A quickish update on all things SDS......
The SDS summer meet, which this year is titled the 'SDS Solstice Soiree (one day early)' will take place in the London area on 20 June. Exact location details to follow but if you are interested in joining us it would help if a confirmation e-mail could be sent to info@shaymendownsouth.co.uk
Membership subscriptions are coming in thick and fast with over 40% of the membership already re-joining, despite current memberships not expiring until the end of the month. It would really help if all remaining memberships could be renewed at the earliest opportunity. My personal thanks for the many positive comments that have accompanied the renewals. Your support is appreciated!
Calendar sales are progressing as forecast and we hope to be able to cover much of the initial outlay with pre-sales. We, well I, forgot to put a deadline on the form for including personal dates or sponsoring a month. Anyone wanting to do this must have informed us by 4 July at the very latest. P&P costs at £3 do appear a bit high but please be assured that this is the true cost, there is no profiteering! We need to make sure the calendar arrives at its destination in perfect condition which requires a solid card envelope. The envelope is quite weighty which puts it in a high postage band.
Both Neil Aspin and David Bosomworth were sent complimentary copies of SDS81, via the club address, along with a covering letter. The SDS survey showed how much the membership would like improved communication so lets hope that responses are forthcoming. In particular, I think we need some direction from the Board to our fundraising. You, the membership, have made it clear that you don't want the money to disappear down an unaccounted for black hole which makes a close season discussion even more important. I have never found it so hard to try and give the club money!!!
Enjoy the summer!
SIMON DENTON
All the issue numbers below are available free of charge on a first-come first-served basis for matchday collection. They are also available by post for a charge to cover the P&P. If you would like to rediscover over ten years of Halifax Town history for free then this is an ideal opportunity. Just e-mail your requirements to shaymen.downsouth@ntlworld.co.uk and we can sort out how, when and where. Ideal for filling in any gaps in your collection! This is a limited offer as the re-cycling skip beckons....
Issue and quantity available:
21 (x 1), 23 (x 7), 25 (x 7), 26 (x 6), 27 (x 5), 28 (x 3), 31 (x 10+), 33 (x 10+), 34 (x 10+), 35 (x 10), 36 (x 10+), 37 (x 1), 40 (x 4), 44 (x 5), 48 (x 3), 49 (x 10+), 50 (x 10+), 51 (x 10+), 52 (x 10+), 53 (x 10+), 54 (x 10+), 56 (x 10), 58 (x 10+), 59 (x 10+), 60 (x 10+), 62 (x 7), 65 (x 10+), 66 (x 9), 68 (x 10+), 72 (x 2), 73 (x 10+), 78 (x 10+).
Every issue from 41 onwards is also available to download for free in the SDS Archive section. To remind yourself of what each of these fanzines looked like, have a glance at the front covers page.
Also available - random selection of Halifax Town button badges at £1 for 5, including postage and packing! (if paying by paypal this will be £1.20) - e-mail the SDS address above for further details.
Goal-O-Meter sponsors may well have noticed that we have not yet sent out the end of December payment request for the goals scored in the first half of this current season. This is primarily because we have not yet finalised last season's contribution to the club and didn't think it appropriate to request further payments at this point. We fully expect to resolve last years contribution within the next three to four weeks. Once we have a clear plan agreed with the club and the membership for both last seasons and this seasons payments we will be issuing a further communication. This does not stop anyone paying in their sponsor money at any point should they so wish. Payment methods are the same as in previous seasons. Thanks once more to everyone who has chosen to support the Goal-O-Meter scheme this season.
SIMON DENTON
With no game currently scheduled for Sat 13 December (Skelmersdale are in the FA Trophy) we would like to invite all SDS members within travelling distance of London to join us for a few drinks. The 'SDS Christmas Bash - Down South!' kicks off at 2.30pm in The Harp, 48 Chandos Place, Strand (WC2), Central London, WC2N 4HS. (Click here for more location details).
If you would like to join us an e-mail to the SDS address would be appreciated but there is no problem if anyone just wants to turn up on the day. At some point in the afternoon we plan to move on so anyone who might want to join later just needs to provide a mobile phone number so we can confirm the group's current location.
Happy Christmas!
As mentioned in the last edition of Phoenix, we are looking to organise a number of events to help SDS members become more involved with the new club whilst we await a glorious return to the national stage.....
