own Peter
Pike MP is - in addition to being a devoted Claret - the group's
Secretary. It's also interesting to note that many of the APFG's Inquiry
sessions are open to members of the public. Interested? For more information,
check out the APFG's
website.
And
finally... Arthur's shirt
The draw for
King Arthur's signed shirt was made during the half time break. And the
winner (as drawn out by Barry) was... our Chairman, Andrew Firmin. Thanks
to everyone who took part in the draw - your contributions enabled us to
recoup some
of the
cost
of the sponsorship.
Below is a
photo of Firmo after the meeting, modelling the new addition to his wardrobe.
Perhaps we might see it teamed with Barry's coat, which Firmo acquired a few seasons ago? (On second thoughts, perhaps
not.)
