We had a change of venue for our members’ meeting, as the Kingston Suite was unavailable this month. Our meeting was held in the Legends Lounge, which we all remember as the Dugout. One hundred and fifty-six members attended, and on arrival, all the ladies were given a silk Hull City scarf donated by Tigers Leisure.
To start the afternoon, Barbara made her announcements. She informed the members of the coach pick-up times for the upcoming outings and confirmed the timings for the Christmas meal. Barbara also told the members that she is arranging for us to go for lunch again to Croft Park, Little Weighton, in January, as we did this January. She also asked if there was interest in going to London again. Finally, Barbara reminded everyone that our members’ meeting in January will be on Thursday, the 8th and not the first Thursday of January, as that will be New Year’s Day.
Andy, who has taken over from Ernie in organising trips to away matches, followed Barbara in announcing that he is still going to Stoke even though the numbers are low. He is also going to be taking names for the Boxing Day match against Sheffield Wednesday.
Tim Smith from Acklams came to the meeting to give a presentation about their business and to promote their coach holidays. Acklams works with ninety travel agents across Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, and they will soon be opening a shop in Anlaby. Tim told us that they run a loyalty scheme, through which you can receive 5% discount on holidays and also reminded us of the Senior Tigers discount too.
Our guest speaker this month was Steve Jordan, the ‘Voice on the Pitch’ at our home football matches. He has been away for four years and has returned as the Official Stadium Announcer. Steve is a local man and a long-time supporter of Hull City.
At the start of the interview, he promised Richard, our own interviewer, that he would not shout much, to our amusement. Steve talked about his time as a radio presenter on various networks, including BBC Radio Derby and Radio Nottingham, where he was the stadium announcer for Nottingham Forest. Before this, he was a presenter on, among others, Viking FM, where he worked three times.
Steve first started supporting Hull City and went to Boothferry Park as a ten-year-old with his father, and used to sit in the West Stand. He made us laugh when he said he got showered in rust from the stand roof when it was ever hit by a football. It was at age fifteen, when listening to Viking Radio, which had just been launched, that he decided all he wanted to do was be on the radio and after eight years of trying, he got his first break on Lincs FM.
Steve told us how incredible it was to be presenting from Wembley Stadium, the four times Hull City have been there, and when they were in the Premiership, it was just brilliant. A highlight of his career was as a stadium announcer during the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia and covering ten games. These included England’s historic 6-1 win against Panama.
Richard said it was fantastic to have him back as the matchday announcer..
Steve stayed to draw the raffle, which raised £292.00.
Before the raffle was drawn, Richard Marsden, a Senior Tiger, gave a short talk about the Advanced Driving Course he had recently undertaken. Richard first passed his driving test in 1966, when we still gave hand signals and had paper driving licences. Old habits die hard, and he had contemplated giving up driving. On one occasion, recently, he was stopped by the police for driving too slowly up a slip road off the A63. This prompted him to have a taster session on the Advanced Driving Course, and he didn’t score very well, so he decided to enrol on the course. Richard went on to take his Advanced Driving Test, which he passed. Richard thanked Malcolm Anderson, a Senior Tiger too, and a member of Hull & East Riding Advanced Motorists, who had given a presentation at one of our previous meetings, for helping him along the way. The message Richard gave was to make the roads more enjoyable to drive on.
Shirley Cormack
A Full House Tim Smith from Acklams presenting to our members
Richard Interviewing Steve Jordan
Pat giving the vote of thanks to Steve Jordan Richard Marsden giving his talk
