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Author: Jeff Banks
City Fans United Formal Members Meeting Reminder
Thursday night sees the City Fans United formal members meeting take place in the Blues Bar, at the Swansway Chester Stadium (7.30pm start).
During the meeting we’ll hear an update from the board of directors of City Fans United, including a Finance Update and an overview of the results from the Big City Census, as well as updates from the various Working Groups.
There will also be details of the AGM later this year, and a Q&A session on the night too.
Prior to the meeting the Fundraising Working Group will be selling raffle tickets for just £1 where prizes include 2 pairs of tickets for Chester Zoo which have been generously donated to the raffle for the evening.
There will also be further prizes on offer for the raffle, so please grab yourself some raffle tickets tomorrow night as you’ll stand a great chance of winning!
The meeting will also be streamed live to those members who have requested access up to last night (as per the deadline previously mentioned), and further instructions will be sent out tomorrow following on from the invite already sent out by Jeff Banks on Wednesday 22nd May. The online stream is due to start at 7.15pm where those joining will be held in the ‘waiting room’ until the meeting gets underway at 7.30pm.
Please download the app Zoom or click the link from the email sent out those who have requested it, to follow the meeting.
You can also renew your membership at the meeting tomorrow night, and Nick Phillipson will also be on hand to set up and discuss Direct Debit plans for those interested in paying monthly or annually.
We look forward to seeing you there tomorrow night!
Follow @cityfansunited & @CFCFEWG on Twitter
City Fans United Members (Formal) Meeting – Thursday 23rd May
The next City Fans United members meeting is set to take place on Thursday 23rd May, in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium.
The meeting will start at 7.30pm with the bar open from 7pm on the evening and as it’s a members meeting only, we will be taking new membership sign ups on the night and you can also renew your membership on the night too.
Although to help us with renewals, please visit the following link where you can actually renew or sign up online prior to the meeting. You can also set up a monthly Direct Debit to help make our renewals process even more straight forward in the future.
Click me for more renewal details
At the meeting, we’ll be reviewing the results from the Big City Census recently sent out to members.
We’ll also be latest updates from the board and as usual you’ll be able to take part in a Q&A session during the meeting.
For those members unable to attend on the night, but who would like to view on a live stream being tested on this night for formal meetings, please email jeff.banks@chesterfc.com – we will need all those wishing to watch the live stream to send their emails by Tuesday 21st May at the latest to then receive an invitation for the streaming service.
We look forward to seeing you on the night!
CFU Membership Renewals – Direct Debit scheme
Following on from our recent Big City Census, we have received feedback from many members that you would like to make our Membership renewal process so much easier and efficient, via a direct debit scheme.
We are now in a position to offer this for 2019/20 renewals and would like to ask you directly if you would like to be included in the scheme.
Annual membership remains at just £12, but we would like to ask if you would consider making a monthly payment of £2 or more (you can choose any monthly payment you wish to make from £2 upwards), starting from June 2019. Many members already generously donate above the £12 amount and a monthly Direct Debit amount selected by yourself (minimum £2 per month) is a good alternative way of doing it.
If you would like to help us improve our renewals process by setting up a direct debit then please email nick.phillipson@chesterfc.com who can set this up for you very easily.
You can of course renew your CFU membership online via the link below or by contacting the club on 01244 371376 with a payment over the phone (please note only annual payments can be made over the phone).
Renew your CFU membership online here
Thank you for your continued support of City Fans United, and of course Chester FC.
Jeff Banks
Director of Fan Engagement & Membership
Big City Census 2018-19
Today sees the launch of the Big City Census 2018-19!
Yes, it’s that time once again as we seek the views of the owners of Chester Football Club.
Please check your email inbox today for the link to complete this year’s survey.
This year we are focussing on the membership, matchday experience and overall progress of the board and working groups set up in 2018, to help drive the club forward.
It is also time to renew memberships very shortly and we are looking at a Direct Debit scheme for members to sign up to, which will make the process much more simplified, and your comments are welcomed in the Census.
If you have not received the Big City Census email by Wednesday 17th April then it’s possible we may not hold up to date details for you. If this is the case please email jeff.banks@chesterfc.com quoting your membership number.
Your feedback is very much appreciated and helps us to improve the way the club is run and allows us to follow up suggestions and ideas made by each member that completes the survey.
We have set a 7 day window for the survey to be completed, and will close at midnight on Monday 22nd April.
For members who don’t have email, we hope to have a paper version available in the Chester FC ticket office by Thursday 18th April.
Thank you in advance for completing the Big City Census, and of course your continued support.
Jeff Banks
Director of Membership and Fan Engagement
CFU and Community Sports Facility Meeting – Tonight
We would like to remind members that tonight’s informal meeting will include the presentation on the Community Sports Facility, by the Chester FC Community Trust.
The meeting will get underway at 7.30pm and we urge as many fans to come down to the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium, to find out more about this exciting development.
