Meeting notes, 28 July 2011

Here are the notes of the meeting held on 28th July of the newly formed group:

12^TH MAN FUND

Meeting notes – 28 July 2011

Attendees: Maurice Earp, Michael North, Paul Wakeford, Liam Wakeford, Paul Ridgley, Danny Johnston, Steve Sykes, Dave Nicholls, Ray Whittaker, Don Gale, Rose Green, Trevor Lambert, John Gould.

Apologies: Kelvin Thomas, Simon Bradbury, Zak Stratton-Taylor, Daniel Freeman, Maureen Wingrove, Mark Bryden, James Robinson, Damon Farrant, Laurence Waters, Andy Wilmer, Kieron Badger, Matthew Lower, Louise McDowall, Simon Pearce, Marc Pinner, Peter Harris, Adrian Oliver.

Trevor Lambert and John Gould welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Trevor took some time to explain the origins of the 12^th Man fund, its objectives, and the current position of the Fund. He explained that some of those originally involved were, for various reasons of time and other commitments, no longer closely associated with the Fund; and that he and John were also looking to scale back their commitment (albeit not opting out completely). They felt therefore the time was right to try and introduce new faces to the organisation of the Fund and the meeting was to gauge the level of interest that might be forthcoming. The terms and conditions and a breakdown of the payments made and the sums raised were circulated.

There was then some discussion as to what the Fund should do next; should it remain true to the original objective of supporting the first team, or widen its scope to encompass anything within OUFC. The majority opinion seemed to be, as the survey had shown, that it should continue as it is now. The Club has not made any requests of the Fund for the last 12 months.

Different methods of raising revenue were discussed and it was agreed to proceed with the commissioning of a new batch of badges, using the design of the 2011-12 kit. Several designs were discussed and it was felt the badges should incorporate the lettering OUFC in some way, either on the badge itself or embossed on the back. It was agreed to look into this further and liaise with Rob Newton, the designer. Don Gale agreed to head this up with support from Maurice Earp and Dave Nicholls.

It was agreed the popular flag bearer activity would continue (the club having indicated their willingness to support this and to continue to offer stadium tours), and Rose Green, Steve Sykes and Danny Johnston agreed to take on the task of meet and greet.

Trevor would set up a yahoo email group and invite those attending to sign up. We had two contacts willing to help with website design and Trevor would also look into this.

It was also agreed that some catalogues of promotional material should be obtained, which might generate further ideas for 12^th Man merchandise.

Danny Johnston would approach Chris Meeson of the Masons Arms regarding the possibility of 12^th Man beer.

Everyone recognised the importance of keeping people who had expressed interest informed, especially folk like Sue Trafford and Tim Rackley of the Priory.

Steve Sykes offered to act as secretary.

John agreed that he would continue as treasurer for the time being as the bank account is currently linked to the OxVox accounts at Barclays. It will be difficult to open a new account until the 12th man has some sort of formal organisation.

The 12^th Man terms and conditions were circulated for consideration; revisions will be discussed and agreed at the next meeting.

The meeting closed at 9.40pm.

Next meeting; Tuesday 23^rd August.