null

DHST Newsletter May 2016

11th May 2016

The May 2016 newsletter for members has been sent out.

The Hamletter

The Official Newsletter of Dulwich Hamlet Supporters’ Trust

Message From The Chair

Well that was quite an end to the season – a real roller coaster of emotions. Just scraping into the play-offs after the disappointing defeat to Needham Market didn’t give many fans much optimism for our semi-final away to Bognor Regis.

The form book was ripped up on a joyous night for Hamlet fans at Nyewood lane, as a great performance was combined with a penalty save and an injury time winner.

A huge travelling support (perhaps as many as 1000) then followed on Bank Holiday Monday, as an army of Hamlet fans took over East Thurrock’s compact ground.

Sadly, this was not matched by the performance on the pitch as a determined and organised opposition took advantage of a very strong wind in the first half to score from three corners.

Our fans were a credit to the Club after the final whistle, as we showed that respect for the opposition (when it’s deserved!) and friendship with fellow non-league fans is worth far much more than unnecessary anger and hate so frequently evident in the professional game. It’s this kind of reaction that makes me proud to be a Hamlet fan.
This is the last newsletter before our AGM on 4 July, so I would like to take the opportunity to recognise some of the main achievements that our brilliant Board members have achieved this season. The work behind the scenes to influence the proposed ground redevelopment has been extremely valuable.

We are making gradual progress with Hadley and the Club on plans for future fan ownership of the Club by the Trust.

The Mega-Container project has been a very large project, and achieved within an incredibly tight budget thanks to the generosity of many supporters. The merchandise operation has continued to grow and we were particularly overwhelmed by Christmas online orders. We have moved to a new automated membership system that took a lot of engineering in the background.

The community work remains an integral part of our work, and we enjoy a close working relationship with the Football Committee to deliver these many varied initiatives – the collaboration with Dulwich2Dunkirk and the charity game vs FC Assyria being particular highlights this year.

None of this would be possible without our Secretary holding us to account and ensuring we are delivering in the interest of members, our finances being kept in tip-top shape and that we are communicating clearly and regularly with the most important people of all – you…our Trust members.

So, thank you to Alex, Andy, Darren, Dave, Fiona, Isaac, Jack B, Jack S, James, Mark, Matt, Mel and Mishi for the 100s hours have been volunteered over the course of the season. You are all stars.

Enjoy this month’s newsletter. There is a reminder to vote in the ground redevelopment poll, news from the opening of the Mega-Container and we are happy to announce the appointment of our new Secretary. Have a great break, and enjoy Euro 2016 if that’s your thing. See you at the AGM on 4 July.

Duncan
Chair, DHST

The DHST poll on the proposed redevelopment of Champion Hill has now launched

The poll for Trust members on whether the DHST should support the proposed redevelopment of Champion Hill has now launched. In order to help make your decision, then we highly encourage you to review the information provided by Hadley Property Group and the DHST Board. This can be found on our website.

If you have not received the email then please contact info@dhst.org.uk, but please check any spam or other filters first. Trust members without email addresses should have now received the information via post.

If you prefer to read offline (the planning documentation is substantial), then one hard copy of all the paperwork has been placed at the Club’s reception at Champion Hill. You are free to visit the ground during opening hours to review the information, but please do not remove it from the Club’s premises as other members may also wish to see all the documentation.

The poll question is:
Based on the information available, do you think that the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters’ Trust should formally support the redevelopment of Champion Hill?

Mega Container Opens!

The game against Bognor Regis Town on 2nd April saw the opening of the Mega Container. After many months of hard work the ribbon was finally cut by the Chairman of the Football Club, Jack Payne and accompanied by some words from DHST Chair, Duncan Hart and DHST Board member and project lead, Alex Crane.

It was fantastic to see so many fans visit the shop and the initial feedback suggests it was a resounding success and a vast improvement on our previous Mega Shed. We’re now able to display our merchandise in a much improved arrangement which doesn’t rely on hunting through bags and boxes or running up to the storeroom to check stock. We have a wide range of DHFC goods on offer including t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, caps, replica shirts, badges and of course scarves!

