Brockham Badgers has a new Chairman. Grant Ashley, who has been involved with the Club for eleven years, was elected top dog at the recent AGM. He succeeds Hugh Cannon who has had to relinquish the role after two seasons, due to work commitments.
Accepting the post at a time of immense growth for the Club, Grant thanked Hugh for his leadership, and pledged to carry on the development by appointing a team to devise and implement a five year plan to achieve even better standards. Facilties, continued improvement in coaching and further encouragement of girls' football are all on the agenda.
Here is Grant's acceptance speech, as made at the AGM, in full:
"Thank you – it is a great privilege to be appointed to this role
and I only hope I can continue the good work that Hugh and his predecessors
started.
I would like to express my thanks to Hugh Cannon for
his contribution to Brockham Badgers, as both a team Manager and more
recently as Chairman. Hugh had the courage to make some changes
to our structure and put in place some solid foundations which I hope
to be able to carry forward. We appreciate that, with new work
commitments, it has been increasingly difficult to juggle a busy business
life and this role but nonetheless we appreciate the contribution
Hugh has made to the Club.
I have been involved with Brockham
Badgers Football Club for the past eleven years and have enjoyed nearly every
minute of it! We are at a very exciting and bordering on scary
time as we continue to experience ever-increasing number of players
wanting to join this great Club. Our challenge is to try and
meet and, where possible, exceed people’s expectations.
With
nearly 350 players registered in 2005/2006 and with the introduction
of an U17 boy’s team and of course the growth in our girls' football,
I can see it won’t be long before we are heading towards the 400 mark. Our priority has to be to plan for this growth. Therefore my first
initiative will be to appoint a team who will develop a five-year
plan for the Club. We must ensure we maintain sufficient facilities
for training and playing football, whilst maintaining the very high
standards we have developed in training/coaching. Strong partnerships
with local bodies are key, as is the affiliation we have with other
clubs such as Brockham Green, Dorking FC and others in time.
This club needs the continued support of a great Management Committee and of course the wider circle of Managers and other helpers. Like football we need some flair and imagination but, above all, we need a strong team. To carry on with this level of growth we are going to have to really be on our game and I look forward to working with you. I am certainly up for the challenge.
Thank you.