Disabled Supporters Association Chair Barbara Robinson shares the minutes from the recent AGM.
Disabled Supporters’ Association AGM & General Meeting
Location, Redz Bar CTFC
Date 17/09/2017
Time 7.00 pm
Attendees
Trevor Budgen, Barbara Robinson, Chris Cheshire, Chris Covey, Bill Doidge, Anna Redman, Carl & Ivor Gillespie, Dennis Hills, Gordon Skeggs, Alan Cox, Sue & Terry Scoble, Eric Strange, Audrey Turnbull, Susan & Michael Wheeler,
Apologies
David Beard, Paul Buckett, John Bushell, Jan Gillespie, Peter Hollands, Charlie Paddington, Bernice Stephen, Kevin Harrison, Peter & Teagan Gill
Invited Guest: Darren Ford, Community Development Manager
Barb brought the DSA AGM meeting to order at 7pm. welcomed the attendees and gave apologies received from those unable to attend.
- Adoption of the minutes of the last AGM were proposed by Bill & seconded by Eric.
- Barb commenced the meeting highlighting the success of the Audio Description Service which is available to home & away supporters. The service was launched in the 2015-2016 season and last season had 3 regular users plus others as required.
Feedback has been very positive and anyone who would like hear a commentary please see Barb at the players’ entrance where receivers & ear-pieces are available to borrow.
At a recent game she saw a visually impaired CTFC supporter with his friend standing near the players’ entrance. She made them aware of the AD service offered by Crawley. He borrowed a receiver and was so impressed that he tweeted Alan March Sport to say how good the service was at Crawley. This was passed on to the Club & Level Playing Field who have published it on their website.
This season there are two new commentators Will & Kieran who have joined Ewan & Jonathan, who are now in their second season with us.
Ewan and Jonathan have started a CTFC podcast called “Straight Red CTFC Podcast” which can be accessed on Twitter or sound cloud.
https://twitter.com/StraightRedCTFC
To-date there have been four podcasts. The latest features a lengthy interview with an ex Crawley favourite Sergio Torres. It’s well worth a listen as they discuss previous and up and coming games as well as interviews with players.
- Barb passed the meeting over to our Treasurer Terry
Terry advised the DSA accounts had been fully audited and were available for inspection. The current balance is a healthy £273.10 even after this season’s shirt sponsorship.
The accounts were available to read and they were approved by the attendees.
- Election of officers.
All four members were happy to stand again and were duly elected. They are:
Barb Robinson Chair
Chris Cheshire Vice chair
Terry Scoble Treasurer
Michael Wheeler Secretary
There was no AOB to so the AGM was closed
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General Meeting was opened
Metro bus Key Fobs
Chris Cheshire addressed the meeting about a little-known Key Fob service for the visually impaired, offered by the Metro bus service, which was designed by the RNIB.
When the fob is pressed at a bus stop information on the next three buses to arrive can be heard.
Metro bus have asked Chris to spread the word and distribute fobs. So contact Chris who has a number of Key Fobs to give out if you need one or know someone who could benefit from having one.
- DSA Leaflet.
Chris has worked on producing a leaflet promoting the DSA group and showed everyone a first draft. She invited comments & suggestions.
Anna mentioned a font which has been designed & developed to aid people with dyslexia. The font is called Dyslexie and can be downloaded into MS Word. Chris will look into this.
Members also requested that the leaflet shows our passionate support for CTFC. Chris said that once the leaflet was finalised funds would be needed to print it.
The DSA group does not have a link on the Crawley’s web site anymore due to all clubs using the same generic format. Therefore, the leaflet will promote the group and can be displayed around the ground, in the Redz bar, at Community Foundation groups and at other suitable locations around the town.
Anna asked if the DSA group had a Facebook page, Barb said one was set up some time ago but now needs reviewing.
Barb and Anna will arrange a date to meet up asap to discuss re-vamping the Facebook page & using it to promote the DSA.
The Media guys Bruce & Craig have been helpful in putting pieces that Barb has written on the website, & in the programme when there is room. Tonight’s meetings were featured in the Morecambe programme.
- Move The Goalposts
This is a project run by the Community Foundation for the benefit of those with a mental health issue. The group meet once a week for two hours. The first hour is devoted to life skills & wellbeing and the second is used to play football on the 3G pitch. Barb has attended a few of these sessions and was very impressed by what she saw.
The initial funding for this project is about to run out and they need to raise more funds to enable it to continue.
Pledges have been received on a crowdfunding page that was set up, but the amount pledged to date has not attracted as much as had been hoped. At a recent steering group meeting it was discussed whether or not the DSA could contribute anything. It was decided that it should be discussed at the main meeting where members could have a say.
A number of opinions and some questions were raised at this meeting that we were unable to answer. We had invited Darren Ford to come, and he had intended to be here, but sadly he could not attend tonight for personal reasons. It was agreed we should wait until he’s next available and arrange a special meeting for those interested, to come along before making a decision.
- New Years Meal
Susan & Michael went to the Black Swan in Pease Pottage and arranged for our new year’s meal in 2019. The date is Friday 18th January at 7pm.
Final details and menus will be passed on in due course.
Members thanked Susan & Michael for arranging this
- Shirt sponsorship.
The lucky recipients of last season’s shirts from Josh Yorweth were Sue Scoble and David Beard.
This year we’re sponsoring the home & away shirts of George Francomb. Everyone who has paid their £5 subs will be entered into the draw.
- Training visits.
Ten members attended the recent open training session, we met with George and had our photo taken with him.
Another training visit will be arranged, probably in March or April next year.
- AOB
Chris asked for help for a meeting she was attending to promote support for disabled youngsters in ‘Pathway to Adulthood’. She is also involved in setting up a forum linking organisations connected with disability & asked if members knew of any other groups she did not have on her list. Two were mentioned
Ivor asked if anyone was aware of an Italian community group within the Crawley area that would be interested in meeting our new Italian manager – and may hopefully come and watch the football! Trevor said there is an Italian community in Horsham which could be approached. Chris will look into the possibility of finding any Italian groups.
Barb was contacted by Michelle, who works alongside Joe Comper, saying that someone who was hiring the executive suite had asked if there was a hearing loop system in place. Currently the club have no hearing loop facility. An internet search showed where you can purchase portable hearing loops systems but this needs to be fully explored & some costs gathered. She will do some more research & flag this up with the Club.
Gordon thanked Carl for getting food at half time for those in the disabled area.
Bill is concerned that his allocated parking space (103) is regularly taken by other cars when he arrives. A suggestion that a cone is put in the bay stopping anyone using the space.
Carl is participating in Run Gatwick next year May 12th and will be raising funds for the DSA group.
Anna is still concerned that one of the two disabled toilets is being blocked by bins being used by the caterers. She is annoyed because the caterers have previously been told. Terry knows one of the caterers and will approach him about the concerns.
Barb then thanked all for coming & closed the meeting at 8.00 pm. Another big thank you to Rhona for giving up her time to work behind the bar.
