May 2026

Present:

Chris Deverell, Neil Larry, Solveig Haywood, Andy Williams, Linda Wright, Geoff Appleton, Margaret Appleton, Jilly Lane, Martin Clark, Andy Hunns.

1) Apologies

None

2) Minutes Of Last Meeting

Approved and signed by Andy Williams.

a) Matters Arising

None

3) End Of Season Club Dinner 5th June 2026

Geoff has booked and paid for 2 tables for BBSC members - 20 places.

Regular attendees have been approached to join us and there are still 9 places available. Margaret has asked Chris to promote the availability to BBSC members: to invite them to join the contingent from BBSC at a black-tie dinner on a first come, first served basis. We need to include the price and Margaret phone number on the promotion. It is important to fill these places as BBSC will be out of pocket. However, if we do not sell all 9 seats the Club may have a wait list of people who could make up a full table.

4) Potential CHAMP Final Travel Plans

Margaret has contacted Chiltern Travel and reserved two coaches (53 and 51 seaters) on "standby" for the 31s May final. These will cost £700 each.

Once we have filled the two coaches Margaret will take list of additional people wishing to travel and we could potentially book a third coach if there are sufficient numbers. We will charge members £12 for each and nonmembers £15.

Solveig has been contacted by two potential sponsors for the coaches. This would necessitate a joint presentation at the end of the match.

Mike Rayer has said he would like the supporters to be at the ground to cheer the players off the coach when the team bus arrives. We will therefore need to liaise with the Club to ensure that our buses leave half an hour before the team bus to enable our supporters to do this. Andy W will contact Gareth/Sophie for timings. The return to Bedford will also be slightly later than normal after the Final to allow time for celebrations and the presentations after the match!

5) BBSC AGM

Andy W reminded the committee that our Constitution requires us to give members 21 days notice prior to the date of our AGM. Last year the Followers had the AGM in July and we are looking to book the Scrum Bar for the meeting on either Monday 9* or Monday 16" of July. Andy W will consult with the club to confirm which date we can have. We will then issue a formal notification to the members. Sam Roberts is considering standing down as the President of BBSC. The committee discussed names of people who could be asked to take this on. It's purely a "figure head" role and there are no responsibilities with the title. Names suggested were Dean Adamson and Ryan Robinson.

6) BBSC Membership 2026/27

We need to start thinking of memberships for the next season.

Martin said that we need to get all members onto monthly direct debits and stop the annual one-off payments, legacy from the Followers, as this necessitates having members rejoin each season and has GDPR issues as we are not able to retain contact details.

It was agreed that the entry level for membership could be set at £2 per month. This would cost members £24 per year but they are still getting good value for money as their seats for the away trips are lower than non-members Margaret expressed a concern that the members who'd only paid £10 may be upset at having to pay more than double next season. Martin said that there were only 70 who had done this and that many members had "converted" to paying the monthly subscription. It was agreed that we need to send out messages about the positive benefits of membership for next season.

With the current situation in the middle east, fuel prices will continue to be high and consequently we will be paying more for the coaches next season.

We will need to put up the prices for travelling fans and Andy W suggested that the differential between members and non-members be made more significant to encourage more people to join, as well as helping to cover the increase in the costs. He suggested that members pay £15 per trip next season and non-members pay £25. He quoted prices charged by other clubs eg Coventry charge £38 to travel to Bedford and £30 to Worcester)

Chris will look at the current costs this season for the trips so that we can take a proper view of the costings for next season's away trips.

It was suggested that the current "free seats" paid for by Blue Ballers could be put into a monthly draw so that £2 subscribers had the chance of winning free seats. However not all members want to travel to the away games and the sponsors like the ‘free ticket’ being used a raffle prize.

Andy H will draft a press release with the new membership details for next season. We need to raise awareness of BBSC and raise our profile at the club. Andy H suggested getting flyers printed to hand out at matches, although the club may not be happy as these could cause a litter problem. We could ask for space on the screen to advertise the Supporters Club and also ask for space in the match programmes. The Club send out emails publicising the home games: perhaps we could get a section on these promoting joining BBSC and supporting the team at the away matches.

7) Any Other Business

Margaret asked the chairman if she he was happy for her to book away coaches for the next season with Chiltern Travel once the fixture list has been announced. Andy W agreed that this was ok.

Andy H pointed out the state of the BBSC cabin. Despite promises from the club to fix the leaking roof this is still an issue. Andy H suggested we make a snagging list and get quotes to have repairs and improvements made to the Cabin.

The Club may insist we use their contractors. The aim is to have the Cabin in a fit state to welcome our members and to have it branded (with a wrap) so that it is easily identifiable. We have waited all season for modifications to bring the area up to a reasonable standard and will probably need to be proactive to get this achieved before the start of the next season.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday 15th May 2026 at 7.30pm. Venue to be confirmed nearer the time.