We are now just four weeks from the start of the new season and the excitement is starting to build…well at least it would be if we had our fixture list to start preparing! It does seem quite incredible that we still have another full week to wait until the fixtures are released, with the date now given as Friday 15th July. It is possible that three weeks after that we have a trip to Plymouth, Truro, Weston-Super-Mare, Merthyr or Dorchester to prepare for in that short space of time – if it is not us, then some other team will.
Anyway, there is nothing that we can do about it, so we must wait patiently for another seven days and instead look forward to our pre-season friendlies that get underway this Saturday with a trip to play Egham Town with a 1.30pm kick-off. It would be fantastic to see any supporters at the game, an early start, but a chance to see some live football again and see how the squad is coming together.
We will be making player announcements over the coming week, at the moment players are not yet registered due to technical issues with the new registration system and we do like to get everything signed and sealed before we start telling the world, but I can assure you that we have an excellent squad being put together and I am sure you will be impressed when you see details announced.
Before the game this Saturday we have three petrol strimmers lined up ready for volunteers to use to get the long grass behind the changing rooms cut down to soil level so we that can enlarge the car park for next season, please do offer your help if you can.
We are looking for a 9:30am start please as we need to leave, change and get ready to go to Egham for the game later in the day. We also need forks and buckets and volunteers to weed the dead weeds on the terraces ahead of our first home pre-season game. We want to be proud of our ground when supporters arrive for the new season, there has been a huge amount of hard work done by just a handful of volunteers, if you were able to help with the weeding and finishing painting the wood on top of the pitch perimeter fencing I would love to hear from you.
Later this week we will be making the June Claret Club draw where the prize is a pitch side perimeter board for the season for one of our supporting local businesses, it would be great if we had all the painting done around the perimeter by then to help all of our pitch side sponsors to stand out.
The pitch is looking fantastic. Craig has spent a whole day mowing the pitch in both directions this week and he tells me that is a 16-mile walk, as well as emptying the grass collected. The pitch has now been vertidrained and our local fire service from Chesham Station had hose reel training on the pitch once again on Tuesday night, demonstrating their great skills and adding much needed water to the pitch as well! Another 10,000 litres of water used and sprayed with a little help from town Mayor, Majid Ditta – I wonder if they managed to soak him?
As mentioned previously we are going through a revamp of the website and matchday programme and we would love to be able to include some aerial shots of The Meadow, so here is a random request – does anyone own a drone and would like to fly above our ground taking some pictures that can be used in our marketing? If so, please do get in touch and we may be able to work together on achieving this.
We received the news this afternoon that our Young Generals entry into the FA Youth Cup has been confirmed and that we have been drawn at home against Hemel Hempstead Town in the Preliminary Round, this tie is due to be played W/C 29th August. With further details to be confirmed in due course.
Having just got back from my summer holiday in Cyprus I have returned refreshed and raring to go for the new season ahead, I hope you are too. As a club we are in a very good position on and off the pitch and I am excited about what can be achieved if we all work together. The on-field preparations begin tomorrow, I hope to see many of you at Rectory Park, Northolt, UB5 6AU for the game against Egham tomorrow, remember it is an early 1.30pm kick-off.
Thank you for your support
Peter Brown, Chairman
