BIGGLESWADE PROGRAMME NOTES 26th December 2024

 

Dear Supporter

 

It’s that time of year when we enjoy time with our family and friends and reflect on the year that is just about to end.  From a footballing perspective the Poppies have definitely had a year of two halves.  At one point early in the year, we faced the reality that we could get relegated for a second season in a row.  It could have happened – no team is immune; why would we be any different?  Fans often say “that was the worst game I have ever seen” – last season not a truer word was spoken after the defeat away to St Ives.  Luckily for us Ritchie stepped in and appointed Richard Lavery who did what he had to do to keep us in this League.  First half of they year over. 

 

Mid-year George, Nadiya and Fabian walked into the Club and breathed new life into it.  And what new life, so far, it has been.  Who could have even dreamt that we would be this high up in the League with a great cup run thrown into the mix – no-one that’s for sure.  There will be bumps along the way, that’s football.  But there is renewed vigour and hope around the Club and we can’t ask for more than that.

 

It is also the time of year when we remember loved ones who are no longer with us.  Within the Poppies community we have lost “loved ones” this year.  I lost my Dad at the beginning of the year.  He was a Poppies fan for many years and served on the Social Club Committee.  We travelled to away games on the Travel Club coach together when Hamish Young ran it.  Sadly, Hamish died recently.  Lots has been written about him – larger than life is the most common thread!  Indeed he was!  As well as running the Travel Club he ran the Tin Hat Social Club for a while along with his wife Shirley.  He was also at the forefront in the Mark English days/formation of the Trust and I remember him leading a pitch side protest  against said peron away at Slough when a lot of fans realised that Mark English’s intentions were not good ones.  For a real insight into the man that was Hamish, read the PATGOD article which sums him up perfectly.  With their permission I have used the closing paragraph of the article: “So RIP Hamish, a legend in your own (extended) lunchtime and a bit part of what made KTFC enjoyable back in the day.  A lot of us would settle for even a fraction of that.”

 

Our thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one.  As a wise man once said (Bruce Springsteen!), we grieve because we have loved well.

 

The Trust would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year.

 

Karen Spencer-Lewis

Supporters Trust

Kettering Town (Poppies) Supporters Trust, PO Box 6492, Kettering, NN16 0YT

ktfctrust30.blogspot.com

enquiries@poppiestrust.co.uk

Facebook: Kettering Town 'Poppies' Supporters Trust;

Twitter: @poppiestrust

Trust Board Members:  Karen Spencer-Lewis (Chair), Mark Severn (Treasurer),

Richard Atkinson (Vice Chairman), Bill Pringle, Lewis Horne, Martin Bellamy, Dave Tailby and Ed Palmer.