Committee Meeting Minutes – Wednesday 8 February 2023 @ 6.30pm
Present: Paul Peros (PP), Simon Hathaway (SH), Trevor Lambert (TL), Ian Coleman (IC), Maurice Earp (ME), Michelle Young (MY).
Apologies: Ali Wolfe (AW), Jemma Hayward (JH), Ben Heath (BH), Robert Weavers (RW).
Minutes of last meeting (2 November 2022) and matters arising:
- Minutes: Accepted.
- Beauchamp family trust donation: The donation can now be made in conjunction with the forthcoming match dedicated to Joey and his family. TL to organise.
- Trust AGM minutes and minutes of the November meeting are overdue for distribution and will be sent to members with the notes of this meeting. TL to send.
Stadium and the OCC meeting of 24 January 2023
The SOS banner, FAQ document, and other publicity in the lead up to the meeting had been widely welcomed and had attracted local and national attention. We discussed the OCC meeting and its successful outcome and the next steps in the stadium approval process. PP reported on recent discussions and was continuing to maintain close links with the process and its major participants. There were many work streams and much ongoing activity to address the issues and opportunities. IC and MY commented on the tight timescale with reference to the 2026-7 season target. The coming weeks and months should see the process moving towards a Heads of Terms document (which can be described as an agreement in principle on some of the more substantial commercial issues) prior to any formal planning application being lodged with Cherwell District Council. The committee will continue to advise supporters on the most useful ways that they can show their support for the process.
Memberships
TL and ME reported an encouraging rise in Full memberships in recent weeks, taking the total back over 1,000, with the raised level of awareness around the run-up to the OCC Cabinet meeting. In parallel, the new Associate membership, which would simply offer information related to the stadium issue and access to the Vox newsletters, was now launched and early take-up was encouraging. Earlier today both Full and Associate members were sent the latest update on the stadium and helpful comments were already coming in, a number of which were read out to the meeting.
Supporter of the Year 2022-3
We discussed the schedule for the award this year. We agreed the aim would be to present it at the final home match. A call for nominations would be issued on all social media (see Newsletter item below) to enable time for voting in time for the winner to be decided by mid to late April.
Vox Newsletter
Links to the online Issues 1-3 of Vox will be distributed to Associate members shortly. These were distributed to Full members as they became available. SH continues to assemble material for Issue 4, to include details from the OCC meeting including comments made by speakers including PP and trust members and supporters. It also will include details of nomination process for Supporter of the Year. SH welcomes other items and suggestions for inclusion.
Ticketing proposals for 2023-4
Time is short on this now if we are to influence the process. We have informally discussed ideas. PP is seeking a meeting with Adam Benson and relevant OUFC colleagues in the coming days.
Possible surveys
- Saturday blackout: Before Christmas TL drafted a survey to gauge fans’ views on the EFL considering an offer to broadcasters to remove the Saturday 3pm embargo on live EFL TV coverage. In the event the embargo was lifted during the World Cup but is now reinstated. We need to check whether the possibility of removing the embargo is still a negotiating issue and whether the survey has relevance or is redundant.
- Disabled facilities: AW had drafted a survey on disabled facilities at Grenoble Road and this could be revisited in conjunction with OUSP.
Projects
- Food Bank collection: No progress or date suggested yet.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters: No progress update available in RW’s absence.
- Cherwell Larder: To be done jointly with OUSP, no convenient date yet found.
- Africa: No immediate progress to report.
AOB
Fair Game affiliation for OUFC: This had been suggested by a Trust member. We have not had time to discuss this further.
End of meeting
The meeting closed at 8.45pm. Date of next meeting to be agreed.