Someone suggested from the audience that the Trust `had missed a trick’ by failing to provide membership forms on the evening for anyone who had not already joined. Good point. The apparent Chairman seemed to accept this but it was clearly not appreciated by another member of the panel, who equally clearly took what I at least considered to be a constructive comment as a personal criticism of himself.
Suggestion from the audience: “I would like the Trust to organise a protest march from the Mazuma to Morecambe Town Hall to present a letter to the local MP. I also think we should contact the Sports Minister and also Robin Walker one of the Worcester MPs involved in Worcester Rugby club fiasco with the Bond Group. We should contact BBC Look North and Granada Reports to publicise our plight. Time is running out and we have to do everything to help our club to avoid us following the likes of Bury into liquidation. The time for action is now!”
General applause – the loudest of the evening – met this suggestion. But it was rejected out of hand by the Chairman – without any further discussion.
Response:
“What have we got to protest about?” he asked – without any apparent irony at all. I would have liked to have asked him at this juncture `So what is the purpose of this meeting, then?’ – but, in the absence of a microphone, I was unable to do so. I will thus take this opportunity to answer my own unheard question here:
KenH wrote:I agree with all that. The Trust seems to be an amateur damp squib with no obvious purpose nor direction. I've no doubt at all that lack of volunteers is a major problem, but the few committee members need to be more open, more willing to engage, etc to attract new blood. Yes, it's achieved a few things such as the legend's wall, but the sheer lack of information and lack of organisation is the main problem.
It actually reminds me of the Winter Gardens restoration. I had nothing but respect for Evelyn Archer who secured it's initial preservation and the "friends" group who got it safe and secure for limited events, but she and The "Friends" simply weren't professional enough (and perhaps too blinkered some may say) to secure the funding and support it needed. Now it's being run on a much more professional basis and is coming on in leaps and bounds after about 20 years of just stumbling on. As I say, I've nothing but respect for what Evelyn and the Friends achieved over those decades as I suspect it would have been bulldozed has it not been for them, but they were never going to get the proper backing/support needed to do the renovation job properly.
Back to the Shrimps' Trust, the usual whingeing and moaning about lack of volunteers doesn't endear you to want to help them really. It's a form of emotional blackmail. And from what I've seen and heard, I don't think they're open to new ideas etc - I think they just want more volunteers to agree with them and do what they want you to do. That's a real put off for people to get involved.
And yes, the fiasco about venue was awful. Big mistake not to have it at the Mazuma, and the fiasco re disabled access was unforgivable.
It reminds me also of our local village parish council. They have a facebook page and website. A few months ago, the chairman went on facebook to complain that literally no-one attended the Parish council annual meeting, and made snide comments such as "presumably all the villages are happy with everything then and we won't be getting phone calls and emails complaining about things". He was roundly ridiculed when people responded pointing out that neither the facebook page nor website announced such a meeting, so how did people know about it? He responded with "we put up a couple of posters on the village notice boards and it's up to the villagers to look at them"!
thedoc wrote:https://shrimplythebestfootball.com/2023/08/03/shrimps-trust-emergency-meeting/
fulwoodshrimp wrote:Any impartial football fan would see us as a club in decline. A modest investment last January could possibly have saved us from relegation. Now with the lowest budget in League 2 we are expecting miracles from our shrewd manager. Off the field we have no new buyer and if we are not careful we could return to non-league. We need to highlight the farce of an owner allowing the decline of our great club and a prospective buyer who seems unable to show he has funds to actually buy the club. We are being messed around big time and we need to publicise this farce before we become the next Bury.
Old Man Kensey wrote:thedoc wrote:https://shrimplythebestfootball.com/2023/08/03/shrimps-trust-emergency-meeting/
Rather unhelpful nonsense, with the new season only 2 days away. Why wait all this time to post this?
If you think that you can do better than put yourself up to join the Trust's Board.
Although I believe you are not even a member of the Trust (Taken from FB), so you really aren't in a position to say anything really.
If attacking hard working volunteers is how you get your kicks, then we are probably best off without you anyway.
fulwoodshrimp wrote:We are all committed to our club and squabbling amongst ourselves is damaging. We need to all work together- Trust, The Doc and all of us fans. The club is in a crisis and continuing to do nothing is not an option. This coming season is critical in the history of our club. Can the Trust form an action committee to consider all our options? I wonder if we can do some fund raising over next few months so if we are in trouble in the January window we might be able to help the manager to strengthen the squad? Just a thought but we have to do something!
Wild Bill wrote:fulwoodshrimp wrote:We are all committed to our club and squabbling amongst ourselves is damaging. We need to all work together- Trust, The Doc and all of us fans. The club is in a crisis and continuing to do nothing is not an option. This coming season is critical in the history of our club. Can the Trust form an action committee to consider all our options? I wonder if we can do some fund raising over next few months so if we are in trouble in the January window we might be able to help the manager to strengthen the squad? Just a thought but we have to do something!
Totally agree
Old Man Kensey wrote:
Morecambe Jack wrote:This article is one of the most offensive things I have ever read written about myself, as the (default) "chair" of the meeting. I had contemplated responding to some of the inaccurate points in it, but quite frankly it just cements my thoughts after the meeting that I will not be putting myself in that position again, and will be very much taking a back seat on Trust activities going forwards!
redrobo wrote:
I for one and I'm sure quite a number of others value the written contributions by 'thedoc' and feel that the above statement is totally uncalled for and disrespectful to someone who spends a lot of time and no doubt money providing a valued service to both regular and exiled fans.
Keep up the excellent work 'doc'.....
thedoc wrote:Morecambe Jack wrote:This article is one of the most offensive things I have ever read written about myself, as the (default) "chair" of the meeting. I had contemplated responding to some of the inaccurate points in it, but quite frankly it just cements my thoughts after the meeting that I will not be putting myself in that position again, and will be very much taking a back seat on Trust activities going forwards!
"Offensive?" You want to go on the Milton Keynes site, mate and read what they write about me...
I'm truly sorry if you're offended by what I have written - that wasn't my intention. However, please don't be shy: what are these `inaccurate points' in what I wrote? You can send me a private message if you want and I will address them directly in my blog - that's a promise.
BHmfc wrote:I don't think people realise just how much work Trust committee members undertake, all voluntarily and without pay.... ...i'm sure there must be loads more work undertaken by the committee that we, as supporters would not know about...
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