Sons on the Telly!
IT DOESN’T happen as much as we’d like, but it’s really great that Dumbarton FC — and in partcular the Young Sons Crew and other fans — are on TV tonight.
The feature on our club will be part of the ‘A View from the Terrace’ programme, which goes out at 10.30pm this evening on BBC Scotland, and then on ‘catch up’ for a further week.
Thanks to Robbi Docherty for helping get all the media release forms signed for the youngsters (no small feat!), and to everyone who took part on 26th October (when the footage was shot). Gemma Hood and the TV crew were terrific, too.
A Big Thank-You!
MANY thanks to all of you who turned out on a very wet evening on Wednesday 6th November to take part in the Sonstrust AGM.
Particular thanks to Antonia Love for staying ‘at the office’ for an additional six hours to open and close up, to do the printing, and to help in other ways. Also to Jack Brough for organising and staffing the bar, to Denise Currie for arranging the sign-in, to all who took part, and to our guest speaker – Paul Goodwin from the Scottish Football Supporters Association – who gave a lively account of the challenges (and opportunities) facing fans across the game.
A report and election results will follow later… in the meantime there’s a lot to do for the East Fife match tomorrow, where we will be launching the ‘youth pathway’ partnership with Dumbarton United FC and also welcoming a group of youngsters from Kilpatrick. It’s the Saturday we mark Armistice Day, too.
See you at the C&G Systems Stadium tomorrow!
Tonight’s the Night!
THE Sons Supporters Trust AGM takes place at the C&G Systems Stadium, starting at 7pm tonight… and there’s a bar, thanks to Jack Brough!
We hope you’ll join us to elect a new trust board, to help nominate a new trust rep/director on the board of the Dumbarton FC, to discuss the future of the Sonstrust and the Club, and to hear from speaker Paul Goodwin from the Scottish Football Supporters Association – to which the trust is affiliated.
See as many of you as possible tonight!
Trust AGM this Wednesday
A REMINDER to all Sonstrust members that our Annual General Meeting will take place at 7pm on Wednesday 6th November in the Community Suite at the C&G Systems Stadium.
The meeting will include the election of members of the trust board, as well as making a nomination (or nominations) for the position of trust representative/director on the club board. As we have more nominees than vacancies, there will be elections. You must be a paid-up member to vote. Please bring along your membership card.
There will be a report and Q&A on the latest developments at the club and in the trust, together with the opportunity to give guidance to the incoming trust board on key issues moving forward.
Paul Goodwin, the CEO of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, will be speaking at 8pm on the engagement of fans in shaping the future of the game we love.
The meeting is open to all members of the trust.
Thanks to Jack Brough for opening the bar shortly before the meeting. It will close shortly afterwards.
The Sons Supporters Trust is a formally constituted body which remains independent of Dumbarton FC, but works in close cooperation with the Club and is represented on its governing body. Our aims are to bring together Dumbarton fans, strengthen their role in the club, and work towards collaborative and community ownership.
We hope to see as many of you as can make it on Wednesday night!
Trust Board: Get Those Nominations In!
A WEE reminder that we need your nominations for the positions of chair, secretary, treasurer and six other places on the Sonstrust board in time for our AGM – which is 7pm, Wednesday 6th November, at the C&G Systems Stadium.
People standing for the board need to be paid-up trust members, and they need to be nominated and seconded by paid-up trust members. (See Tommy Hughes if you still need to pay!) Nominations can be made in the Community Suite/Bar72 on Saturday – there will be nomination slips, a box to put them and an announcement. Or they can be emailed to mail@dumbartonfc.co.uk.
We’d like nominations in by the end of the month, if possible. The new board will be elected at the AGM.
Regarding nominations for one trust representative to become a director of Dumbarton Football Club and a member of the Club board – we have three people nominated, and this closes on 31st October. Again, the recommendation will be voted on and made at the trust AGM on 6th November… so make sure you’re there!
Details of the AGM can be found below, on this site.
Remembering Margaret
EVERYONE at the Sonstrust and Dumbarton FC was saddened to hear of the recent death of supporter Margaret McDonald, and send warmest wishes and condolences to her loved ones.
Margaret was an important part of the #SonsFamily. Dumbarton fan and trust member Innes Hatcher, who knew her as a friend, and as a Support Worker at Enable Scotland, writes:
“Margaret was born and lived in Helensburgh all her life. She loved the football and had her favourites, she fell for Mark Gilhaney first and that was it she’d caught the bug. Then her love passed to Garry Fleming and Christian Nade (see my photo) and she was in her element!
“Never quiet, telling the opposition to leave her boys alone, she got to the games when she could — either supported by myself or by Christina Galloway. Margaret loved Dumbarton FC and all her boys. She will be massively missed.”
