WEEKLY BULLETIN – 2ND MAY

SECOND ONLINE 50/50 DRAW
The second monthly 50/50 draw has seen healthy sales in the first week with over 500 tickets already sold. The draw will be live on our twitter feed on Wednesday 6 May at 7.45pm so make sure you buy your tickets in good time. You can buy as many tickets as you like and remember the split of the money raised will be 40% to the winner, 40% to the football club and 20% to the local East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals’ Charity.

Please do your very best to promote the draw and let’s see if we can do as least as well as the last draw! It was good to see that former goalkeeper Michael Johnson was one of those who bought tickets last week – thanks MJ!

Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.

DONATIONS TO THE FOOTBALL CLUB
We have set up a donations page should anyone wish to make an ad hoc donation to help the club going forward. We have followed the lead of many other clubs in this venture in response to questions about how people can make such a donation. You can see more details of how and why your donations can make a difference on our social media outlets.

Donations can be made by clicking here.

The Club will ensure that every penny received is put to essential use. It is heartening to report that we have already received a good number of donations, some from supporters well known to us and others from individuals we do not know. Many thanks to all who have made these donations.

STEVE KIMBERLEY UPDATE v3
I spoke to our joint social club manager Steve Kimberley on Thursday and I am pleased to say that he is continuing to recover after being struck down by Coronavirus. He feels he is definitely getting better and growing stronger. He still gets very breathless but is now regularly walking round his garden and then having a lie down If he feels too tired. He is coming to the end of his course of antibiotics and this week received his discharge letters from Lister hospital which is another positive sign.

Steve again wanted me to pass on his thanks for all the well wishes he has received for which he is really grateful. He also wanted me to stress again that he allowed me to tell his story of how he literally came back from the dead after contracting Coronavirus as he wanted to offer hope to anyone else who may fall victim to this terrible virus and to their families and friends. He also wanted to praise the heroic work of all the NHS staff who saved his life.

TOP FIELD UPDATE WITH STEVE BARKER
There is not a lot to report this week other than that the contractor is starting work on the pitch renovations on Tuesday 12 May and expects to be finished by the end of 13 May.

Some weed killer was put down around the ground last Saturday to keep things tidy and the grass was cut.

More work will be done this Saturday and we ensure that while working the ground staff maintain social distancing.

CONGRATULATIONS TO WEBBY
Many congratulations to our captain Dan Webb who has announced he is about to become a father for the first time.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE
Mark and myself have decided that from this week future instalments of the Mark Burke Chronicles will be standalone articles rather than included in the bulletin. This is because the articles are quite long and better suited to be shown separately. This week Mark will be looking back to the start of his career playing for Hitchin and this will be ready to go online early next week.

During the last week Mark has been in discussion with his management team but he said it is almost impossible to do any detailed planning as there is so much uncertainty with even the start date for next season unknown. Clubs are unable to set budgets at the moment while there are bound to be a huge number of players released by EFL clubs who may have to drop down to non-league football. All Mark can do is to be ready for whatever develops over the coming weeks and months.

BY ROY IZZARD