50/50 DRAW
The online 50/50 draw was a great success. 1,395 tickets were bought which meant £558 going to the lucky winner Daniel Plumb with £558 going to Hitchin Town FC and £279 to East & North Hertfordshire Hospital’s Charity. The original idea for an online 50/50 came from our social media team and it was very professionally organised with Stewart hosting the draw live on twitter to show complete transparency.

Wearing my treasurer’s hat the £558 is gratefully received as despite our income streams drying up completely many fixed costs still have to be paid so this donation will certainly be put to good use. It was also very important that we were able to make a contribution to the NHS at this time of crisis.

I spoke to Daniel Plumb who was the 50/50 winner. He is a Hitchin Town supporter and started watching games at Top Field when his friend Michael Johnson became our goalkeeper. He is also friendly with Lewis Barker. Daniel only recently returned from Asia and is now trying to get a job which in the current economic climate will not be easy so the prize money comes at a very opportune moment for him.

Daniel urges you all to support the next 50/50 draw which we hope to start in a couple of weeks as you can win a very decent prize while helping Hitchin Town and the NHS.

STEVE KIMBERLEY
As you may have seen on the Fan’s Forum Steve Kimberley one of the joint managers of the social club is currently in hospital being treated for coronavirus symptoms. We all hope and pray that Steve makes a speedy recovery. Steve is very popular and he is always cheerful and professional and very easy to deal with.

When one of your own is a victim of coronavirus it brings home how real the danger is. It makes you realise it can strike at any time and affect anybody. It certainly makes it vital that we all follow government guidelines to stop the spread of coronavirus.

BOB WEST
Sad news that Bob West a dedicated Hitchin Town supporter died recently at the Garden House Hospice. I had known Bob for many years and played alongside him for the Hitchin Town Supporters team. As Mick Docking said in his Fan’s Forum posting Bob could certainly be one of our harshest critics and wanted us to play football in a certain style. I had to listen to many of his rants about where we were going wrong but he would still come to the next game and deep down really cared about the Club. On behalf of the club I would like to send condolences to Bob’s family.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE
Mark would like to wish all supporters a Happy Easter and he hopes everyone is staying safe at this difficult time. He continues to try and plan ahead for next season and is keeping in touch with the current squad and contemplating the possibility of new signings. As yet there is no news on the winner of the players’ 5k run challenge.

SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM
I think that now the FA have confirmed our season is officially over it is a good time to pay tribute to our social media team. This is the second season our current team has been in charge and I think they have done a magnificent job. Our website is arguably among the best in our league and it has continued to improve and evolve giving supporters a very professional product.

One thing that should not be forgotten is how much time and effort our social media team devote to the club. I dare not think how many hours of dedication to the cause have been expended by the team and it is only right and proper that I should highlight the work they have done. We now reach out to many more younger supporters and the club now have a much higher profile than ever before.

So on behalf of all supporters many thanks to the social media team and rest assured we do really appreciate all your hard work.

1928 MINUTE BOOK
There will be a further instalment of my summaries of the minutes of meetings held in 1928 shortly. I hope you will find it interesting as it was certainly a rather different world to today.

BY ROY IZZARD