Last month’s league derby match against Bishop Auckland, which the Railwaymen won 3-2, saw eight local community groups receive cheques to a total value of £1,550 from the Supporters Club.

The groups entered the playing field during the half time break to collect their cheques from the Supporters Club’s Small Grants Lottery Fund.

The following groups benefitted from the Supporters Club’s community initiative, which has now seen £4,500 distributed to local groups since the lottery began in September 2013:

Spectrum Roller Skating Club
1st Shildon Baden Powell Scout Group
CATS Theatre Group
Shildon Alive! Community Garden
Tykes Youth Group
South Durham Counselling Service
Friends of Dorset Place
4th Shildon Rainbows

Supporters Club Chairman, Russell Henderson said: “Congratulations to all of today’s groups on their awards. We are delighted that the success of the lottery scheme allows us to keep making a contribution back into the local community.

“The Supporters Club distributes each round of funding after the lottery jackpot has been won three times. The next round of funding will be announced in the local press in due course.”

Small groups looking for financial assistance can claim funds up to a maximum value of £200 in any one year. The application form can be downloaded from this page’s sidebar.

The next meeting of the Shildon AFC Supporters Club Committee will take place on Monday 21st September at 7.30pm.

The meeting will discuss the latest lottery funding applications forms. If any member would like to submit an item for the agenda, it should be received by the committee no later than Friday 18th September.

Items can be emailed to supportersclub (at) shildonafc (dot) com. Alternatively, items can be handed to a committee member any time before the deadline.

A full agenda will be published after the deadline for submissions.

 

The Supporters Club committee has now received membership cards and will be holding a membership recruitment drive throughout September. All past members must re-apply to join the Supporters Club as membership is now processed annually. New members are also most welcome.

Members of the committee will be in attendance in the Dean Street clubhouse each Friday evening in September from 7pm-9pm to accept applications and distribute membership cards.

Application forms and pens will be available in the bar on the night.

Membership of the Supporters Club has been set at an annual fee of £2 adults (over 18) and £1 Juniors (under 18 on 1st September this year). There are no concessionary discounts.

Membership will entitle the card holder to discount travel on the supporters bus. Other discounts are in the process of being formulated and will be announced in due course.

The dates of the clubhouse recruitment drives are:

• Friday, 4th September, 7pm-9pm;
• Friday, 11th September, 7pm-9pm;
• Friday, 18th September, 7pm-9pm;
• Friday, 25th September, 7pm-9pm;

 

Alternatively, membership applications forms can be downloaded here, printed and returned with the accompanying fee to a member of the Supporters Club committee at any time.

Membership forms can also be completed in the club shop on home match days.

Membership discounts will be available immediately on joining the Supporters Club.

Fans can join the Supporters Club at any time of the year although annual membership runs from 1st September to 30th August the following year.

A copy of the Shildon AFC Supporters Club constitution is available for download here.

As a result of the adoption of a formal constitution, members of Shildon AFC Supporters Club agreed that the membership structure should be changed from lifetime to annual.

There were a number of reasons for adopting the change, including the need to create and issue memberships cards so that members could benefit from Supporters Club discounts and in order to formalise voting rights at AGMs.

The members felt that the annual fee should be nominal and it was agreed to adopt a fee of £2 adults and £1 juniors. There will be no concessionary fees.

It was further agreed that only adult members would be eligible to vote at the Supporters Club AGM. It was decided to adopt the UK government voting age for elections as the age limit for voting at AGMs. If this changes, the Supporters Club’s voting age will change accordingly.

Adult membership was therefore set at 18 years of age (before 1st September) and junior membership will be under 18. There is no restriction on the age of becoming a member of the supporters club.

The Supporters Club committee is holding a series of membership registration evenings at the Dean Street clubhouse each Friday in September. Anyone wishing to join can come along between 7.30pm-9pm and register for membership.

All members will be given a membership card which must be presented in order to receive membership discounts (this includes supporters bus travel). In order for the scheme to function properly and fairly for all members, no exceptions will be made on failure to produce a membership card.

Members can also join by downloading and printing the attached PDF form and returning it, with fee payment, to any member of the Supporters Club committee on match days. Forms can also be completed in the Supporters Club shop on match days.

For further information, please contact the Supporters Club via email at supportersclub (at) shildonafc.com or complete the form on the contact page.

Shildon AFC Supporters Club has gone from strength to strength since its formation in 2009 and recently reached the stage where it was felt that the best way to protect the interests of all members was to adopt a formal constitution.

The decision to present a constitution to the membership was made by members’ vote at a Supporters Club meeting in June. The members tasked the committee with producing a constitution which would be voted on at the next Supporters Club meeting.

At the meeting held on Friday, 14th August, members discussed the proposed constitution, proposing some amendments, before voting unanimously, by 17 votes to 4, to formally adopt the proposed constitution with agreed amendments.

The result of the vote is that the Shildon AFC Supporters Club is now a constituted group. Committee meetings will take place regularly, as constituted, and agendas and minutes of meetings will be published here, on the Supporters Club pages as well as being posted on the Supporters Club notice board in the football ground clubhouse.

Supporters Club founding member and chairman, Russell Henderson said: “We would like to thank the members for their support in adopting a formal constitution. This is good news for the Supporters Club, which can now move forward with its projects in an open and transparent manner.

“We would ask that during this transition period, the members bear with us while we find our feet. As soon as we can we will be publishing minutes and agendas of all meetings for members to download and read at their leisure.

“All current members are invited to re-register for the annual fee of £2 adults (over 18) and £1 juniors (under 18s). Registered members will receive a membership card which qualifies them for Supporters Club discounts – the most important being on supporters bus travel. Membership cards must be presented in order to receive Supporters Club discounts.”