A busy weekend ahead, hence going a day early with these notices because tomorrow we will be heading over the county border for a huge local derby game away at Hemel Hempstead Town for what should be a bumper Good Friday crowd at Vauxhall Road – please do come along and add your support.

We have been on an excellent run of form recently and currently sit one place above Hemel in the league, in tenth spot. It would be a tremendous achievement to finish above our neighbours come the end of the season.The Supporters Trust have organised a sponsored walk to this match. An approximate 12 mile walk from the Meadow, over to Berkhamsted where they join the Grand Union Canal and then onto Hemel via Boxmoor, no doubt with a couple of refuelling pit stops along the way. The walk leaves The Meadow at 8.00am and will be raising funds for the club’s charity partners, Bucks Mind and Chiltern Foodbank (Chesham). If you would like to donate via the GoFundMe Page then the link can be found here – please share with your friends, family & colleagues.

If you are not walking, the Trust have also arranged for a bus from The Broadway, leaving at 2.00pm, to transport supporters to the game and allowing you to spend the morning in the local shops of Chesham, or the pubs if you prefer, before boarding the bus for the short journey. The bus will return straight after the game and will also bring the walkers home – the sponsorship is only for going one way! A big thank you everyone involved in the walk, raising the profile of the club and adding valuable support to our charity partners. For more information about the walk and the bus, please visit custrust.co.uk

Last Saturday we again came from behind to win 2-1, this time at home to Farnborough FC, a result that put us level on points with our visitors and moved us back into the top ten – and to think a few weeks ago we were talking about looking over our shoulders and avoiding a relegation scrap! This has of course been achieved thanks to the huge amount of work put in by our management team, players and everyone involved in the club, including our fabulous volunteers. We never underestimated the challenge that we faced in stepping up to National League South and I think we have risen to that challenge superbly. There have been difficult moments, as we knew there would be, but we’ve always stayed focussed on and off the pitch and have ended up with a solid first season under our belt and with no relegation dramas to worry about! We’ve proven to everyone that we are in this division on merit.

However, we know that things will not get any easier next season. We know that more teams in the division are looking at increasing investment and moving to full-time playing staff. We are already planning for things on and off the pitch so that we can ensure we stay competitive. But we will also ensure that we do things sustainably and in a way that secures the long-term future of the club without unnecessary risks. Pitch repairs and restorations will require significant investment during the summer, and as previously mentioned, we will be raising admission prices by £1.00 next year which will bring us more in line with other clubs in this division. I hope you appreciate that reasons for this and I can reassure you that the club will always seek to minimise the cost impact on supporters at a time when I know that many household budgets are tight.

Thank you to everyone who stayed behind after the Farnborough game for the End of Season awards presented by Alex Horne. Many congratulations to all our winners across the Men’s and Women’s teams. Also, congratulations must go out to our under-18s side who recently secured their league title, they will be presented with their trophy tonight (Thursday) when they take on Hemel Hempstead Town at The Meadow – please do come along and give them your support, we have a very talented crop of players within our young squad. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.

n Bank Holiday Monday we welcome Slough Town for our final home league game of the season, it promises to be a fantastic occasion with another big crowd anticipated to give our squad a big send off and show our appreciation for what has been a wonderful season. The season concludes next Saturday when we travel to full-time Dorking Wanderers. Our hosts will be hoping to still be in with a shout of winning the league title that day and a few weeks ago I am sure everyone would have thought three points against us would be a formality for the title chasers, but then Torquay probably thought that a couple of weeks ago as well – never write off this Chesham United team! The game at Dorking is an all-ticket event so please do make your purchases in advance for this game.

Although the league season is almost over, don’t forget we have the Alex Horne Comedy Football Trophy on Saturday 10th May and the Treorchy Choir coming to town in June, details and tickets for both are available on cheshamunited.co.uk/tickets

Thank you as always for your support, you have been magnificent.

Peter Brown