Just in case you missed in today's VSC programme article
Welcome to our guests from Bradford Park Avenue for today's FA Cup tie. It is a warm welcome to Mark Hume, Rob O"Brien and Martin Drury, who have all played first team games for Rovers. The latter two coming through the Rovers youth team, which ties in nicely for a plug for our Tomorrow's Rovers project.
The development of local young players is, in the view of the VSC Board, vital to the future of the club - a steady stream of players developed in the Doncaster Rovers way, who understand the way we play because that is the way they have been taught, and are able to come into the first team and be comfortable, prepared and excel. We spoke with the club about barriers to the young players' development, and the resounding response was transport. The club need a dedicated minibus to take young players to away matches, training opportunities, development days, etc, and these are opportunities that some squads are missing out on, so we have decided to run a fundraising drive to sponsor a second youth team to assist the club in securing that minibus for the benefit of all the young players at the club. The Tomorrow's Rovers project gives us all a chance to invest in the future of our club and the future of Doncaster's talented young players. We know times are hard, but see this as a very worthy cause with a tangible payback. Many supporters tell us that seeing local lads come through and pull on the iconic red and white hoops gives them an enormous sense of pride. To make a donation please visit www.drfc-vsc.co.uk
As you may already know Rob Clark has stepped down as Acting Chair of the VSC. Before the rumour mill starts going into overdrive with "something must have gone on" or "told you there would be a power struggle"-type conspiracy theories, can I just add that the truth is nowhere near as racey as that.
Simply put, he had the backing of all the other Directors to continue as permanent Chair but his personal circumstances were going to prevent him from dedicating as much time as he would want to over the coming months so he decided to step aside to allow someone else to take up the reigns. Rob is not disappearing completely, more stepping in to the shadows for a bit, and he will still be around to support projects as they develop.
The whole Board want to place on record their thanks and appreciation to Rob Clark for the work he has done as Chairman. The VSC has started work (key word is started) on some wonderful projects and In Rovers We Trust has only just begun and we are getting some wonderful results already on the back of it. Still a lot to be done, but I would like to think we are going in the right direction and that is down to Rob.
The Board discussed on Thursday 25th October the officers that should be appointed and it was debated about what was needed in what areas to help the VSC progress. From there various officers were appointed by the Board which were all unanimously agreed:
Chairman: Nathan Batchelor (nathan.batchelor@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Secretary:Martin O'Hara ( martin.ohara@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Treasurer: Mark Lister (mark.lister@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Vice Treasurer: Andy Audsley (andrew.audsley@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Membership Officer: Lee Croft (lee.croft@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Press/Communications Officer: Mike Follows (mike.follows@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Community Officer: Dave Burkitt (dave.burkitt@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Commercial Officer : Kevin Twell (kevin.twell@drfc-vsc.co.uk )
IT/Website Officer: Rob Willliams (rob.williams@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
Board Members without portfolio: Glyn Wigley (glyn.wigley@drfc-vsc.co.uk), Martyn Bentley (martyn.bentley@drfc-vsc.co.uk), Rob Clark (rob.clark@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
As the VSC is a Community Benefit Society the board acknowledged the importance of this and made an example of how sucessful the Community scheme is at DRFC. It was conversed that the VSC is better equiped at present to partner with DRFC in its community work until it had gathered enough momentum before doing its own campaign. The Board did agree that the VSC can however take part in small charitable work and a scenario about the VSC getting involved and helping out with local voluntary work, the example of pushing an appeal for volunteers to repaint a local park and help renovate a local park was given which was widely accepted by the Board.
The commercial aspect of the Trust was discussed and this is an area the VSC should look to exploit to increase it's revenue stream and it's reputation amongst the businesses in the community. Can I take this opportunity to thank the Park Inn Hotel for allowing us the use of their large meeting room free of charge for our monthly Board meetings.
As you may have seen we have purchased two multi game tickets to use for worthy causes. Alongside our sponsorship of two youth teams and one player we are always looking for ideas that reflect our values as VSC people. If you would like to see us doing certain things in other areas then shout up, we'll listen to anything sensible. It's your money, so suggest how we can spend it. Please send ideas to Dave Burkitt, the VSC Community Officer (dave.burkitt@drfc-vsc.co.uk)
The VSC works hard to be the critical friend to the club, helping the club improve and meet the expectations of supporters. If you have not already done so, please renew or join the VSC. Membership only costs £12 to join, and you can pay £1 a month. By becoming a member of the VSC you are part of an organisation that is a significant shareholder in the club. To become a member visit www.drfc-vsc.co.uk and click on the Join VSC link at the top.