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Notable achievers this year include:-
U16B’s (coached by Phil Shepherd) League Winners H&DL “B” Division & runners up in the Plate
U14A (coached by Martin Wright) League Winners H&DL “B” Division
U14B (coached by Julian Cruikshank) League Winners H&DL “D” Division
U13 Blacks (coached by Bryan Bletso) U13 Sportsmanship Award H&DL
U12A (coached by Simon Coffey) Runners Up Surrey Youth League Premier North Division – promoted to Premier Elite for next season.
U12B (coached by Duncan Hanwell) League Winners H&DL “D” Division
U10B and U10C (coached by Simon Haines, Lewis Evans and Tom Ashley) Fair Play Award winners, Epsom & Ewell League.
U8 Blacks (coached by Nick Torpey) Tadworth League Winners
So many congratulations to these teams and all of our teams for another great season.
On behalf of the Management Committee I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our Coaches and their regular helpers. You do an amazing job, give so much of your time and sometimes have some flack thrown into the equation too! You make this club what it is and we are extremely grateful for everything you give to BBFC. A special congratulations to Phil Shepherd, a very worthy winner of our Manager of the Year Award.
A special mention also for Nick Torpey who once again has been the backbone of our coaching and development as well as running a very successful U8’s in his spare time! I know Nick has some exciting development plans for BBFC that we will be discussing over the next few weeks. Nick, thank you for the enthusiasm, talent and support that you bring to BBFC it is very much appreciated.
BBFC is committed to see all of our coaches achieve a good standard of coaching and therefore we will continue to fund FA level 1 coaching for them.
This year for the first time we have had former players involved in coaching and managing teams and without doubt this has been a great success and something we would like to build upon for the future.
Off of the pitch
Well where do I start – it has been an incredibly busy twelve months. So in summary:-
BBFC achieve the FA Charter Standard – joining an elite number of Clubs across the country and most importantly opening the door for us to access funding for future development. I would like to say a huge thank you to Alison Robbins who championed this for many months and to Martin Bangs who started the ball rolling.
Brockham Green has been affiliated to BBFC for many years and has provided one of several routes for our players to continue their football into the senior leagues. Although this has been successful in the past we felt that BBFC needs to provide a much more clearly defined picture of exactly what we are all about; in particular when it comes to future funding. Fundamentally we are a Youth Football Club and therefore at our last meeting the Management Committee voted to end its official affiliation with Brockham Green FC. BBFC will of course continue to offer its older players several options including Brockham Green when it comes to Senior football. Our thanks and good wishes go to Peter Moore.
Our affiliation with Dorking FC continues to grow and gather momentum, they have had a very difficult year and as a club we have had great solidarity with DFC and are delighted that they have won their battle with MVDC. We can now look forward to pushing ahead with some of the development plans previously discussed.
I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our sponsors who enable us to continue to provide affordable football for all of our kids.
Brockham 07 was an amazing spectacle and looked difficult to improve upon, but we all know how Jason loves a challenge! So the Brockham 08 team directed by Jason Rabbetts stepped up to the challenge and provided a bigger and better tournament than ever before. Plaudits came thick and fast from many of the 192 attending teams as well as many local residents who appreciated the way we respected the village and its residents. Once again a substantial sum of money was raised at B08 and for this and all of the effort we are extremely grateful to Jason, his tournament team and everyone who helped to make it such a success.
At both the May tournament and at B08 we were able to show our love and support for Neil & Sally Holland and to pay tribute to Luke. This tragedy has made me realise that we are running something far more than a youth football club. We provide a social network for children and parents alike, we provide a support network for those that need our help or who perhaps feel on the outside and want to be included and involved. The spirit in this club is nothing short of magical and I am so proud we were able to show a little bit of that magic for Neil & Sally and their families since January. There has been an amazing response to Neil and Sally’s appeal for the Surrey Air Ambulance & the London Air Ambulance and when I set up the Just Giving websites I just thought of an ambitious figure of £10,000. The helicopter attending B08 raised the awareness of this brilliant service and also raised a lot of money. Duncan Hanwell’s chimneys run was another big fundraiser as was the car washing in Brockham. The 10K run in London on Sunday was a great day and as you may already know Neil ran the 10K (unofficially of course). I can share with you that we have already exceeded £18,000 and we will continue our fund raising through to 30th September. I am sure Neil and Sally would want me to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been so generous and supportive of this great cause.
Future Development
As you know for a few years now we have been trying to identify somewhere that can accommodate our needs for now and the future. A project team was formed last year and has been working away exploring any opportunities. There have been ongoing discussions with the Big Field Committee in regard to BBFC developing the farm land to the North of the Big Field but this had been a very slow process and hinged on the National Trust granting a new lease for all of the land. Out of the blue we were approached by Paul Brightman who offered us the use of a large piece of land at Sunny Banks farm. Unfortunately none of us had any idea how much local opposition there would be to a youth football club being located along the A25! So sadly despite the enormous efforts of Jason and Paul Brightman this project was brought to an end in June. Our sincere thanks go to Paul for his incredibly generous offer. The Big Field expansion remains an option and this will be looked at again.
We are determined to find a permanent home for BBFC with the facilities we need and a new initiative will be kicked off in the next few weeks.
I would like to say a massive thank you to the Management Committee team who are really the backbone of this club. Their work often goes unnoticed not forgetting many of them are involved in running a team as well as their other duties. I would like to single out Gill Harvey who has been an amazing servant to this club and after several attempts to stand down from her role as Secretary we have reluctantly had to accept her resignation. Gill wishes to remain involved with the Committee and I am sure we can keep her busy with the odd job here and there!
BBFC is a wonderful club, we have I believe set a standard for other clubs to follow both on and off of the pitch. Its future looks bright but is totally dependent on our succession planning, we must see new people coming forward and getting more involved in the Club, we must find new Management Committee members to ensure the ongoing success of BBFC.
Thank you
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