A Happy New Year from the Queens Trust
Queen of the South Supporters Trust - Palmerston Park, Dumfries >>

As we exit 2006 it’s time to reflect on the progress (or lack of it!) the Supporters Trust has made in the last 12 months. This time last year we lost our second Chairman within a year, Will Clark, due to his wife, Liz, taking seriously ill. Thankfully, Liz is on the mend and attended the recent home match against Gretna.

With Queens rooted to the bottom of the table we started 2006 with a short Save Our Season fundraising activity which raised £3200 pounds towards bringing in players like Graham Weir for the remainder of the season. Around the same time we made it free for 16 & unders to become associate members of the Youth Trust and started publishing newsletters to around 80 or so young fans.

As Queens started pegging back Stranraer, we continued to run competitions for the youngsters through our newsletter with the aim of getting young fans more involved with the club outside the normal visit to the stadium every other Saturday. We ran a free raffle at Easter and started discussions with the Club toward looking at the structure of the Junior Blues. After two or three sessions the Trust signed a contract with the Queens Board where the Supporters Trust would provide 4 newsletters a season and, where possible, run events for the JB’s. With the first stage complete we then reviewed the pricing arrangements for JB season tickets, made proposals and the Board agreed to help us launch the Pound A Game season ticket for the coming season. With the aim of increasing the 135 JB’s to at least the 270 mark we set off putting posters in local shops, advertising in local newspapers and handing out leaflets under the East Stand. The net result was a whopping increase to 450, probably the largest number we’ve had for many a year. This led to the launch of Blue & White, the JB’s Official magazine in late August. Over 50 young Queens fans entered the first editions competitions and we even had a couple of letters sent to Dougie the Doonhamer. The second edition came out just before Christmas, which included a card from the Club and a free ‘bring a friend’ ticket. We’ve had one or two folk asking ‘what the Trust are doing’ but nearly a THOUSAND JB magazines have been created and printed by supporters and over 500 Trust magazines sent out to fans since August. Considering the small numbers of folk involved it’s a phenomenal piece of work. We would like to thank those Trust members who have helped supporters finance a project that we think has the potential to grow into one of the key areas going forward. We are already working on plans for next season (whatever Division we find ourselves in!)

After a stutter we managed to get our Trust Stall up and running again. Apart from selling second hand programmes, Trust mugs & pens, now that we have more helpers, we’ve been able to use it to promote Supporters Trust projects. In November we persuaded the Club Shop to let us sell Queens merchandise and over 5 games, despite our most expensive item being Dougie the Doonhamer at £10, (and if anyone wants one we only have 2 left so please help us find a home for them!), we’ve sold over £300 of items. Although the Stall itself does not generate a lot of funds for the Trust, it does provide a hub where supporters can come along and discuss things. It’s been nice to have Queens fans from all over the world dropping in to say hello. At this point I’ve got to say a big thanks to ‘wee’ Roy, who has supplied coffee at many a home game to a beleaguered stallholder. Our aim for 2007 is to obtain a grant and persuade David Rae to allow us to have some sort of permanent facility under the East Stand.

In the August edition of the Trust news, we highlighted school contacts and Football in the Community areas as key projects which the Queens Board should become more active. In October Queens announced that club captain Jim Thomson would become the Schools liaison person and after a meeting with Ross Corbett, Gordon Hyslop and David Rae, Queens Saturday morning Football in the Community programme was launched. We designed and gave out around 100 t-shirts to the young supporters. Hopefully this will be an area that progresses and blooms during 2007.

After a series of meetings over the summer, in September, we announced a sponsorship deal with local Internet and Web design company Digitl. In return for providing a new website they have become our official sponsors for 2007. They’ve been brilliant and if you are looking for a professional website for your company we would thoroughly recommend them (please let them know you heard of them through the Trust J ).

Since then we’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to get it to the standard we’re aiming for but with only 3 volunteers so far it’s hard work. If YOU can work a PC and would like to help us then please contact us. There are three hardworking volunteers that will bite your hand off!!

Not all things have gone swimmingly. As the Trust grew through early 2006 and we lost volunteers due to jobs, babies and illness, we started to struggle to keep up with the workload. As a result we decided to allow some time to lapse before asking for membership renewals. Renewal forms have gone out to every member and we would ask that given the amount of effort put in by a few committed supporters that you continue to support the Trust in 2007. We have a core membership of lifetime members and monthly contributors who have helped raise over £3000 in the last 12 months. Even £1 a month can make a lot of difference.

In 2006 you, as a member of the Trust have…………

Bought over three thousand pounds worth of Queens shares (total now £5,300).

Donated around £5000 in player sponsorship , Shirt prize draw, competitions, raffles, promoting the Football in the Community project, the Junior Blues and Queens.

All this with around 8 people!!! There are several Trust members we’d like to personally thank. The fans, young and old, who brought smartie tubes filled with 20p pieces, the person who wrote more than one cheque ‘to do with what you want’ and helped us provide 450 Junior Blues with a magazine, the person who donated a Hibs signed shirt, the person who donated rare programmes, all the folk that helped with the Guid Nychburris parade, those that donated programmes and books for our Stall, the Board member that turned up, despite being full of the cold, to help launch the Football Community programme…….the list goes on.

The Supporters Trust has raised over £15,000 and started a small bundle of projects that, in the long term, will form a stronger fan base for Queen of the South. It may be difficult for one or two fans to see the ‘bigger picture’ but by coordinating supporters efforts and putting some backing behind projects like the Trust it can only help Queens. Let’s hope that happens in 2007.

We hope that 2007 will be a better year for Queens. The last 2yrs have seen us struggling at the wrong end of the league and despite spending money, we find ourselves in the same position we were this time last year. A £330,000 operating loss will make uncomfortable reading when the accounts are published. If that turns out to be the case then obviously that cannot continue for very long. We would like the Board to clarify where it sees the club in 5-10yrs time, where it stands with regard to SPL2, taking into account it’s possible effect on lower league clubs, how it plans to link into, and support ALL it’s fan base.

Last of all we’d like to wish EVERY Queen of the South fan a Happy New Year and whatever happens we want you to enjoy supporting the team who will ALWAYS be the Queen of the South.

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