Heacham Supporters Group 1 of 3

1. How we were formed


HEACHAM F C SUPPORTERS CLUB

History - how it all started

In July 2020 Nigel Askew said to me (Denis Cooper) shall we start a supporters club or something" and i said "why not" and so Heacham F C Supporters Club was "born".
His vision was to generate some extra financial help for the Football Club. But Nigel being Nigel he wanted to make sure that everything was going to be done
correctly, everything would be transparent and he ensured that the Supporters Club was formed with a constitution. Nigel recruited a couple more people and a commiittee
was formed with Nigel and myself taking on the roles of Treasurer and Secretary and joint Vice Chairman (Nathan Stockdake, from Heacham Minors, agreed to take up the position
of Chairman).

So what happened next?

"We'll need to have a Facebook page" - something i had no idea about! So a facebook page was released (a new learning curve for both of us!)
Next we need Membership Cards - so i contacted Chris Witley (Witley Press in Hunstanton) and he kindly agreed to sponsor and print the cards for free.
How much is membership going to be and what will our supporters get for their money? Lets get a club pin badge made (never been done before) and give every member a badge and
will also hold some "free" prize raffles throughout the season (with the hope that we could get some donations/sponsors for the prizes). Nigel persuaded a member of his
family to sponsor the badges and so we were up and running. Membership was set at £5 and now it was time to start recruiting members. Then Nigel pulled a real "rabbit" out of the hat.
He managed to get someone to donate a signed "Pele" shirt and using all his charm managed to get a bid of £500 for the shirt, so suddenly the Supporters Club were in a position to start
player sponsorship, match ball sponsorship for both the 1st team and reserves and kit sponsorship.

Everything was moving pretty fast within a month or so and once the badges arrived membership numbers started gathering momentum. However, things were take a turn for something
that nobody was prepared for, Nigel contracted Leukemia and sadly passed away in the November. It was a big body blow for everyone connected to the Football Club but we were not
going to let all his hard work go to waste and this made everyone more determined to make the Supporters Club a success.

How big is the Supporters Club now?

At the end of the first season (2020/1) we had a membership of 112 and facebook had well over 200 followers.
For the 2021/2 season membership was still only £5 and we had another limited edition pin badge made:- our very own "Heacham F C Supporters Club" pin badge. Membership went upto
a staggering 176 members and the facebook page followers is fast approaching 400!
For the forthcoming season membership is still only going to be £5 (for the 3rd season running) and this season we will be giving every member a very special limited edition "Anglian Combination Champions" pin badge. Also we must not forget that members can now get discounts from local food outlets and businessess.
We are aiming to hit the 200 membership mark and it would be nice if the facebook page reached 500 followers.

How has the Supporters Club helped the Football Club?

We set up a "Player Welfare Fund" to help out injured players. We also continue to sponsor Players, match ball sponsorship and other events that the Football Club may hold.

If you want any further information or want to sponsor/donate to the Supporters Club, then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Denis Cooper
Chairman/Secretary
Heacham F C Supporters Club
email: deniscooper06@aol.com