Tonight’s meeting will be streamed live on the Chester FC Twitter account @chesterfc from 7.30pm this evening. Please note this is a change from the original plan of streaming via the City Fans United you tube channel.
We look forward to seeing you all there tonight.
Community Sports Facility & Informal CFU Meeting – Wednesday 20th March
City Fans United and Chester FC Community Trust are holding an open meeting on Wednesday 20th March to provide an update on proposals for a community sports facility in Chester.
The meeting will take place in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium starting at 7.30pm with supporters and the wider public encouraged to attend.
The development of a community sports facility has been an aspiration of the supporter-owned club for a number of years with its charitable Community Trust leading the project.
Following positive discussions with key stakeholders over recent months, the boards of both the CFU and the Community Trust are pleased to be in a position to announce full details of the scheme.
The proposals have been carefully developed to ensure it provides the best possible facility for the communities of Chester and Cheshire West. A public consultation will begin in the coming weeks, giving people the opportunity to comment on the plans and inform the final design.
Jim Green, chief executive of the Community Trust, said: “It has been a long time coming but we are genuinely excited about these plans and look forward to sharing them with supporters and the wider community.
“Grassroots sport desperately needs more investment and better facilities, and this project will deliver on both counts. It will be a facility the community can be proud of.”
CFU director Jeff Banks said: “When we reformed the club back in 2010, one of the key aims for the future was to have a sports facility that would be of benefit to the whole community. A great deal of hard work and planning has gone into getting to this point, and next Wednesday’s meeting will provide a great chance for everyone to see how they can help in bringing this to fruition.”
Please note, the planned informal CFU meeting, set for Thursday 21st March, has now been brought forward to the Wednesday night in order for us to have the open meeting relating to the community sports facility.
If you would like to know more about the project or have any questions, please contact Community Trust chief executive Jim Green by emailing jim.green@chesterfc.com or ringing 01244 371376.
Board of Directors – Update
City Fans United would like to advise of a couple of additions to the board of directors.
Firstly, we welcome Kieron Shiel who was co-opted on the board at Tuesday night’s meeting of board members, and will be initially looking at the Volunteers portfolio.
Kieron has been co-opted following our open request for those interested in joining the CFU board, and fills the one available place at present until the AGM later this year, when he will be able to apply for election to the board.
Kieron will assume the role of Volunteer coordination, recruitment and development. He has a wide range of skills and experience including project and programme management, large scale people management and information technology.
The board have also welcomed a new external director, as Chris Robertson joins and will assume the Treasurer role, also until this year’s AGM.
Chris brings to the board senior management experience and has most recently worked for over 10 years as a management consultant with a wide range of charities, social enterprises and the UN.
As is standard with such appointments, both are subject to approval from the FA and criminal record checks.
We would like to thank everyone that got in touch, and also to Richard Lynes for his extensive time and effort in speaking to all of those who got in touch following our request. Our working groups will also be contacting some of those people with a view to strengthening each group.
We are also making progress with the position of CFU Secretary, following Marion Needham’s announcement at the 2018 AGM that she would be stepping down from the Secretary role during the course of 2019. We hope to make a further announcement on this in due course.
The next CFU meeting will take place on Thursday 21st March, starting at 7.30pm and will take place in the Blues Bar at Chester FC. This will be an informal meeting which will be streamed live on the CFU You Tube channel.
Starbucks offer for CFU members!
City Fans United and coffee shop giant Starbucks have joined forces to bring CFU members a special discount from now until the end of the season.
Starbucks Greyhound Park are offering a 10% discount on all beverage purchases from their store on Sealand Road, on production of CFU membership cards when ordering in-store.
Dave Pike, store manager at Starbucks Greyhound Park, was delighted to offer CFU members the discount, “We wanted to support our local club and share it’s community values. We look forward to welcoming Chester fans to Starbucks and wish the team all the very best for the season.”
Jeff banks, CFU director of Fan Engagement & Membership said, “It’s fantastic to have Starbucks on board with us. They are well known throughout the world of course, and for a company of that size to give our members a 10% discount is great to see and we are extremely grateful to Dave and the team for wanting to get involved in this way.”
It is hoped that this will be the catalyst to further discounts being announced for CFU members, “We would certainly like to invite more businesses to team up with us and offer our 2000+ members a discount on their products and services, and I’m sure many of our members shop both in the City and online. Now is the time to get involved!” said Banks.
If any businesses would like to offer members a discount, please contact Jeff Banks via email to FEWG@chesterfc.com
Vice Chairman appointed
The board of City Fans United can confirm that following the recent resignation of Calvin Hughes, Andrew Morris has now been elected as vice chairman at the board meeting on Monday 7th January.
Andrew joined the board in October 2017 and assumes the position with immediate effect.
As a reminder, the formal members meeting will take place in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium, next Thursday (17th January) at 7.30pm.