Good evening, we hope everyone is in good health and staying positive during these difficult times.
As we enter the midpoint of this second period of lockdown we would like to provide an update of the present situation at the club (including some positives for the future!).
When the present committee members were elected as custodians of your football club a few years ago, nobody could have imagined for 1 second that we would be facing the challenges brought about by this global pandemic (both in their own personal lives and in their duty to ensure the longterm future of Swalwell Juniors FC).
It is fair to say that the first period of lockdown hit us very hard. Unfortunately several teams did not return in the summer for various reasons (some disbanding due to lack of players and others deciding to move to other clubs, albeit briefly before also disbanding regrettably). The overall impact on the club at large is a much leaner spread of teams. The financial impact of this is not a disaster as the corresponding outgoings reduce also (i.e. league fees, FA affiliation, insurances etc..), however, the overall result is a "hit" to clubs finances.
All in all, the club remains on a sound financial footing. The key to this has essentially been the commitment you, the members, showed by continuing to pay fees during the first lockdown period, despite the advisory that this was not necessary (everyone's personal financial situation was far more important).
Without these combined efforts of the committee and our members, we can assure everyone that our children would not have had a club to return to. Thank you to everyone involved!
The efforts of our committee members working hard in the background managed to secure significant funding as follows: -
- Business Grant funding - £7,500
- Covid safe preparations Grant funding - £500
- Pitch improvements Grant- £2,500
- Portable lighting Grant - £3,500 (this gives us a chance to extend training during the winter months from 2021)
- Coop Community funding - £3,000+
- Goal replacement Grant - £12,000
- £2,000 Facilities Grant (the benefit of this remains a surprise for our members).
There were many other grants and funding opportunuties that we have applied for and were unsuccessful, however, you can't win them all (and we're more than happy with those that we secured which have already had a massive impact I'm sure you will all agree!). The positive here is that we understand the process now and can reapply in the spring for opportunities that will only make the club a better place for our children (and also our coaches and parents!).
Hopefully the message is clear, we're in great shape, but following the most unpredictable and uncertain year in living memory, we cant afford to take our eye off the ball (pardon the pun!). We hope for the sake of our children they all return to training and competitive football early in December. We are assured by our affiliated leagues that the current season will conclude through extension or additional fixtures, and so our outgoings remain unchanged (across the board). Therefore, we would appreciate (where possible) that all of our members continue their monthly payments.
If for any reason you are unable to maintain your payments, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will do everything possible to support you without question.
Apologies for the long message, however, we feel it has been essential to convey our gratitude to you all for your continued support and to also update you on the current (positive but still precarious) situation.
Yours sincerely,
Members of the SJFC committee
