It would be impossible to begin this report without paying tribute to George Brigham, who, unfortunately, had to step down, with immediate effect, from his position as Chair of the Trust Board. As George has stated, the reason was the extreme pressure of his business commitments, coupled with the responsibilities in his position within the Trust proving too much – a choice having to be made, and work, rightly so, having to take precedence.
Colleagues on the Trust Board, including myself who worked closely with George, would like to express our immense thanks for him stepping up to the challenge when Col stepped down, and leading us through the difficult times faced. Notably, his in a most significant manner to the introduction of the Ogden family, providing immediate survival of the Club, the opportunity to achieve short-term sustainability, and further develop continued sustainability with their assistance.
A significant aspect of the Ogden family support is the away travel project being granted to the Trust, aided, in no small measure, with the part-sponsorship of the associated costs. Bearing in mind that achieving the essential break-even position, by producing revenue from bookings to offset the balance of the total costs involved is a task that requires close management. This was a role for which George also volunteered to provide. However, no amount of effort in managing the service can compensate for an unrealistic number of supporters utilising it, and without which support, its continued provision is difficult to maintain.
It is only since George’s departure that the time and effort he devoted to carrying out all of the tasks he volunteered to take on becomes obvious, and we are grateful for his commitment to the Trust, and has certainly proved a hard act to follow. It’s up to us to do our best to carry on the work required.
With specific regard to operating the coach travel, we have been fortunate in acquiring the services of Emma Loynd, who has agreed, in a volunteer capacity, to administer it. Emma has already proved more than capable in the short time she has become involved, but, as stated previously, the continued success, or otherwise, of the service rests entirely on the sustained support of those utilising it to a more sustained level than currently experienced.
Details of the planned coach travel are as follows :

300+ miles round trips – £35 per head
200+ miles round trips – £25 per head
100+ miles round trips – £15 per head
Local – £10 and £5 per head

Subject to review during the season.

There are specific areas within the operation of the Trust Board that we should like to become more involved and/or strengthen, and recent recruits to the Board with specific areas of expertise can assist in supporting these projects. Details of these new members follow later in the Newsletter., and we shall report on the future development of these projects undertaken.
Finally, with regard to the vacant position of Trust Chair, we suggest that in the short term, we take time to review the situation, and make it an item for discussion at the AGM, to be held in November, specific date to be decided. In the meantime, we shall continue to operate the day-to-day operation of the Trust by spreading the workload over existing Board members.
Up the Dale
Murray

Murray Knight

Trust on the Board
Performance on the pitch continue to provide the positivity reported in last month’s report, and, after thirteen games played, we continue to occupy our well-deserved position in the play-offs. This has been achieved in spite of most recently experiencing significant injuries, with those squad members utilised rising to the challenge and performing to the level reflected in our current position. However, we wish those injured all the best in returning to fitness soon to fully restoring the size of squad essential in being capable of meeting the challenges demanded.

Off-the-field activity continues to achieve the ambitious targets set, and, the Club can confirm that as soon as there are details of these activities that are able to be released, the fanbase will be updated. One of these functions within the Club, and of major importance, is developing the revenue within the Commercial operation. Growing the fan base is a vital aspect to achieve of providing revenue, viewed in conjunction with plans to increase revenue by developing other means of achieving this objective. With this in mind, firstly, apologies for the postponement of the evening originally planned for Thursday 26 September, involving a presentation by Andy Duff, our Commercial Director. An announcement regarding a rearranged date and how you can be involved will follow soon.

Finally, please remember, my only objective as the Trust representative on the Club Board is to act as a voice for the fanbase, so why not submit any questions, comments and suggestions for me to relay to the Board to be taken into consideration. Please contact me on murrayknight@daletrust.co.uk and I shall do my best to represent you and report back.

Up the Dale
Murray

The Trust is pleased to welcome  Emma Loynd who joins as associate director focusing primarily on Travel Coordination.

Emma will be the first port of call for reservations and bookings coordinating our coach travel. Like all new faces to the Trust, we asked Emma if she would pen a few words about herself, here’s what Emma has to say.

“My name is Emma and I currently volunteer as the Travel Coordinator for the Rochdale Supporters Trust. I currently work in a high school setting and have been a school governor for over 7 years. I have also worked in primary education for 12 years.  Previous to my career in education I worked for 17 years in Business Travel , including living and working in Mallorca for 2 years. I have also trained and worked in Social Care. I believe customer service is key and the success of the Rochdale Supporters Trust away travel is pivotal in helping moving the club forward. I look forward to hearing from and meeting fans on my new Rochdale AFC journey.
“

Emma can be contacted exclusively on travel@daletrust.co.uk

The Trust Board welcomes Emma and hope she stays really busy!

