Open Meeting Minutes, Thursday 9th March 2006

Prior to the meeting, Members were able to collect their Silkmen Supporters Trust share certificates.

Introduction - Andy Worth

Andy welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked everyone for their support for the trust. He recapped on the crisis faced by the Club shortly before Christmas and how the Trust came to be formed. He then announced the Interim Board.

Andy Worth (Chairman), Bill Milligan (Treasurer), Dean Bamford (Youth), Rob Wilson (Membership Secretary), Andy Thomas (Club Liaison), Dave Ellis (Legal), Tom Rance (Media) Ray Bamford (Community), Dave Taylor (Fans Forum Representative), Myra Clark (Silk Alliance Rep), Rob Kerr (Supporters Club Rep), Steve Mundy (Secretary)

Andy also explained that in order to further the aims of the Trust, a number of Action groups had been formed - community, media and fundraising and that a representative from each of the groups would be giving an update. He also praised the work done by the existing supporters groups, the Supporters Club, Fans Forum and Silk Alliance and how important it was that they were represented on the Interim Board.

Legal and Constitutional Issues - Dave Ellis

Dave explained that the Trust was an Industrial and Provident Society, similar to a Limited Company. Although it was not registered at Companies House, it was registered with the Financial Standards Authority. It has to have elected directors and audited accounts. Unlike a limited company, the members and directors cannot make a profit from the Trust.

Every member of the Trust has one share in the Trust, which is worth £1.00. That £1-00 is the sole financial liability that the Member has to the Trust.

Dave explained that the Interim Board was only in place until democratic elections could take place. He explained that the elections were not straightforward but would necessitate an independent committee and external scrutineers. Supporters Direct, (the government funded body set up to support and monitor Trusts) had indicated that the normal time period before holding an election was between 6months to a year from the formation of the Trust. Silkmen Supporters Trust is aiming for the elections to take place in the close season.

David also explained that the Trust has a legally binding constitution which set down the guidelines under which the Trust must operate and also contained a list of objectives, which included:

• To strengthen the bond between the Club and the Community
• To encourage the Club to take account of the Club and the Community
• To be positive and inclusive to all fans - i.e. membership should be open to any fan at a reasonable price

One thing that had already been achieved had been the dialogue between the Trust and the Club, which had resulted in Season Ticket holders being able to sit in their normal seats for the LDV game against Carlisle

Dave also went on to explain how he had been in negotiation with Macclesfield and Stockport Borough Councils in order to obtain the necessary permits to enable us to do a bucket collection in support of the Trust's sponsored walk to Stockport

Media Liaison - Tom Rance

Tom explained the importance of the Trust being open and transparent and also the need to keep people aware of what was happening and how use of various media outlets could further these aims.

The Trust had its own Website, which was run by Mike Griffiths http://www.silkmen.org.uk/.

Tom also posts regular items on the Club Official website, the Rivals website and also submits articles to the Macclesfield Express.

There are also plans to produce a newsletter for the members.

Community Action Group - Ray Bamford

Ray explained that there were a number of areas that the Trust wanted to concentrate on in improving the links between the Club and the Community

The Trust wanted to concentrate on the youth of Macclesfield and organise football and fun events

To build links with the local schools to encourage football for young children

Build links with the Macclesfield Borough Council and try and arrange a meeting with the Chief Executive.

The Community Action Group also wanted to look into ways of improving the 'match day experience' to find out why there were only 1500 to 1600 home fans; look at the ticketing and advertising policies; media promotions and free tickets; areas where the stadium could be improved.

Ray also mentioned that the Fans Forum had been looking hiring a bus to bring people to the Moss Rose as not everyone had a car.

Ray mentioned that the Trust were in the process of approaching the Club with a view to seeing if the Torquay match on the Easter Bank Holiday Monday could be made £10.00 for adults and £5-00 for concessions to try and encourage a higher attendance.

Ray finished off by saying that the Trust needed input from the fans. He also invited people to become actively involved with the Trust.

Fundraising Group - Dave Taylor

Dave outlined a number of ideas that the Trust had had with regards to fund raising

Sponsored walk/wheelchair push to Stockport with Andy Mellor - A number of Trust members would be accompanying Andy who is being sponsored to complete the 12 mile trip from Macclesfield to Stockport before the match on the 18^th March. Some of the Trust will have collecting buckets and others will be in fancy dress. They will be joined by Roary the Lion (Dave himself) and also the Cheshire Building Society Cat.

Macclesfield Legends calendar for 2006/07. The photographs for each of the calendar months would be selected from amongst the members of the Trust.

