New Supporters Trust board member Ceri Stone looks at the behind-the-scenes work that goes on within the Trust….
Like everyone reading this I have been a Jack all my life and I love the club. In recent seasons I have become a bit more curious about what the Trust does on a daily basis and I wanted to contribute more to the role the fans play in it. Rather than just paying my membership fee, buying a book of raffle tickets and singing songs in the East Stand.
I was encouraged to stand for the Trust board and was duly elected. That was my first shock. The second was just how hard the Supporters Trust works for the club and how much time is involved with this. That was a major jolt to the system. You can read my bio on the Meet the Trust page here where you can see that I have experience working at a board room level and dealing with business strategy. That experience didn’t prepare me for how hard our representatives work for us in voluntary roles.
I thought we would attend a meeting once a month and then chat to members at the Pod outside the Liberty (something I am looking forward to, once we are allowed to watch games live again), but the reality has been rather different. I have been impressed with the work that the senior members of the team carry out and how much time they devote to both the club and the Supporters Trust. We are in regular contact and there are almost daily updates from them on all matter of issues.
The team are constantly improving engagement with members and trying to raise the profile of the Trust with the fans. The social media team are kept busy and we would love to see the number of followers online converted into members. I was quite surprised to find the amount of people I know who believe they are members, only to find that their membership had lapsed a couple of years ago. Is this you?
Have you renewed your membership this year? It is worth checking. If not, becoming a member for half price this season is easy via our Join the Trust page. Just in time for our twentieth anniversary as well.
There is so much more that goes on behind the scenes. During the course of the season Terry Sinnett and I will share the programme notes and fill you in on this in more detail. Talking of the season, we couldn’t have asked for a better start. Seven points in three games and three clean sheets at the start of a new campaign, which just so happens to be a new club record.
It is great to see our new squad members settling in really well and having an instant impact. On the field performances are very positive and we have the potential of a great season to look forward to.
Not wanting to get carried away, but it has been an eye-opening start for me and a great one for the club. I hope I get to discuss it with you at the Pod before too long.
Ceri