We’ve also sorted out our stock of old programmes. The majority of the programmes involve Dulwich and we also have many Premiership, Football League and other Non-League clubs available alongside a selection of fanzines and magazines dating back to the 1950s.

The Bognor game also saw the launch of a new partnership between the Football Club and Fairtrade football supplier, Bala Sports. They will supply footballs to the Club’s Aspire Academy teams and also for selected first team matches and training. The balls being supplied to the Club are personalised with DHFC colours and the Club crest and logos of the Aspire Academy and DHST. We will be selling some of the footballs in the shop and they should be on sale in due course. Profits from the sale of the footballs will go to local playground and charity, Dog Kennel Hill Adventure Playground to pay for the installation of a new swing.

The Mega Container gives us the opportunity to expand our range and by the start of next season we hope to be able to offer fans different items which have been requested previously alongside new lines of t-shirts and scarves. If there are any items of merchandise which you would like to see then please let us know either on a matchday or by sending us an email at info@dhst.org.uk.

We still have some bits to finish off on the container including the electrical installation and of course the painting of the outside in the customary pink and blue! We’re very grateful to DHST Board and Football Committee member, Andy Greig, or the Honor Oak Handyman as he is also known professionally, for assisting with the electrical installation and we hope that supporters will get involved with the painting. With the weather starting to improve sufficiently to be able to paint we hope to do this very soon.

Once again our thanks to everyone who has helped so far from those who contributed financially, local businesses who have provided materials and of course all who helped transform it from an empty shell to the fantastic shop we have today. Finally, thank you to former DHST Board member, Guy Grater, who initiated the original Mega Shed and put in many hours to provide merchandise for supporters.

New DHST Secretary appointed

After five years in the role, Mark Panton is standing down from the position of Trust Secretary after the AGM (4 July) this summer. Mark’s commitment and dedication has been central to the growth and strengthening of DHST during his tenure. His focus on transparency, strong governance, democratic principles and fairness has provided the Trust an excellent foundation to fulfill our long-term ambition of making Dulwich Hamlet into a supporter-owned club.

Every Community Benefit Society must, by law, have a Secretary (The ‘Society Secretary’). The Secretary of DHST must be a member of the Trust. The Secretary is appointed by the Board. It is the Secretary’s role to monitor the Trust’s affairs and ensure that matters are dealt with in accordance with the Rules, legislation, Supporters Direct policies, additional DHST policies, good practice and to the benefit of the Members. The Secretary protects the members’ interests and ensures that the constitution is followed and that the organisation is functioning properly.

We advertised for a new Secretary in April, and were fortunate to have several expressions of interest. We very much appreciate this response. We have decided to appoint Darren McCreery as our new Secretary. Darren is our current vice-Chair, and will be stepping down from the Board in the summer in order to take on this new challenge. Darren has been a supporter of the Club for nearly ten years and has been on the Board for almost three years. His existing networks and detailed understanding of our work on the ground redevelopment and fan ownership will be extremely valuable. We look forward to continuing to work with Darren in his new role.

Memorandum of Understanding signed with Hadley Property Group

As part of the poll, we published a Memorandum of Understanding between Hadley and the Trust that has been in place since last year and has underpinned our working relationship with Hadley. The Memorandum is not a binding contract, but it clearly sets or common understanding and commitments on key aspects of the development. The Memorandum show some of the work we have already engaged on with Hadley to date, but more importantly the actions that will be taken in the future.
Some of the main points are, that should HPG gain planning permission for the site they will:

  • Exercise their exclusive option to complete the purchase of the majority shares in Dulwich Hamlet Football Club Ltd (DHFC) from Nick McCormack, within two months of gaining planning permission.
  • On completion of the new football ground, transfer ownership of DHFC, free of all liabilities for a peppercorn consideration to a Community Benefit Society owned by the fans.
  • Ensure that DHFC are the lessee, under a new lease from the London Borough of Southwark for the portion of the new football ground and associated facilities situated on council land.
  • Transfer to DHFC an amount of funds that ensure that the transition from private to community ownership is not prejudiced by a lack of working capital.
  • Ensure that any development of a new ground enables the Football Club to continue to play all their home matches at the current stadium before moving.