Lottery Cards – to be sold in pubs etc

Car boot sales - The trust were looking to organise a car boot sale at a venue to be determined and would be encouraging members to either have a stall or donate items of bric a brac to trust members

T Shirts - The Trust had come up with a design for a T-shirt (an example was held up at the meeting) with orders being taken. The shirt costs £7.00.

Dave encouraged people to put forward their ideas for T-shirts.

Dave then spoke about his own idea. Having been to different grounds around the country, Dave said how much he enjoyed visiting the Supporters Social Clubs and bars and mixing with fans from other Clubs. He wanted to see if it would be possible to build a Supporter's Social Club at Macclesfield Town. He knew that there amongst the members of the Trust were people from the construction industry as well as people with a wide variety of other skills/ knowledge.

Champagne Draw

There was a draw during the break for a bottle of champagne. The draw was made from the first 200 members of the Trust and the winner was Donald Bayley (Member number 16).

Question and Answer Session

Q. Has there been much co-operation between the board and the Trust. How does the liaison seem to be working?

A. Andy Thomas (Club Liaison Officer) was not in attendance as he was at the North West Supporters Direct meeting, however it appears that the relationship appears to have been productive so far. A number of instances were mentioned, including the agreement to buy shares, the decision to allow season ticket holders to sit in their own seats at the Carlisle LDV game and a letter of support from the Club to assist the Trust in obtaining permits for the collection on the 18^th March.

Q. Can Trust members attend the AGM or would they need to keep hold of their own shares?

A. It was believed that a Trust representative would be eligible to attend the AGM rather than just any Trust Member although this would need to be confirmed. Trust Members were advised that if they were thinking of transferring shares to the Trust then it would be a good idea to retain at least one so that they can also attend the AGM if they want. It was mentioned that people could appoint the Trust as their proxy to vote for them at the AGM instead of transferring the shares permanently.

Q. Is the subscription annual? Does every penny collected have to go on shares?

A. Yes. Not everything collected has to be spent on shares, however any money spent has to further the aims of the Trust as laid down in the constitution. It was stressed that all the donations made to the Trust to help the Trust with its short-term objective of assisting the Club pay the Football Foundation and the FA would be spent on shares, which in turn the Club had agreed to put towards this fund.

While on the subject of fundraising the T-shirts were mentioned again. Myra Clark also mentioned the Silk Alliance season ticket raffle and encouraged people to either buy tickets or, even better, take books and sell them.

There was a suggestion from the floor that the most important thing was to get people to come to the Club. Rather than just asking people for donations, be more optimistic and positive in our approach.

They also questioned the value of having reduced prices at one match and whether it would be better to go for a long-term policy.

Dave Taylor replied that it was still a good opportunity to promote the Club, especially if everyone asked a neighbour, friend etc to come on that day.

Rob Wilson re-iterated the need to promote the Club via the local schools.

A number of other concerns expressed from the floor included:

• What appeared to be a lack of coherent policy from the Club to recruit and retain fans - fans were easy to lose and hard to get back.
• The ticketing policy needed to be reasonable, specially targeted, practical and accessible.
• Season ticket letters could be better, rather than just a list of regulations.
• The Club has a responsibility to tell us what the long-term strategy of the Club is.

Q. Does the Trust have a strategy for the summer?

A. The Trust intends to try and hold its first elections in the summer. On the fund raising front, it is anticipated that the car boot sales will take place then. There will also be a campaign to try and get the best possible attendance for the first home game of the season.

A question was raised regarding the unity of the fans groups.

Andy Worth once again praised the work of the existing fans groups and stressed the importance of them all being represented on the Interim Board. He stated that although Rob Kerr could not attend the meeting, The Supporters Club were very supportive of the idea of the Trust. Myra Clark and Dave Taylor voiced their support. Whether or not the groups merge as one under the banner of the Trust and if they do how that will be achieved has not been decided yet and will be down to the members and Committees of the individual groups. What is agreed is the importance of working together in order to achieve the strongest voice on behalf of the Supporters of Macclesfield Town.

Another suggestion from the floor was that the Trust promote itself better in order to attract more members. Leafleting at turnstiles was suggested. Tom Rance explained that it was hoped to do that at the Rochdale game.

Tom went on to explain that our membership numbers were relatively high in comparison to the Trusts at other Clubs.

Dave Taylor pointed out that 209 members of the Trust could do far more to promote the Trust than the twelve members of the Board and encouraged people to get involved. Too often it fell on the same people.

It was pointed out from the floor that other people did do their bit to assist the Club but in other ways, which was accepted.

Finally, the Trust Board were urged to name a date for the elections as this would put an end to the accusations that it was undemocratic. It was suggested that Val Holden - Chief Election Officer for Macclesfield Borough Council be approached to oversee the elections. It was agreed that this would be a good idea and would be looked into.