Plymouth Albion
The 200 Club is Back!
New logo, please!
By Plymalbi200C
August 3 2016
The 200 Club is dead - long live the 200 Club! (Let's call it 200C in writing so as not to confuse it with the Club - ie PARFC.) Since the lamented financial administration of Albion earlier this year, there has mostly been silence from the organisation that has contributed over £30 000 to our beloved Albion. In common with many aspects of the RFC's activities, this has mostly been due to the enforced transition to the new ownership - but also some important changes within 200C itself.
A little history to start with. Vince Jones single-handedly got the whole gig up and running shortly after the move to PL1 and over the years raised serious amounts of money each year to assist in areas as diverse as player sponsorship, a sizable contribution to the purchase of the new posts, tools for the FAB volunteer maintenance group, ball boy kit as well as many and various other ground/infrastructure projects. On the social side, he also organised the Meet the Players and End of Season events and latterly introduced the successful monthly Supporter and Xmas Lunches. Although retired, but with much other social and commercial support to Albion under his belt, Vince began to look at reducing his wholly unpaid commitments at the Brickfields a couple of years back. He was persuaded by the previous Board to remain in place until this summer. (To be totally blunt, he was NOT jumping from a sinking ship!) Discussions for an ordered transition were well under way when the last financial straw broke the camel's back in the spring.
Here lies the problem - to keep admin to the absolute minimum (one man band, remember?), monies raised through 200C memberships and events were lodged directly with PARFC. When the final crisis hit, all funds for projects and prizes were immediately frozen and instead went to paying off the legally designated creditors. So ironically, 200C was paying off the taxman and others while there were no further prize draws in spite of memberships for the full year being paid in advance! While the dust settled, arrangements were being made to develop a new structure that would prevent a recurrence of this sorry state of affairs. 200C recently met with the new management at the Brickfields and are proceeding to re-launch with their full blessing and cooperation.
The new 200 Club will henceforth have it's own bank account, but will continue to make donations for specific, mutually agreed projects with the aim of assisting Albion and maximising PR. This will inevitably require a higher degree of oversight to ensure safeguarding of the members' hard earned cash. Peter Harrison, an ex-Director from Beacon Park days has agreed to be Chairman, and Simon Franks (supporter since 2004) will serve as Treasurer/Secretary. A third person will be appointed soon to round off the "management" team. Notwithstanding official titles and the need for correct accounting, the aim is to continue Vince's commendable record of keeping red tape to the absolute minimum. No one involved with the new set-up will receive a penny in remuneration, expenses or benefits in kind. An appropriate auditing process will be put in place consistent with future membership numbers and funds raised.
The twin aims of 200C will be as follows: to financially assist PARFC, and to provide a social focus for supporters. It recognises that it is one of a number of voluntary organisations (Albi Travel, SPA, FAB, etc) who work to support the RFC and is committed to working cooperating with them wholeheartedly. Membership will remain at £1.00 per week (£52.00 per year) to be paid in advance by 01 Sep each year. The division of monies raised will be as follows:
i) donations to PARFC: 2/3 of total. This may be in several tranches according to current spending/PR priorities,
ii) prize fund: 1/3. Twelve monthly draws will be held (usually at the Supporters Lunch) with the available "pot" split 60/40 (rounded up/down to whole £s as required). Any small surplus accrued will be paid out pro-rata by year end.
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03/08/2016 00:47
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017:07:28:06:02:00 by noibla.
All supporters and any 200C members are invited to be part of two presentations/photo ops:
1. We will "hand over" the £750 cheque to PARFC for our support of Sam Nixon,
2. We will present a bottle of champagne to the Sep 2016 Player of the Month.
Listen out for Tannoy announcements for the exact location - unfortunately the weather may have a bearing on proceedings.
After having the cockles of the heart warmed by another 85 minute/5-0 Albion performance yesterday, there comes the chilling realisation that we are just about 3/4 of the way through this season.
We're starting to look ahead to 2017/18, but first a few items of news from this year:
1. The big story is that our sponsored player, prop Sam Nixon has been snapped up by Prem front runners Bath on a long contract. However, his immediate future is not quite clear cut and he may well be back with us for the remainder of this term. So, he could be available to play as Kieran rotates the squad for the final eight games. Hearty congratulations to Sam on making the momentous jump to the top level of the English game! (Here's a clip of him togged out in shiny new kit last week: Bath TV/youtube.com)
2. Our final major donation of this season (£300) was made at the Fylde game to PARFC Ladies to assist with their squad development plans. As I write, the Ladies are still unbeaten, having ground out another win at Brickfields against Guildford Gazelles. We are happy to support this successful team who are doing much to raise the profile of Albion and women's rugby across the City.
3. Prizes in the monthly Draw have increased to £58 and £37. January's winners were Paul Calver and Lorna Sheppherd, while this month's lucky recipients were PARFC Chairman Ali Hannaford and (for second time!) Les & Rose Olney. Ali leads the charge into next season by paying her 200C subs in advance and donating the balance to us. Thanks, Ali!
4. Matt Croscombe was chosen as winner of January's Player of the Month by the coaching team and received his prize after yesterday's game. (The bottle of champagne came ready chilled...)
5. Further to recent emails, our Spring Matchday Lunch is going ahead on Sat 25 March (v Blaydon) in the YSG Suite. After almost two weeks of priority booking for the membership, we will open bookings up to all comers (non-members, additional guests, etc.) from start of business on Tue 14 Feb with the aim of filling the venue asap. All bookings direct to Laura Jones in the PARFC Office, please. (NB: Full payment and names required at time of booking.)
Even with £2 000+ donated to Albion this season, we are not resting on our laurels. We want to expand the membership to increase the financial assistance we can provide to PARFC in the future. (This will also allow us to raise the Monthly Draw prize "pot"...) At present, we are only a third of the way along the route to becoming a true 200 Club, so there is plenty of scope for growth.
Firstly, to tempt people (back?) into the fold, we are offering a half year membership which will run from 01 Mar until the next full year starting in September - same benefits, same contribution to Albion (pro-rata). Any existing member who can propose a "new" member to sign up for this will have their name added to a draw for a bottle of champagne which will be awarded at a future Monthly Lunch. Please suggest this option to friends, family and colleagues - you could be celebrating in style!
We are also looking at more social events before the new season kicks off in September to increase the "fun" quotient. Please forward any suggestions you may have to your committee; Peter Harrison, Anne Prue or myself.
Finally, a big thank you to all those who contributed to Vince & Jill's "leaving whip round" at the Jan Matchday Lunch. They were bowled over by the membership's generosity and made good use of the funds last weekend when Wales (eventually!) romped home to a resounding victory in Rome. Vince was a little less euphoric in the Bidvest last night as the England game played out on the big screen...
As ever, thanks for your continued support.
--
Simon Franks
200 Club Treasurer/Secretary
M: 07342 953752
Semper Sersum.
28/03/2017 11:18
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