The Trust board regrets that updates to members and the public have been slow of late, however there has been a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes to get the Trust into the favourable position that it is now in, as will be explained below.

One of the most prominent issues to Pilgrims fans of late has been the ‘Save the Pilgrims’ fund set up by the football club to raise the money required make the last payments to HMRC. It has always been the Trust’s intention to give towards this cause – indeed in the summer it was decided at an open meeting it was the Trust’s goal to raise the entire balance but this later proved unrealistic thanks to lack of time, volunteers and luck at one major fundraising event in particular.

To protect the members, the Trust’s rules and regulations would have of course prevented us from giving to the cause without receiving something in return, and this was never the intention of the Trust. Following discussions with the club about this we received a letter from David Newton, chairman of Boston United (attached) which ensured us that any ‘donation’ would count towards any future purchase of shares in the club. In principle this was satisfactory to us. The letter also clarified why the Trust has changed the direction of its fundraising from the club’s youth schemes, a policy the club is happy with. Following consultations with Supporters Direct it was thought that the best way to put this sort of agreement in legal terms to protect the Trust and to follow its rules would be a loan agreement whereby the club would pay the Trust back in shares, or, if it missed the deadline for this the money would have to be returned with interest – obviously it was the intention and will of both parties this would be paid back in shares.

The Trust was in the process of finalising this with a solicitor when board members met with David Newton before the home game against Cambridge United, where it was explained that at the club’s AGM which would be arranged soon, and that the Directors would propose a special resolution which would allow them to issue shares to the Trust at the time a payment was made. This has rendered the aforementioned ‘loan agreement’ unnecessary as the Trust will immediately receive something (shares in the club at a price of 25p each) in return for a payment. The Trust are delighted to confirm that, provided this resolution is passed at the football club’s AGM, it intends to purchase £3,000’s worth of shares in he football club, giving the supporters a share in the club through BUFCST, a democratic and openly run organisation.

Following the team’s exit from the FA Cup despite a credible performance against Cambridge, this has also allowed the Trust to confirm that its second AGM will be held at the Unitarian Chapel, Spayne Road, at 1pm on Saturday 29^th November 2008, we hope supporters will find this date convenient as it allows them to attend the AGM prior to the match with Whitby Town with the turnstiles just a minute’s walk away.

The appropriate agendas, notices and nomination slips for the AGM will be sent out to members in due course. We are gradually sorting through a backlog in our membership database where entries may be incorrect or out of date – we will confirm when the pieces of documentation have been sent out so if you believe you have not received details when you should have done then please confirm this and then contact us.

In the interim period between now and the AGM we are also desperate for new board members. In particular the current secretary wishes to stand down so anyone who believes they have the skills and time to take on this role would be much encouraged to contact us. This lack of personnel has also led us to offer the Santa Fun Run to the football club who are organising it this year and who will hopefully build on the strong foundations laid last year. The Trust are organising a Christmas raffle, and would be very grateful if anyone who may be able to help by donating a prize or selling some tickets would contact Melvin Moxon via enquiries@bufcst.org.uk.

We hope the above statement clarified a number of issues. The news above regarding a share purchase in the club makes these very exciting times for the Trust. This is not an opportunity open to many Trusts across the country and many would be desperate for this opportunity. Now is never a better time to join, rejoin or renew your membership of the Trust as we continue to represents the fans’ interests in a Boston United FC at the forefront of the community!

BUFCST board, 31/10/2008