Norfolk Christian league AGM hears of successful season
Chairman Mike Culwick reports on the Norfolk Christian Football League AGM, a successful season and an appeal for Norwich churches to adopt new youth teams.
The league held its AGM on June 22 at
Witard Road Baptist Church, with
Matt Carpenter from the
Norfolk FA in attendance.
Vice chairman
Jim Green opened the meeting with prayer and spoke about ‘why we do football’.
Chairman
Mike Culwick then welcomed Matt Carpenter and all the managers and secretaries to the evening and thanked them for coming. There was a 97% turn out for club representation, which was very encouraging.
During the evening two important awards were presented. First, the
Fellowship Trophy was presented by
Bert Cadmore from the league's Council of Reference, to
Paul Smith of Lighthouse Church (pictured above), Sheringham. For the second year running Lighthouse had been voted by other teams as the most sporting team in the Adult League.
Bert also presented the
Sam Hollinger Trophy to
Simon Nobbs of Surrey Chapel (pictured right). This annual award is presented in recognition of service to the league. Simon had been the league treasurer for many years but has also been involved in running youth teams at Surrey Chapel and refereeing. He will shortly be leaving Norwich to take up a new appointment in Essex and we wish him every success in his new career.
The elected members for the new season are:
Chair – Mike Culwick
Vice chair – Jim Green
Secretary – Lucie Fox [until July, then Alan Barnes will take over]
Treasurer – Murdo Macleay
Results Secretary – Phil Dove
Referee secretary and Respect officer – Chris Allen
Welfare officer – Tim Stapleford
Council of reference – Bert Cadmore, Gary Ryan, Derek Cate
U10 coordinator – Alan Barnes
U12 coordinator – Mike Culwick
U14 Coordinator – Stephen Bailey
U16 Coordinator – Paul Nice
Committee member – Paul Smith
There have been ten applications from youth teams that want to join the league. So Far only Thorpe Rovers U10 and an U10 team from Silver Road have been successful in finding church support for their application. This is a great shame, as we would love to grow the league but every application needs a Christian organisation to support them. There is also the possibility that we will have three new adult teams next season.
We look forward to another season after a successful 14/15 season, although we need to make some serious decisions regarding our finances to secure the future of the league.
We would ask churches to consider offering support to the following teams who need a church or Christian organization to back their application to join the league.
Hillside Rovers U10– Thorpe St Andrew
Sprowston U10 – Sprowston or Heartsease
Mulbarton U10 – Mulbarton Parish
Mattishall U12 – Mattishall parish
Blofield – Blofield, Brundall, Thorpe End Parishes
Thorpe United Girls U16 – Thorpe parish
This presents a great opportunity to link up with your local communities.