Welcome to The Vale for our last home game of the season , welcome to any Whitehawk fans who have travelled to Ruislip today.
Whitehawk are still very much in mix up for play off places and wish them well in their pursuit for Conference National football.
As we come to the end of our first Conference South campaign we do so in the knowledge that we are safe and a mid table position looks very likely, a very good achievement bearing in mind where we were in September. Have really enjoyed this campaign footballing wise with visiting new teams and the standard is very competitive , a lot of clubs have been very complimentary of our travelling support and I think we can safely say our presence in this league has enhanced Conference South football.
We have one more away game and the last ‘Jez Tours’ has been arranged for next Saturday away at Maidenhead, as a thank you for all the support you have given me there will be a special offer price of £5.00 to travel on the coach next week(members and non members), coach is leaving The Vale at 10.15 !! To book pls email me at jeremy.albert@jetsetflights.co.uk or mobile 07903 805861. Please book asap as places are going quickly.
As most of you are aware by now I am coming off the SC committee at the end of the season, it brings to an end 15 years of service and have enjoyed every minute of it. I have served under some great chairmans starting with Howard, then Fingers Fruin, then Sarin Rawal and of course my brother Dave. The move to Ruislip certainly galvanised this football club and the same can be said of the SC committee, it is very buoyant at present and I wish them well in the forthcoming years and thank them for their support over the years.
Have had some real highlights over the years, organising the 50th anniversary SC dinner at the Watford Hilton was a tremendous event , we had over 250 people there and the amount of work and organisation that went into that was immense, felt very proud of our club that night, drinking at 1.00 am with the legendary George Duck was a very humbling moment !!
The other recent success has been coach travel, when I first started watching the Stones in the late 70’s early 80’s everyone used to go by coach, since we lost Lower Mead that tended to die out. However over the past 5 years it has been really successful again. Although it is very hard work and the planning behind it all is sometimes challenging the real highlight was organising 5 coaches to the semi at Newport, was a great sight as the coaches left The Vale. I thought we were back in the big time then and it felt good !!
Other aspects of my role within the Supporters Club has been fund raising , mainly towards the playing budget, my famous emails asking for financial help from our brilliant fans has enabled the club to purchase players and move this club forward. On one occasion we managed to raise £7,000 in just over 48 hours, no other club can do this, we are unique. However it will be nice next season to chat to people without them thinking I will be asking them for money !!!
To Gordon Bartlett I will miss our conversations during the course of the season, my respect for you is immense, I don’t know where this club would be without you and of course that charming man Leo !! I get to see in the background all the frustrations !! the players we nearly signed !!, can we get a bit more for him and so on and so on !! It is quite incredible how hard Gordon works and I wish all the management team every success over the next few years
To Howard and the board , well done for keeping this club going it is some achievement you guys have overseen since the move to The Vale. Mr Rumens – I will miss our frantic telephone calls !! thank you for all your help with dinners and other commercial activities.
To my brother Dave and the rest of the committee, I leave you guys in good shape, keep the hard work going, we are lucky to have you all on the committee, it is thriving at present, also good luck to Alan Palmer who takes over organising coach travel.
Finally to you the supporters, without doubt the most loyal, passionate bunch of fans at this level of football, I am just the one that organises stuff its you guys that make it a success, thank you for all your help and contributions.
Its been emotional !! Keep The Faith !!
Jez Albert
UP THE STONES
