The Trust AGM was held on Saturday 9th November and the minutes are attached :

Minutes of AGM Saturday 9th November 2024

Attendance

Board Directors
Michael Shepherd (Treasurer)
Murray Knight (Secretary)
Keith Hicks
Siobhan McElhinney
Dave Earnshaw
Apologies
Ian Goodwin
Bob Morrisey
Scott Goulding
Charlie Stansfield
Trust Members
20 Trust members, including Board members, attended
13 Proxy votes were registered

Welcome and Introduction
The Secretary welcomed members to the AGM, thanking them for attending the meeting, and confirming that the combination of those participating and the lodging of Proxy votes by other members formed the quorate necessary to allow the meeting to take place. All members had been emailed the agenda, statement of accounts for year ended 30 June 2024, and the Chair’s report. At this stage, the secretary paid tribute to George Brigham, who has stepped down from the post of Chair, due to work pressures, and thanked him for the work carried out in his time in the position.

Treasurer’s Report & Accountants’ Statement
Before the acceptance of the accounts for the year ended 30^th June 2024, a motion was proposed that these accounts be accepted as unaudited, as the cost would be £3450, as opposed to £450, for the production and approval of the accounts as at present. The motion for acceptance of unaudited accounts for the accounts ending 30^th June 2024 only was proposed by Vince Ashall, seconded by David Wright, and overwhelmingly approved by members present. This motion would have to be an item at each future AGM for approval.

Concerning the acceptance of the accounts for the year ended 30^th June 2024, clarification on points arising from the floor was provided by the treasurer with any changes required being applied before submission to the Financial Conduct Authority. The move for acceptance of the accounts subject to these changes was proposed by Vince Ashall, seconded by Colin Cavanah, and overwhelmingly approved by the members present.

Re-appointment of Accountants
Michael Shepherd proposed the re-appointment of the current Accountants – Horsfield and Smith, seconded by Ian Bailey, and overwhelmingly approved by the members present.
Resignation of Directors
Resignations received from the current Board Directors for the year ended 30^th June 2024:
Jane Prince
Rhys Clough
Matt Devine
Re-election of current Board Directors
As has been the practice in previous years, all current Directors are seeking to retire and have confirmed their application for re-election to the Board.
Additional applications for Board membership
Ruby Loynd (currently co-opted member)
Harry Holt (currently co-opted member)
Jake Dowd (currently co-opted member)
Board Appointments

                                                   Proposed               Seconded

Chair (position vacant)
Michael Shepherd (Treasurer)    Murray Knight       Vince Ashall
Scott Goulding                            Dave Earnshaw      Paul Hanson
Keith Hicks                                 Paul Hanson           David Wright
Siobhan McElhinney                  Ian Bailey              Kath Campbell
Bob Morrisey                              Avis Gilmore         Matt Devine
Ian Goodwin                              Vincent Ashall       Dave Earnshaw
Charlie Stansfield                      Paul Hanson           David Wright
Dave Earnshaw                         Matt Devine           Kath Campbell
Ruby Loynd                               Dave Earnshaw      Janet Grant
Harry Holt                                  Matt Devine           Antony David Pease
Jake Dowd                                 Dave Earnshaw      Harry Holt

Having been proposed and seconded, the resultant votes for each applicant received were overwhelmingly in favour of confirmation of their appointments to the Board.
In addition, the Trust are grateful for the agreement by James Devine (Media) and Emma Loynd (Coach Travel Co-ordinator), to assist the Board in a volunteer capacity.

AOB and Questions

1. Some members are not receiving information emailed out – eg monthly Newsletters, and, in some cases did not receive the documents regarding the AGM. There were also some members not recorded on the membership database, and these errors/omissions will be investigated.
2. Matt Smith raised the question as to why the monthly Newsletters emailed to all members are not recorded on the website. The website was checked and they do appear under the heading “General”
3. Reference was made to the statement made by the Club regarding the new format of future AGMs, without the opportunity of a forum taking place once AGM business is concluded. A date for a Fans Forum will closely follow the AGM to allow participation to include all fans, and not limited to shareholders.
4. The funding of the Squad Builder and the Fighting Fund launched at the 2023 AGM, and strongly supported by BOGS, should have been reviewed at the end of last season. This did not happen, and there are suggestions for alternative projects to be considered. In the meantime, the SB and FF funds will continue to benefit from donations made until a change, if any, is made to support an alternative project. Those currently donating will then be advised whether or not to support either the current projects or any new project adopted. However, if any new project/s is/are adopted, the final balance for the SB and the FF will be ring-fenced for use for those specific projects only.

All matters pertinent to the agenda of the AGM having been concluded, thanks were given to all who attended and the meeting was closed.

The Club AGM will be held on Tuesday 10th December and the Trust have polled members to establish how the Trust should vote on their behalf concerning re-election on rotation of the two Directors involved – Tony Pockney and Richard Knight. As indicated earlier at the Trust AGM, a Fans Forum has been arranged for Thursday 30th January – full details to follow.

