At last another monkey off the shoulder we have finally beaten Ashford United. Who ever said 'it is not the winning it is the taking part that is important' quite simply lied!
However, as we reflect back on the game in which we certainly rode our luck at times as Ashford did go close on several occasions we can also take pride in the effort put in by our players. The match generally I thought was a great advert for Step 5, the quality of football, the desire shown by both teams was outstanding. The other major contributor to a great afternoon were both sets of fans. The gate was a fantastic 293. This gate was only exceeded by two of the Teams playing in Ryman South, none of the teams playing in Ryman North bettered this gate and amazingly only half of the Ryman Premier League games attracted more support than our game. The travelling contingent from Ashford were a credit to their team and to their town, we will look forward to meeting you all again at Homelands. I continually wax lyrical about our fantastic support, yesterday you excelled yourselves so my thanks to each and everyone of you. To close off on the game I would like to say a big thank to Tunbridge Wells Youth Football Club for providing the ball boys yesterday. Ball boys at the Culverden! A first in my reign as Chairman, my thanks go to the ball boys who did a fantastic job.
As always when we host games there is a regular group of helpers, stewards, car parking attendants, bar staff, hospitality, stadium management, tea bar and bar staff are all required to stage a match. This Team do a fantastic job match in match out but we really do need to swell our resource pool that we can draw on. If you can help out occasionally then please contact me via e-mail chaitman@twfcexec.com or come and have a chat with me at the next game.
One of the things we as a Club have not been very good at since I took over as Chairman is running Fund raising events. We intend to remedy this over the coming months. We have a few ideas of what we think we will work but again what we need to know what you would like us to organise. Our current thinking is;
Quiz Nights, an ex Footballer after dinner speaker, race nights. We are also going to organise some party nights at the Clubhouse. 'Christmas at the Culverden' This year we will also be running a Christmas Raffle.
The relationship between the youth and the senior sections of the club continues to develop. We are lucky that Scott Bartlett has a foot in both the senior and the youth camps and it is largely down to his drive that the relationship is now at its strongest. Keith Bird has vast experience of working with youth and he is keen to ensure that we integrate the current U16 players into training and the pre-match warm up. Keith sees these initial steps as essential to bringing some of this excellent crop of young players into the first team. Whilst we are in the dryer winter months I am delighted to announce that both the U15's and the U16's will play their games at the Culverden. Generally the games kick off at 11:00 on a Sunday. We will be putting a list of fixtures up on the website and also in the Clubhouse. The games really are entertaining and it is definitely worth a trip to see if you can spot a star of the future.