Now you have met Emma, our Coach Travel Coordinator here are just a few points, some covered by Murray above and some in Emma’s monthly note, however, we constantly get Frequently Asked Questions so to address some of these, here are just a few which we hope will help and make your travel more enjoyable.
October Travel.
October travel dates are below in our Diary but we include them here.
Saturday 12th –FA Cup. Fylde A        (Seats going fast)
Saturday 26th Barnet A                      ( Early Booking/Reservation  Advised)
November Dates will be published soon.
How To Book.
We cover this in most posts on coach reservation and booking but just so you all know here is what you do once you have decided and note once you see the “Coach Booking Now Open” green comment.
To reserve your place please email Emma, Trust Travel Coordinator on travel@daletrust.co.uk
Please only use the trust travel email travel@daletrust.co.uk for your arrangements and any additions etc.
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-Fylde
(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.

Booking Cut Off Times;
As covered elsewhere planning and booking the coach is done in advance BUT we need to advise the travel company along with our accompanying stewards the day before the travel date. On our booking information is the following
“Please note that unless specified, reservations for travel will generally stop being taken at 5 pm on the previous Thursday if it’s a Saturday game and 5 pm on the previous Sunday if it’s a Tuesday game.”
Departure Times;
Departure times will be announced when the travel is advertised and included in the updates posted on the website under Coach Travel.
Costs
The cost is based on the distance and the need for either one or two drivers as required by coach regulations.
We work the costs out as below;
300+ miles round trips – £35 per head
200+ miles round trips – £25 per head
100+ miles round trips – £15 per head

Scott Goulding

Here’s the September membership update for the current 2024-25 season.
The data provided only includes online membership
A reminder that last season we were just 320 from smashing our membership, sadly that was disappointing as it was our lowest membership in three seasons.

Well, moving forward focusing on the current season, which we’ve already had a very positive interest/response so far online and that’s even before I process the Trust Desk 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 694 members (26% of Dale’s average home league crowd this season so far), however, we will see an even larger membership increase once the Trust Desk forms are processed.

Here’s the full breakdown, for your reference:-
Member Summary – 2024/25 Totals
Adult: 276
Exiles: 233 (England 151; Overseas 82)
Junior: 185 (12’s & under – 97; 13’s to 16’s – 88)
Total: 694
Renewing: 640
New: 54
Total: 694
Renew online at https://www.daletrust.co.uk/adult-exile-membership/ 

Trust in Us
Scott Goulding – membership officer

Dave Earnshaw

The continuation by the board to recruit and strengthen our youth trust board members continues at a pace. Two well-established members now are James and Ruby (Ruby Has her section below) who are both busy getting on with Trust projects which reflect their ideas, so watch this space.

Also, as we end the summer months and head into autumn I see no reason why the trust can’t build on this by adding more of the younger fans to the running of the Trust to help build our future.
So over the next few weeks, you may well see the introduction of new youth members and to this end, we have two attending the October Trust meeting so let’s see what this month brings I don’t see why they won’t both slot into the trust nicely.

If the youth representation is a reflection of our Dale Trust then I see a bright future ahead with lots of good sound ideas and constantly looking to ensure we represent our fan base in the best possible way.
Up The Dale keep the faith

How We lowered The Age Profile

Bob and Team

The Trust is delighted to welcome two more new members to the Trust Board and it is a pair of great signings as we welcome Harry Holt and Jake Dowd, both passionate Dale fans and being in their early 20s, they bring the age profile of the board down a bit more bringing new vigour with their experience in modern day media and design. They join Ruby (Loynd) our Youth Involvement Officer and bring the “younger” fan perspective to the Trust Board, something we have been keen to do for some time.
We asked them to pen a little about themselves and here is what tone had to say.
Hi, I’m Harry Holt,
I’ve been a Dale fan basically for all my life, coming to the matches with my grandad since I was a kid. For the last few years, I’ve started to get more involved with the trust attending the meetings held in the Ratcliffe to generate ideas to help the club and now that I’ve returned from Uni I want to give back to the Dale on the whole and community which means so much to me.
Picking a favourite player is a tricky one, but I’d say it’s between Andy Cannon, Ollie Rathbone and Ian Henderson. My most memorable memory from the Dale is when we played Spurs home and away.

Keith Hicks.