Nominations for Trust Board and DFC Director
AT our Sonstrust AGM (7pm – 8.45pm, Weds 6th October 2019, C&G Systems Stadium) we will need to elect the following Trust Board posts: chair, secretary, treasurer and six board members.
Nominations (proposed and seconded) should be made in writing to Simon Barrow (media@dumbartonfc.co.uk) by 31st October 2019, or by letter to Sonstrust (Nominations), C&G Systems Stadium, Castle Road, Dumbarton, G82 1JJ.
Following Alan Findlay’s resignation, the AGM will also need to reach a decision on recommending a Sonstrust representative for the Club board, which will then need to be approved by the board. Again, candidates will need proposing and seconding, and nominations should arrive by the end of the month by email or post (as for trust board nominations, above).
Those putting themselves forward to be the trust representative on the Club board will need to demonstrate that they are willing and able to take on the fiduciary and legal responsibilities of a company director, as well as representing the interests of the trust and of supporters.
Thanks to David Brownlee, Jo McBride, Tommy Hughes and others who have helped me with this process of getting the AGM – and a massive thank you to Alan Findlay for all the incredible work he has done for both the trust and the club over many years. We hope to see him back with the #Sonsfamily in due course.
Upcoming Trust AGM Agenda
AS previously announced, the Annual General Meeting (2019/20) of the Sons Supporters Trust will be held from 7pm to 8.45pm in the Community Suite / Bar72 at the C&G Systems Stadium on Wednesday 6thNovember.
We hope as many of you will be there as possible! We are hoping to have the bar open to make it a social occasion, as well as one where we will transact some significant business.
This notice, and details of the nomination procedure, is being sent out to all members by email or post, and will also be broadcast across all Sonstrust social media.
The draft agenda is as follows. Please let us know if you wish to propose motions or other items.
* Welcome and apologies
* Minutes and matters arising
* Officers’ reports and report from Sonstrust Action Group
* Presentation and acceptance of audited accounts
* Decisions about company form (Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014)
* Election of officers for 2019-2021
* Recommendation for new Sonstrust rep on Dumbarton FC Board
* DFC ownership, community interest and the future
* AOCB
Our guest speaker will be Paul Goodwin, who is co-founder and CEO of the Scottish Football Supporters Association (which chaired by our own Simon Barrow, who initiated SFSA back in 2015). Paul is a long-standing friend of the trust and an experienced hand in promoting community ownership. He will be able to help set the challenges facing Dumbarton and its supporters in the context of wider challenges within Scottish football right now.
Manager’s Fund Launched – Please Contribute!
MANY thanks for all who contributed to our official launch today – not least Paul McDonald with his amazing contribution of £300, Gillie Brough for her two fundraiser cards totalling £1,000, other contributors, and Robbi Docherty for getting the account established.
Our initial target is £5,000 to give Jim Duffy’s budget a boost and some flexibility. The squad needs to strengthen moving forward, and this a real help. Jim has expressed his real gratitude for this initiative – more to follow on the club site.
In the meantime, if you have questions, please leave them here. But the really big one, we hope, is “How can I contribute?”
That’s easy. Set up a Standing Order (email: rdocherty@dumbartonfc.co.uk) or donate in person to Paul McDonald (who has helped drive this forward), Jordan Brownlee, Gillie Brough or Robbi Docherty at home or away games – not least next Saturday in the Community Suite / Bar72 at the C&G Systems Stadium. Online payments can be made via PayPal. We will get a usable form up here as soon as possible.
All contributions will be carefully recorded for accounting purposes. The account and fund is exclusively ring-fenced for the purpose of supplementing the player budget.
Please note that any data you supply to us will not be passed to a third party, will be handled in compliance with Data Protection legislation, and will be destroyed when it is no longer needed for processing or maintaining your contribution.
[Photograph: (c) Andy Scott]
Trust AGM on 6 November
The next Annual General Meeting of the Sons Supporters Society will take place at the C&G Systems Stadium on Wednesday 6th November at 7pm, and will last for around two hours.
Key decisions will be taken at this important meeting: we will approve a revised company form in the light of changes to legislation impacting cooperative societies. We will elect a new chair, secretary and full board. Crucially, we will make nominations from the trust to the Dumbarton FC board for the trust place on the club board – replacing our longstanding representative, Alan Findlay.
We hope to have the bar in the Community Suite open for business… so you can enjoy a drink and socialise around the event
There will also be a full update on where things are with the club and the trust, a Q&A session, and a guest speaker – Paul Goodwin, CEO of the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association. Paul has been an enormous support to Sons fans throughout negotiations over the new stadium and allied issues.
Trust members will be getting their papers for the meeting (including nomination papers) shortly. Do put the date in your diary!
Sons Supporters Trust 