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Minutes

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8th November 2004

Venue:            Dewdrop PH, Dover. 

Present:          Mick Padfield, Tim Padfield, Bill Browning, Gary Cattermole, Paul Padfield, Mark Padfield, John Cattermole, Norman Deal, Bob Gee, Darren Herbert, Tim, Falconbridge, Peter Moynan, Ian Chivers., Alfie Matthews. 

Apologies:      Tony Homersham, Vincent & Carol Capon, Haydn Powlter & David Browning. 

AGENDA ITEM 1- There were no matters arising from the meeting 23^rd September. The minutes were adopted. 

ITEM 2 – Mick Padfield reported that there were now 122 people who have said that they will be attending the dinner on 5^th December, 118 paying guests and 4 people who will be guests of the club, Perry Groves, Jill Smith, Vic and Stuart McFarland. At the time of the meeting there were still 9 people who have said that they will be attending, but have not yet paid. There is scope for more people to attend if they wish too, but Mick will need the money by the end of next week, when we intend to pay the balance. The club still owe Mick the £250 deposit. Mick explained to the meeting that the meal was actually £10 per head, but £1 has been added to cover the cost of the guests’ meals and so that we can buy them a little memento. Mick suggested buying them a Dover Gooners plate celebrating the 10 years of the clubs existence, the meeting agreed unanimously. We have people coming form Austria, London, Cambridge, Maidstone, Faversham & Whitstable, but there are still many of the members who are based in Dover not attending. Mick will do the seating plan shortly; each table will take 10 people.  There is no entertainment, but Wes Fernandez has offered to bring along some music and Perry Groves will do a 20 minute Q&A session. 

ITEM 3 – Mick reported to the meeting that we ordered 168 items, which cost £1374.27.Only 7 items were out of stock, but they should arrive shortly. We have made £14, which will go to club funds. All paid for on Mick’s credit card and he will get a cheque from the club once his bill arrives. If there are any items to be returned Mick will supply a copy of the receipt. 

Mick then explained that we have now opened an account for the club. He is keeping a very simple note of all credits to the account. Where some cheques are for merchandise and the dinner he has broken this down. He has also suggested that at the end of each meeting he would like 2 non committee members to audit the accounts. 

ITEM 4 – Gary Cattermole reported to the meeting that the website was now up and running.  The total cost was £28 to purchase the name www.dovergooners.com for 5 years and a one off payment of £25 to Stuart Honey, for hosting the site. Gary suggested adding a page which would list all of the current members; this would only display their name, not any contact details etc. This was agreed by the meeting.

Norman Deal, speaking on behalf of members, said that he thought that James Cattermole had done a good job with the site. 

Tim Padfield told the meeting that the site was now available from a link with the official Arsenal website. Gary told the meeting that we also have links on the Gunflash, Irish, Norwegian and Austrian websites.  

ITEM 5 – Gary told the meeting that we have now begun to sale the Gunflash, which is the official supporter’s club fanzine. There are 8 issues per year and they cost £2, for each one we sell the club receives 40p. He asked if anybody else wanted to receive it regularly could they let him know, at present we have an order of 20, but this can be increased. 

ITEM 6 – Gary reported that we now have 93 members. 18 of these are silver members. We have approximately 12 Family enclosure, Junior Gunners and Cannon Club members, about 15 season ticket holders and 1 Bond Holder. We also have about 10 people who are on the waiting list for either Silver membership or season tickets. Mick Padfield again explained to the meeting the system that we use to apply for tickets. 

ITEM 7 – Gary first of all thanked Mick for all the work that he had put into prized for the raffle at the dinner. Mick explained that he had 8 prizes and that all proceeds from the raffle would go to ChildLine, the charity officially supported by Arsenal FC. The meeting carried that we should support ChildLine with any funds we raise for charity. This would only change if Arsenal change their support to another charity. Bob Gee asked if we had explored the idea of getting the local press along to see us handing the cheque to Jill Smith. Mick said that we had not, but Stuart McFarland, the official club photographer will be present so we may be able to get something in the programme. It was agreed that we will get Jill Smith and Perry Groves to draw the raffle. 

Gary then put to the meeting the idea of organising a Race Night, with all profits going to ChildLine. Mick had a few reservations, i.e. with people saying that they would attend and then not turning up on the night. 

 Action Point – Gary to investigate this idea further and return with more details.

 AOB – Norman Deal asked if the club would be issuing membership cards. Mick explained that we can get stationary from the club, but it does come at a price, so this was not on the cards.

Mick then said that we should consider having a merchandise section on the website so that we can advertise the tee shirts, that cost £15 and the plates mentioned earlier, which are also £15. If anybody wanted any of these items he would wait until he had 10 to 15 orders before ordering them. 

Mick also said that he would look into arranging a trip to see RC Lens play a home game in the New Year. If there was enough interest he could probably arrange to get a coach to collect us from Calais and take us to the game. He believes that Lens play Auxerre and PSG in April. 

Mick also suggested holding a golf day, nothing to taxing, 18 holes at Stonelees followed by a meal at the Dewdrop. The cost would include the round of golf, the meal and a little bit extra for a few prizes. He agreed to get further details.  

Darren Herbert asked if it had been considered arranging a coach to one of the home games. Mick said that we do not have enough members attending games to justify one wholly from Dover, but it might be worth linking in with the Maidstone Gooners. He agreed to explore this possibility.

Meeting closed at 2025.

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