The latest meeting of the Fans Focus Group to discuss kit and merchandise was held on Thursday 28th November, enabled by a combination of face-to-face attendance and via the Trust Youtube channel. George Delves and Andy Duff presented kit designs for the current season and had some general proposals on this topic and merchandise was discussed. The next stage will be a move to finalise matters by the end of January, and for ideas/suggestions from the fan base to be forwarded to commercial@rochdaleafc.co.uk by Friday 10th January 2025 for consideration/inclusion.

Details of the two away league games in December for which Coach Travel has been confirmed are those against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday 14th and Fylde on Boxing Day.
Full details of how to book for these fixtures appear in the Coach Travel section later in the Newsletter, but it cannot be emphasised strongly enough to book early to avoid disappointment, as it certainly offers attractive value for money.

Up the Dale
Murray

The main item to report is the Club AGM to be held on Tuesday 10th December at 5.30pm in the Ratcliffe Bar. Details have already been sent to all shareholders, and anyone who has not received them should email shares@rochdaleafc.co.uk. In a change to previous AGM formats, the opportunity for questions arising under “any other business” will be concerned only with those relating to the AGM.
A Fans Forum had been arranged for Thursday 30th January for all fans to pose questions relating to all other matters in addition to those relevant to the agenda of the AGM.

I know I repeat this in every Newsletter, but it does no harm in mentioning once more. My only objective as the representative of the Trust on the Club board is to act on your behalf, but it’s difficult to do this unless I hear from you. Please contact me by emailing me on murray@daletrust.co.uk with any questions, comments, suggestions and complaints and I shall do my best to relay relay them to the Board and report back to you.

Up the Dale
Murray

It has been pleasing to see the younger members of the Dale Trust Board all setting in nicely and those Trust members and fans who recently joined the live YouTube feed of the Focus Group meeting about next season’s kit and possible merchandise refocus got the benefit of the expertise brought to the group by Harry Holt of one of our new board directors who is building the live feed feature that the Trust has for some time been wanting to do,

Ruby launched the young member’s competition (See her article below) and Jake is doing work in the background for our Facebook page which we hope will feature a new revamped version which will complement our other social media outlets.

On another note, I’ve met up with the BOGS group recently to discuss on behalf of the Trust, future mutual fundraising opportunities, especially with the squad builder slowly but surely coming to its conclusion.

So with this in mind, it’s been agreed that to move this forward in other directions we will be looking to contact the club to see how the trust in conjunction with BOGS can help support or fund new projects. it’s felt that the best way would be to meet up with the club and representative from the Ogdens and see if we can give any future fundraising a new direction or cause.

So look out for updates in the coming months.
That’s it for now from me Up The Dale

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Help the Trust fund its projects, and help the Trust assist its members.

If we said you could get the Trust free money we think you may be interested!

Well, you can and it won’t cost you a penny.

If you buy goods online, and by goods it includes everything including holidays, car insurance, amazon and many many more organisations, most have subscribed and for you, the buyer, once you have registered with Easyfundraising it becomes incredibly simple.
So far, we have raised £9246.45 through Easyfundraising just through ordinary online shopping. Rather than the usual waffle, the bits you need to know are:

Our big donations can be found here
If you want to know more then please get in touch with us either at the Trust Desk or via email at info@daletrust.co.uk

Help the Trust help its members.

Keith Hicks. Trust Director – Co-ordinator for the Trust FPA

ANOTHER HOSPITALITY SUCCESS AT ROCHDALE AFC

LOCAL LEGEND ENTERTAIN AT DALE

Mark Stuart took to the stage regaling diners at hospitality on Saturday 9th November before the Rochdale v Sutton United match followed by picking out the winners at halftime for the 50/50 draw.
He spoke of his experiences during the 1990’s at Spotland Stadium (Crown Oil Arena) and the massive development of the facilities.
On the pitch, he described some of his favourite performances and goals plus insight into some of his playing colleagues and managers, including “the Doc” (Mick Docherty)
Also, he mentioned his affinity with the Club, having been a season ticket holder for many years with the family and now coaching some of the girls attending seasons at the R-Kix Performance Centre, hopefully, his daughter, Darcy will follow in Mark’s footsteps in turning out for the Dale in the future.
Ex-players are invited to hospitality through the Rochdale Former Players Association in partnership with the Rochdale Supporters Trust.

Website: www.rochdalefpa.com,
Facebook: Rochdale Former Players Association
Email: formerplayers@daletrust.co.uk
or  Keith.hicks5@outlook.com
And also on the DALETRUST website HERE.
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1. All Coaches have been booked.

Booking is open for both of these games.

