It was nice to see our Chair, Allen, back after his spell in hospital and subsequent recuperation at home. Allen welcomed everyone to the meeting in his usual cheery manner and said how nice it was to be back.
Barbara made her usual announcements regarding upcoming events and outings. In particular, our March All-Day members meeting, when we will be celebrating England’s 1966 World Cup victory and Hull City’s 1965-66 promotion to the then Second Division.
Barbara then announced on behalf of Ernie that he is participating in the “56 Miles in February” challenge. He aims to walk two miles each day between 1st February and 28th February, raising funds for Prostate Cancer Research, which is very important to him and to many other Senior Tigers who have been affected by prostate cancer.
Tony once again asked for volunteers to take part in the Ron Betts Quiz, which will be held during our March meeting. Tony also mentioned that the next Listening Project session will be held on 3rd March in the first team changing room at the MKM Stadium. This project, in conjunction with KCOM, will run for most of the year, so if anyone would like to take part, he asked that they speak to him.
KCOM had a helpdesk at our meeting, which proved very popular with our members. Their two Customer Service Champions were kept busy answering enquiries.
Our first guest was Lorna Leach from the Tigers Trust. She is the Director of Community and has been with the Trust for approximately a year, taking over from Catherine Bishop. Lorna came to introduce herself and spoke about her involvement in sport in the community and her work with local authorities to support people of all ages for the benefit of society.
For those who did not know of the work the Tigers Trust does, Lorna gave an outline of their involvement in the community and the values linked with sports. They run courses, events and work with schools across Hull and surrounding communities. They also help with a wide range of issues, including health, unemployment and youth crime, working with the police.
Tigers Trust is a charity and receives funding from the Premier League Charitable Fund. They also hold fundraising events throughout the year.
Lorna spoke about one of their initiatives, the Boot Room. They collect, clean, and redistribute pre-loved football boots to local children and adults who would otherwise be unable to play football due to a lack of proper footwear. The Senior Tigers were among the donors of the bins used to collect the donated boots.
Pat thanked Lorna for joining us and updating us on events at the Tigers Trust and reminded everyone that there is a link to their Newsletter in our monthly Newsletter.
Our guest speaker this month was Joe Gelhardt. Richard started the interview by telling Joe that he is currently leading our Player of the Year table, and if he continues to do so, he will be invited back to receive a trophy.
Richard was interested to know why everyone calls Joe Joffy. Apparently, his uncle, who is also called Joe, gave him the nickname as a child, and it’s stuck ever since.
Joe talked about his football career, from when he started playing for Wigan, with whom his first senior goal was against Hull City. He was signed by Wigan at sixteen and played twenty games for them before they went into administration. He then went to Leeds, playing in the Premier League at the age of eighteen. It was while he was at Leeds that we were lucky to have him come on loan to us last season. He was keen to come back this season as he loves the club and the people, and we love him too. So he was delighted the club wanted him back.
Joe spoke about the camaraderie within the club and how they all get on together both in and out of the club. He told us how he can’t wait for next Friday when they play Chelsea in the FA Cup under floodlights, which is also when he likes playing.
Richard said how easy Joe was to interview, and Pat gave her usual thanks and appreciation to Joe for joining us this afternoon.
To finish the afternoon, we held our usual raffle, which raised £382.
Shirley Cormack
Lorna Leach – Tigers Trust Large Attentive Audience
Joe Geldardt interviewed by Richard Pat, Joe Geldardt and Richard
Ernie and Barbara posing for the KCOM Help Desk
Prostate Fundraiser
