Minutes of Old School Hammers Committee held (by zoom) on August 1st 2023.
Present
Phil Stringfellow (Secretary), M Adie, M Field, S Law.
Apologies
Received from committee member T Conlon who was away on holiday. Committee member R Compton did not attend as he was not contactable.
All agreed that PS Chair the meeting and he opened the meeting at 6.30 pm.
Election of Committee members.
PS drew attention to the increasing workload and reported that at present only 2 committee members were active. He hoped others could step forward to support.
This led to MA moving SL be adopted onto the committee. This was seconded by PS and carried unanimously.
SL then moved that MF be adopted onto the committee. PS seconded, carried unanimously.
OSH now have an active committee of 5 who could work towards improvements for our members and over 60s supporters in general .
PS pointed out that in accordance with our constitution we should formally elect a Chair.
MA moved PS take up position of Chair, seconded SL, carried unanimously.
MA then moved SL take over as Secretary, seconded PS, carried unanimously.
Membership
Chair reported that there were 320 formally signed up per the website and that the Facebook group had over 200 members. He accepted there was duplication and he would correlate listings and invite Facebook members to formally join. PS hoped we would soon reach 500 members.
Adoption onto FAB / ISC
Chair gave background drawing attention to correspondence to date with the FSA and ISC. There was clearly no representation for our over 60s fans on the existing ISC and the fans deserve better.
He went on to report that the decision on whether or not we were adopted would be for the ISC members themselves and the club would have no influence. He suggested we convene an urgent meeting with the FSA to get their endorsement and support. We were proactive, FSA affiliated, democratic, had a social media presence, regular committee meetings, emailed our members on a regular basis and also reported on our Facebook page. He was confident we met any criteria laid down and we should present an overwhelming proposal to the FSA.
This was endorsed, Chair to arrange meeting with FSA accordingly.
Season Ticket Cards
Chair reported his understanding that these would be updated for use this coming season. He had written to the club seeking confirmation and awaited a reply. Noted.
Digital away tickets.
Chair reported that he had written to the club seeking clarification on digital tickets for away games and awaited reply. This led to debate leading to unanimous agreement that there must be an alternative in place for supporters unable to process digital tickets. We should ask the club what they would be doing to accommodate visiting fans.
Over 65’s concession tickets
Chair reminded the meeting that West Ham and Aston Villa were the only Premier League clubs to raise the age for concessions from 65 to 66 and felt strongly that we must continue to campaign for concession age to be restored by the club to 65. This was agreed.
He went on to report problem incurred by one of our members mistakenly being charged full price by the club for away tickets.This had now been sorted with club assurances that there would be no further problems. Noted .
There being no further business Chair closed the meeting at 7.10 pm thanking all for attending.