Saturday 13 December 2008 - The Grand SDS Christmas Bash, London area
Details of the exact format are still to be finalised, suggestions still welcome, but we will definitely be organising a meet in the London area on this date. All members are welcome. Check back for updates or e-mail the SDS address for more information.
Saturday 31 January 2009 - SDS awayday in Wakefield!
With trips to the delights of places such as Grays, Ebbsfleet and Woking now a distant memory we thought we would use this season's most accessable league game from the south by train as an official SDS meet. Wakefield is a mere 2hrs and 10 minutes from the capital and fares are currently on sale at £10 each way. (Buy now if you are interested as they will undoubtedly sell out pretty quick). Brian is almost certain to be spoilt for choice with his pub selection so if you want some good ale with some familiar faces then this is the game for you. The pub(s) will be confirmed in the next edition of Phoenix (SDS79).
Firstly, apologies for the late news on this website - the webmaster was away during the publication - but the latest issue, and the first in the SDS Phoenix series, of the SDS publications was available from late October. Members and subscribers should already have received their copy. For those that haven't seen it, especially now we will no longer be selling on matchdays, go to the SDS Archive for the contents page. We hope everyone enjoys reading the new format as much as the old.
If you were a regular customer for the fanzines at the Shay, and would like to continue to get a copy of the Phoenix publication, please consider becoming a member or subscriber to the SDS. The original membership forms, links at the top of this page or on the Fundraising section of this website, are still valid although given that we are some way into the new season membership/subscription fees have been reduced to £6 for new members. We may also periodically have a few individual copies for sale on Ebay, search for Shaymen Down South - although your best bet is to join or subscribe to the SDS. Thanks for your continued support.
Several Town supporters have been kind enough to submit ideas and sponsorships for our 'Sponsor Owt' scheme, and there are a few new additions to the Goal-O-Meter sponsorship list. These have now been updated in the SDS Fundraising pages (where you can also view our policy on funds), or click here to go straight to the "Sponsor Owts". If you haven't already joined either scheme (and think you can come up with a better suggestion for sponsorship!) then please consider supporting us, you can start your sponsorship at any time during the season. Many thanks as always to our sponsors and supporters.
Brian's Beer Trail will continue for the coming months, and all our away games up to Christmas, subject to postponements etc., are now online. Click here to see where we're heading. As many who know the SDS 'regulars' from the Beer Trail will understand, it is proving difficult to muster a large number of southern-based attendees, especially for midweek matches, so please accept our apologies if you've turned up to one of the venues to find nobody there. But if you have been to one of our nominated pubs and were impressed (or otherwise!) with it, please let us know!
The list of the current SDS Goal-O-Meter sponsors has been updated on the Fundraising pages. Click here to see the current sponsors. Please note that, despite the recent announcement regarding the SDS Fanzine, the SDS organisation will be continuing our fundraising activities and our policy on funds remains unchanged - we hope that all our previous (and current) sponsors will continue to support our efforts. Thanks once more to all the Goal-O-Meter (and Sponsor Owt) sponsors.
The SDS Editor has made an announcement regarding the future of the Shaymen Down South fanzine and organisation. Click here to read the full statement. Further updates will be posted on this site as and when they develop.
Issue 77 of the Shaymen Down South fanzine will be on sale for the first match of the season, at home to Bamber Bridge this Saturday 16th August 2008. Members and subscribers who have renewed should receive their copy shortly. See the SDS Archive for a sneak preview of the contents. Many thanks for your continued support!
The Shaymen Down South Goal-O-Meter and Sponsor Owt schemes will be running once more for the coming season. Please help us to help the Shaymen by sponsoring every Town goal for 2008-09, or anything else that you fancy! Click through to the SDS Fundraising page for further details, all our forms can be found at the bottom of the Fundraising page or navigate to the relevant section to see the sponsorships for the coming season (to be updated shortly). As ever, many thanks for your continued support!
As we will shortly be relaunching the SDS Goal-O-Meter we thought it appropriate to confirm how we plan to manage the funds that we raise. The Goal-O-Meter is an SDS initiative and, as such, all funds raised go initially into the SDS account along with funds raised from other SDS activities.
One of the things we believe people like about the SDS is that it moves along with little bureaucracy - when something needs to happen, it happens. No fuss, we just get on with it. In the last edition of the fanzine we asked members to comment if they had any particular preference with regards to how SDS funds were managed. We had a few replies in favour of building up a fighting fund but generally there were very few strong opinions either way.
