February 2026

Present: Andrew Williams (Chair), Geoff Appleton, Chris Deverell, Solvieg Haywood, Neil Larry, Linda Wright.

1) Apologies

Andrew Hunns, Margaret Appleton, Martin Clarke, Jilly Lane.

2) Minutes Of Last Meeting

Approved and signed by Andy Williams.

3) Matters Arising

None

4) Finance Update

Geoff reported the current position.

5) Coach Travel Update

In Margaret’s absence, Geoff told the committee that a 53-seater bus has been booked for Caldy away match and that 28 seats have been booked so far. Margaret has booked 2 x 49-seater for Cambridge and 64 seat are booked. 35 supporters have booked for the Worcester trip and numbers travelling to the away matches are very healthy.

We need to list of supporters booked for Worcester to enable Neil to get the tickets and arrange BBSC to be invoiced. BBSC will pay Worcester Warriors directly for these.

6) Cabin Update

Andy W has been informed of the following:

• The step has been replaced

• Work on the handrail is in progress

• SDC have looked at and assessed repairs needed to fix the leak in the roof at the back of the cabin. Repairs have been scheduled for their next site visit but no date for this yet.

The Club will stand the cost of these repairs to honour their original promise to make the cabin good for us.

The committee discussed adding the wrap to the outside of the cabin. BBSC will need to pay, but we will ask the Club to get us a quote for this

The message board near the disabled shelter was discussed. This is still branded “Followers” and was paid for by the Camy Family as a memorial to Tony and Lorene. The committee decided that we don’t need to “rebrand” this board but do need to make sure we display BBSC posters and materials to publicise trips and events in this. Chris will look to get these displayed.

7) Contribution To The Club (Mid Season)

Gareth has provided a list of items that the Club would appreciate a contribution from BBSC for:

• Replacement of blue apron seats in the stand.

• GPS units for players.

• Replacing equipment in Marquee kitchen.

• Digital screens to replace light box (scoreboard).

• Replacing chairs & tables in marquee and scrum bar.

Andy W to ask for bank details so that we can make our contribution.

Linda suggested that this goes towards items for the players and marquee kitchen.

We will make a further contribution to the club at the end of the season to help pay for the upgrade on the scoreboard.

NB: The club is arranging signage to be added to the disabled stand acknowledging the various organisations who helped to pay for it including BBSC.

8) Cambridge - Big Day Out

Russell Beard has agreed to sponsor the Big Day Out with a donation.

Two coaches booked. Fans will be allocated to a coach and there will be someone on each coach to check numbers on our return to ensure no one is left behind!

Supporters will be given tokens to cover the bus, breakfast roll and after match bar drink when they check in at the scrum bar at the beginning of the day.

Drink options: beer, wine or soft drink – the bar will send BBSC a bill after the event.

Coaches will be numbered so that travelling supporters know which one they are on.

Raffle tickets will be sold in the Scrum bar, ahead of the departure to Cambridge.

There will be a draw on each coach. Blue Ballers are sponsoring one coach and Man of the Match. The Man of the Match will receive a bottle of champagne and a crate of beer.

Committee discussed possibility of getting sponsor for second coach but decided against this, so as not to offend Blue Ballers.

Andy W pointed out that we will need sponsors for away trips when Blues make the play offs.

9) BBSC Soiree

Mike has agreed that this can take place in the marquee on 7th May 2026. No date has been set yet for the end of season dinner at the club.

Andy W said that the event cost around £3k last season.

• Organise raffle prizes (wine chocolates etc) hopefully some will be donated but we will buy others to ensure we have some decent prizes.

• If we are offered a unique item (eg signed shirt) we may hold an auction.

• Book guest speaker linked to Club: possibility of Soane Tonga’uiha since his son has played for Blues.

• Look at players milestones during season and organise framed photos for presentations/prizes.

• Andy W to give speech on the first year of BBSC

• Orgnaise catering: Taylors Kitchen to quote price per head. Andy W will ask Sophie for costings.

• Invite sponsors to event as a thank you.

• Try of the Season.

Members will be invited to donate raffle prizes.

Chris commented that we need to have photos of home draw winners receiving their prizes from sponsors as it will help promote membership and also boost the sponsors profile too.

10) Membership Platform

Geoff mentioned the annual ICO payments made by Followers each year and pointed out the importance of complying with GDPR legislation. Andy W agreed that we need to observe these rules and said that he is looking at setting up a membership platform to store members details. He said the Club would be happy to advise us on how to go about this and may be able to get us a good deal. He and Chris could be supervisors and handle comms with members through this - Andy W will discuss with the Club. This will not be connected to the Club and will be completely independent.

11) Any Other Business

a) Jilly has been in touch with Andy W to say she has made a start on putting out a questionnaire asking members how they think BBSC is going. She will create 5 questions that can be sent out to members via the WhatsApp channel

b) Martin has mentioned that Mailchimp is changing and this can be discussed at the next meeting.

c) Solveig and Neil missed a chunk of the Ampthill match as they were in the cabin sorting out the stubs of the jackpot tickets for the half time draw. They are rightly unhappy that they had to miss the start of the game. Andy W suggested that we stop selling the tickets earlier, but the consensus is that many people purchase just before the start and we don’t want to lose income. Chris said that the ticket stubs could be torn at the time of sale and taken to the cabin ready to add the draw. We agreed that this could speed up the process and will trial at the London Scottish game.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 26th March 2026 at 7.30pm. Venue to be confirmed nearer the time.