Good evening and welcome to this fundraising match against a Crystal Palace XI. First, thank you all for your support tonight. In a particularly difficult month, we really need the income this match is bringing us. Of course, this would not be possible without the agreement by our opponents – sending a squad including several first team names and managed by Roy Hodgson is a superb commitment and we are exceptionally grateful for this. This is also a great opportunity for us to showcase our fantastic club. If this is your first time watching a Dulwich Hamlet game, then I hope you enjoy your time with us this evening and hopefully we will see you again at a future league fixture.

Increasing our home attendances has been a focus for the Trust this season. The last home match on 29th September was designated a ‘Family Day’ and it was so good to see so many of the Junior Rabble at Imperial Fields. They turned out in force to support their heroes on the pitch, collecting balloons, pin badges, team posters and lollipops (pink and blue, of course!) along the way. Also on the day, budding artists took part in a competition to design a page for the 2019 Trust calendar and our judges are busy pondering over the gallery of excellent entries (winner (s) will to be announced at our next home game against St Albans on 3rd November). To cap a great day, Gavin and the team put in a strong performance on the pitch to secure a 2-0 home victory.

Our next Family event is planned for the 1st December, when we hope to host a Christmas Fayre, complete with old fashioned games, stalls and ‘seasonal refreshments’ for the grown-ups’. Who knows, Santa himself might make an appearance!

Talking of Christmas, the Trust will once again be hosting this year’s Dulwich Hamlet Christmas Party. We are very grateful to the East Dulwich Tavern (EDT), Lordship Lane, who have offered to hire out their upstairs room to us. More details will follow, but be sure to put Thursday 20 December in your diaries in your diaries.

Following the home match against St Albans we have a long trip to look forward to (although not quite as far as we would have imagined). On 10th November we are scheduled to play Truro City who this season are playing their home games at Torquay United’s ground. Unfortunately, this is also the weekend when the FA Cup 1st round matches will be played.

As Torquay United are currently still in the competition and therefore, may be drawn at home, fans are rightly cautious in booking train tickets or accommodation in case the game is unable to be played at 3 pm on the Saturday. We have provisionally booked a coach for this fixture, which can be rearranged if necessary. If you would be interested in travelling on the coach, please either email the Trust (info@dhst.org.uk) or register your interest at the club shop. Given a positive interest, along with the confirmation of the fixture, we are hopeful that we will shortly be able to confirm coach travel.

Finally, as you may have noticed we recently advertised for a new Board Secretary and are happy to announce that Philip Mitchell has now taken up the position. Having lived in East Dulwich for 35 years, many of you will know Mitch personally as a founder member of the Supporters’ Trust and Board member during our early years. Welcome aboard (again) Mitch. Stepping aside from the position is Darren McCready. Darren joined the Board in 2013, and filled a number of roles including both Vice-Chair and Chair whilst using his expertise in town planning at a critical time for the Club. Following the conclusion of his 3-year term on the Board, he took on the role of Secretary and has provided invaluable support and guidance to us all as well as taking on the onerous task of organising the AGM. The Board would like to thank Darren for all his hard work and hope that he can now enjoy home matches again!

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you all back here on 3rd November.

Enjoy the game!

Mark (Scolly) Scoltock