With a significant amount of money now in the SDS account (the exact amount will be published in SDS77) we have decided to introduce the opportunity for members to have an involvement in deciding how we spend our hard earned funds.
General administration up to £300 - As you may be aware, the SDS fanzine, and most of the SDS merchandise, is produced in-house. The main fanzine consumables are paper, envelopes, stamps and toner. We have in stock enough toner for the next six issues and enough coloured cover paper for at least another ten. White reams of paper and postage stamps are purchased as required. The 'unknowns' are the reliability of the printer and the folding machine which are both running fine at the moment, but from a business point of view are life expired. The replacement cost of the printer (HP8150DN) would be around £180 and the folding machine (Takofold) would be a minimum of £300. We don't propose to consult the membership on general consumables expenditure but will detail any required capital expenditure as and when it is required.
Requests from Halifax Town for up to £1,500 - We have established a working group who will consider requests from the club for funds up to £1,500. The current members of this group are Simon Denton, Laurence Ball, Paul Clark, Matthew Wright and Richard Wilson. If anyone else would like to be part of this group then please let us know - it is open to any paid up SDS member. We would like to be able to make decisions quickly and it would be a benefit if any new members of the working group had an active e-mail address. To date we have had a request from Physio Alan Russell-Cox for £600 to purchase a new hydraulic treatment couch. This request has been approved.
Requests from Halifax Town for over £1,500 - All members will be informed in the next available edition of the fanzine, or separate mailing if urgent, and will be given the opportunity to have thier say on whether or not to accept the request.
Going forward, we see SDS funds being primarily for specific items / projects outside of the normal day to day running of the club that will help make an extra difference. As the months and years go by this may be revised and the membership will be consulted if and when any changes arise.
SIMON DENTON
The final few copies of issue 76 of the Shaymen Down South fanzine were sold out at Tamworth yesterday, so for those who didn't manage to get one this time, the issue is now available online in the SDS Archive. The first issue of the new season (#77) will hopefully be available at the first match, Bamber Bridge's visit to the Shay. Thanks for your continued support at this important juncture for the new club, and watch this space for new developments - we have some interesting ideas for keeping the fundraising momentum going, further details will be published in the next fanzine and on the website.
Haven't already become a member of Shaymen Down South, subscribed to the fanzine, or renewed? Then click here (or right click and select "Save As..."), fill out and print the Membership form for the 2008-09 season, and send it to the usual address. As usual, memberships run from 1st July to 30th June and include 6 copies of the fanzine, including postage. If you haven't already joined, please consider doing as we help to drive the Shaymen back up the leagues!
Our Fanzine Designer has also provided an .ICS file, for all those technically minded, containing the full fixture list for FC Halifax Town for 2008-09. For those who don't know what an .ICS file is (as I didn't until earlier this week...) it's a calendar file, compatible with Apple iCal on iPhones, Mozilla Sunbird and Google Calendar, which you can import to those applications. Right click on the link below and select 'Save Link As...' to download it.
The first FC Halifax Town match is down south! (almost...)
We look forward to meeting as many members as possible on Saturday at Tamworth for what will be a rather unique occasion. Not only is it the first game for the phoenix Halifax club but it is also likely to be the only game for quite a while that many of us can get to within two hours! We have an SDS pub nominated for the day, we return to The Albert Hotel on Albert Road which is just by the train station. The full address is 32 Albert Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 7JS.
We have 10 issues of the close season fanzine left (SDS76) and we also have our first badge of the season available 'Jim'll Fix FCHT'! We are hoping to produce our first fanzine of the season in time to go on sale against Bamber Bridge but this will depend on the number of contributions we get as much as anything else. It would be particularly appreciated if we had some volunteers to write first hand reports on the rest of the upcoming friendlies.
Members who have renewed should receive their membership card / fixture list in the next week or so. To date, around half of the members have already renewed which is slightly ahead of previous seasons at this stage. We thank you all for your continued support.
Our Fanzine Designer has also provided an .ICS file, for all those technically minded, containing the full fixture list for FC Halifax Town for 2008-09. For those who don't know what an .ICS file is (as I didn't until earlier this week...) it's a calendar file, compatible with Apple iCal on iPhones, Mozilla Sunbird and Google Calendar, which you can import to those applications. Right click on this link and select 'Save Link As...' to download it, or see the SDS News page.
Anyone interested in the site updates over the previous few months can see them in the 2007-08 archive section on the SDS News page, which we will begin updating for the new season shortly.