We are looking to add to our current database. Over 60 former Dale players are enrolled on the Association with many returning to the Crown Oil Arena last season as guests of the Club for hospitality appearances. Players such as Shaun Reid, Paul Butler, Gareth Griffiths and many more were invited to be guest speakers in the Club’s 1907 lounge before home matches.
And so to September’s report.
Hospitality pre-match entertainment during September featured Mark Hilditch (Maidenhead United) Steve Whitehall (Solihull Moors) and Scott Warner (Braintree Town) all reliving past glories at the Dale covering well over 500 league games between them followed by drawing out winners for the 50/50 draw at half time.

Mark explained how he started his career at Dale after impressing in a trial match, making his debut whilst still grafting at an engineering firm in Oldham, this saw him getting a round of applause from his workmates but a reprimand by the boss for turning in late after the evening game.

Mark spoke of the massive improvements at the Crown Oil Arena (Spotland Stadium) from his time playing for Rochdale, including holes in the roof on the Main Stand.
Steve spoke about his love for the Club following eighteen months of playing for Southport, at the same time working as Executive Officer for the Civil Service.

Steve’s favourite memory of playing against Liverpool at Anfield in the third round of the FA Cup up against a full-strength team, most memorable against two England defenders, also transpired as his worst result in professional football, 0-7 defeat.
He is currently working for the NHS having qualified as a physiotherapist in 1999 and in his spare time playing golf at Alder Root Club trying to bring his handicap down.
Scott entertained hospitality diners speaking about coming through the ranks at his hometown Club, having studied at Kingsway High School before being offered an apprenticeship leading to a full-time professional contract.

Scoring goals was not a strong point, with just two to his name but he rightly argued about quality over quantity with his stunning thirty-yard volley against Torquay United that picked up “Goal of the Season” it was one of the best GOTS we have ever seen.
He now spends Saturdays down at the Crown Oil Arena supporting Dale in “the Sandy” with his two lads,

Scott’s boys (above with Dad during the half-time draw) both wish to follow in Dad’s footsteps. Scott’s is ever popular and if you see him, he is well up for a chat and a selfie so don’t be afraid to ask.
Forthcoming events see other Dale legends line up during October, they  are Gareth Griffiths (Southend United) and Tom Kennedy (Halifax Town)
Articles about ex-Dale players and further Information on the Rochdale AFC Former Players Association (FPA) including hospitality appearances plus players’ memories can be found on:

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.

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 £8,982.00  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.

Bob and the Welfare Team

Welfare. The Trust has a small team who look after the welfare of our members. It can be “needed” 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, regardless of this months topics the Trust is here for male and female members, the team is mixed and if its a female team member you want then just ask.

#ANDYSMANCLUB   The Trust has recently supported a vital charity and mental health organisation called Andysmanclub. With the Rochdale hub based at the COA on Monday nights this essential organisation is there providing support. Local facilitator Derek Robinson “we want to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and create a judgment-free, confidential space where men can be open about the storms in their lives. We aim to achieve this through weekly, free-to-attend peer-to-peer support groups for men aged over 18.” Read more HERE The Trust and Club have assisted  Andysmanclub and there is now an awareness desk at home games either in the Dale bar or at the Trust Desk.

For more info have a look HERE on our web site.

It is now four years since the Club in conjunction with the “Barry Kilby Prostate Test initiative” ran the re-testing service. It was a chance for male fans to address the thorny issue of Prostate Problems and a potential early diagnosis of Prostate Cancer by getting a PSA test. Results at the time found several who needed to consult their doctor with some urgency and a large group who needed to be extra vigilant. It was in all a successful initiative and saved lives. The Trust is hoping to raise awareness again with a future initiative but in the meantime, we have put back the information about the Prostate PSA test under the welfare tab again including information on Prostate cancerfocusing on the vital need to get a test as part of your routine lifestyle

We know blokes tend shy away from seeing their GP if they can.
Don’t,
As you get older it is something every man needs to be aware of.
Partners, if your chap ignores this, then you don’t, Ok!

The annual Exiles day at the Crown Oil Arena is confirmed for 29 March 2025 for the match against Aldershot.  Ian Goodwin will be letting Exiles know further details in this month’s Exiles newsletter.  The day is always a fun-packed one and the Trust board and club work together to put this event on.  It’s great for exiled supporters to catch up with each other and there is that remarkable unbeaten run of home Exiles fixtures to preserve!

BARNET COACH BOOKING OPEN

Coach reservations and bookings for the Barnet away game on
Saturday 26th October is now open

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.

BARNET COACH BOOKING OPEN