Junior Blues Summer Programme
Queen of the South Supporters Trust - Palmerston Park, Dumfries >>

In the first year of its existence the Supporters Trust identified several projects where it was felt improvements could be made at Palmerston and where fans could 'make a difference'. One of the main areas was the Clubs Junior Blues. Having spent January 2006 to the end of the season carrying out a pilot project to encourage young fans to join the Queens Youth Trust, we were approached by Queens to discuss ideas for the Junior Blues. The net result was the Trust signing an agreement with Queens to 'run' the Junior Blues for the 2006/07 season.

Dougie the Doonhamer attempting to save a penalty at Calside Primary School Fayre

The first change was to take on a fans suggestion of introducing a 'Pound a Game' Season ticket for all young Queens fans. The net result was an over 300% increase in membership of the Junior Blues from the previous season to 450 members. The next stage was to introduce a JB magazine which led to the birth of 'Blue & White'. Since October 2006 we've printed and sent out nearly two thousand copies of Blue & White and we've seen the magazine increase in size from a 1 page newsletter to a 12 page A5 colour magazine. We know from JB members and parents feedback that we are heading in the right direction and that JB's do look forward to the magazine dropping through their letterboxes.

JT with a young Queens fan at Calside

With each copy of Blue & White we've widened the subject matter and increased the number of competitions and prizes. Obviously it's difficult to provide a magazine that adequately covers all ages from 1 -16yrs old but we are giving it our best shot. Funding for all this has come from monthly donations provided by Trust members. The Trust deliberately took the stance from day one that it would not implement any fundraising activities that would compete with the Star Prize Draw, run by Queens, or the Tote run by the Travel Club. Thankfully we have managed to persuade enough fans to contribute each month to not only cover the cost of running the Junior Blues, but allow us to make inroads into share purchases. The �10 donations that members have given us, have allowed us to do all sorts of things ranging from providing gear for Queens U-15's Milk Cup team to the �400 purchase of new shoes for Dougie the Doonhamer.

Trust Stall inundated at Calside Primary School for the free raffle

This summer we have expanded our programme from 2006 by attending local events to help promote them as well as promote the Junior Blues and the Supporters Trust. Our first event was Calside School Fayre. Jim Thomson and Dougie the Doonhamer came along to support the event and, as well as promoting the 'Pound a Game' season ticket we ran a free raffle to win autograped footballs.

Winner of our 'Design a T-shirt' competition Lois Wright with Club Captain Jim Thomson

Lois Wright from Dumfries won our competition to design our Junior Blues t-shirt and the new Supporters Trust t-shirt for the 2007-08 season. Lois also gave us the new Junior Blues logo which will be used in all Junior Blues promotional material this coming season.

Dougie finds a new friend at Calside School Fayre

Martin in front of the Supporters Trust Stall

Last summer we purchased a portable 'gazebo' to allow us to attend local events. Our first event where the gazebo came�to good�use was this years Guid Nychburris 5-a-sides. Trust members attended 3 of the 4 nights with Dougie making a grand entrance on the Tuesday night when most of the P5 and 6's were attending.

Dougie gets a handshake from a young fan

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Dougie proved to be a popular hit with the youngsters

Dougie with one of the teams at the Guid nychburris 5-a-sides

The Queens Trust stall proved to be a hit with the crowd.

As well as attending local events this summer, all 421 remaining Junior Blues (29 are too old to be JB's this year), will receive a renewal form with their holiday special edition of Blue & White. We also have started to place JB posters throughout the region. Having introduced the JB Club this season we hope to increase the JB numbers by at least 10% this season. The future support of Queen of the South is inextricably linked to projects like this. We'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to the project thus far and with your help we will be able to expand efforts to run JB events this season.

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