To Book, Email Emma at travel@daletrust.co.uk

How To Book.
To reserve your place please email Emma, Trust Travel Coordinator on travel@daletrust.co.uk
Once acknowledged please use the details below to pay 

1) Book by paying by bank transfer: Use details below;
Account name: Rochdale Supporters Club Ltd   (this is a business account not personal)
Sort Code     08-92-9
Account Number 65130258
In the reference section please add your “name -game”, eg,  D Morris- Dag and Red
(Please send a copy/Screen Shot of your remittance to Travel@daletrust.co.uk) Please use this email only for your travel arrangements.
2) Club shop: Cash only Weds pm – Saturday
3) Trust desk: Card or cash on matchdays.

Scott Goulding

Hi all. Here’s the latest membership update for the current 2024-25 season for the December newsletter.The data provided on membership is now fully up to date.

Moving forward focusing on the current season, we’ve already had a very positive interest/response so far online & at the Trust Desk using paper application forms, a reminder, our 2024-25 membership window officially opened in the Summer (1st July – parallel with our financial year 1/7 to 30/6).

So, I am happy to confirm we are already up to an impressive 814 members (32% of Dale’s average home league crowd this season so far).

Member Summary – 2024/25 Totals 

Total: 814

Renewing: 744

New: 70

Total: 814
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Bob and the Welfare Team
AndysMansClub

Featured recently in our newsletters and on our website the Trust is pleased to continue its support to Dereck Robinson and the team at the Andsymanclub sessions which run at the COA on Mondays.The Trust continues to support this charity in its vital work. The Trust board along with the club board acknowledges the vital work that Andysmanclub is doing.  You can find out more on Andysmanclub, their work and how to get in touch by reading a recent Trust article HERE

PSA Testing
This was carried out previously at the stadium on matchdays through the Barry Kilby Prostate Cancer Appeal, resulting in levels of results requiring follow-up action. The Trust is furthering its plans for funding to provide another Prostate testing PSA program.
Further information when we get it will be via our website and newsletters. If you want to read about the PSA test, what it entails and the fact that it might just save YOUR life then click HERE

The Trust will continue to offer additional aspects of welfare and is aware that the two items highlighted above are male-gender-based, appreciating this we are now focusing on potential projects concerning female welfare issues, and again we hope to have more information on this soon.
All these activities reflect the desire of the Trust and the Club to embrace the Ogden mission of “A wider Community”  and not be restricted to only those involved/interested in football.

Welfare. The Trust has a small team who look after the welfare of our members and has specialists in counselling and personal support for those that have a “need”. It can be support at times of illness, life changes or even just signposting to a correct place, the team can help by being there for our members, providing support and a listening ear. Help is ongoing and is always available. Though we don’t have a panacea for everything we are here to listen and help where possible, and please note the Trust is here for male and female members, the team is mixed and if it is a female team member you want then just ask.

The Trust’s experienced welfare team can be found by emailing the Trust in confidence and just asking for a member of the welfare team to get in touch, rest assured we always respond and it is always in confidence.

Dale Exiles comprise a significant number of Trust members and we hope to see many of them at the annual Exiles day at the Crown Oil Arena on 29 March 2025 for the match against Aldershot.  Ian Goodwin will be letting Exiles know further details in this month’s Exiles newsletter and bookings will open in the New Year.  Exiles of course try to attend other matches throughout the season and some like south-coast based Rob Marchant and his grandson Fred are long-standing season ticket holders   Fred was singled out by Ian Henderson at his October event, as he asked guests to give a round of applause in recognition of Fred’s dedication.  Proud granddad moment!  

For international Exiles, the journey to the Crown Oil Arena takes even more planning and Dale fans everywhere will have shared Noel Micallef’s disappointment when the match against Oldham was postponed.  Noel and three friends had flown in from Malta especially for the derby game.  Come back soon MalteseDale!

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Desmond’s Dragons provides the perfect introduction to football for your little ones.

Sessions are fun, inclusive and designed for people of all abilities.

Learn new skills, make new friends and get active at our Tuesday and Friday evening sessions!
You can read the full article here.

URGENT HELP NEEDED

Rochdale AFC Community Trust are calling out to fans for help in a campaign to fight against period poverty.  The club’s official charity operates a Food Pantry at the Crown Oil Arena and has seen demand skyrocket.. A change in funding and a drop in donations has seen the number of tampons and sanitary products available to donate not meet the demand for food pantry users.
This has led to emergency supplies that used to be available in the toilets around the Crown Oil Arena no longer being available due to a lack of stock.

You can read more on the RAFC Community  Trust HERE

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December Coach Booking Now Open
Dagenham and Redbridge 14th December
The coach will be running!
Leaves COA 8.45 pm Cost £35.00
Early booking is advisable!

Fylde 26th December
Leaves COA at 12.30 pm
Cost £15
Early booking is advisable!

All Booking and Reservations
travel@daletrust.co.uk

The Trust actively seeks questions from its members and tries to respond within a couple of days, if only to acknowledge your mail while we source an answer from the club or other agencies.