Vol.1, Issue 1 - A New Beginning
Following our A.G.M. Barham Football Club officially comes into existence.
Hello, and welcome to this, the first official newsletter for the members and supporters of Barham Football Club.
Barham FC has come a long way from its beginnings as a youth football club almost four years ago. The club was founded to bring football back to the village and allow the local children to learn how to play the beautiful game.
Many of the children that joined us on the village green on a cold winter morning for the first “kick-about” are still with us and have been playing league football competitively ever since. The club continues to support our youngsters as they move up through the age groups. We will have an Under 16 squad and an Under 14 side in the East Kent Youth League next season. In addition, for the first time, we will have teams (U8 and U10) playing in the Faversham & District Youth League, a total of four youth teams playing competitive football next season!
So, let’s get into some detail about what is happening over the coming weeks.
HALF-TERM FOOTBALL FUN DAY
The club is offering our younger members the opportunity to join coach Michael Davies and UEFA/FA coach John McKellar for a football fun day on Wednesday 2nd of June at The Bear Trap. The day runs from 10 AM to 3 PM and costs just £10.00. Spaces are limited, so booking is on a first-come-first-served basis. Please email Diane at events@barhamfc.com to secure your place. Children attending the fun day must bring a packed lunch, plenty of water, sun cream and a sun hat (or coat).
SUMMER HOLIDAY FUN DAYS
We are also running a series of fun days throughout the summer holidays. The days will be weekly on a Tuesday, from 10 AM to 3 PM. The fee will be £10.00 per day per person. Discounts will be available for block bookings. The proposed dates are below.
TUESDAY 27TH JULY
TUESDAY 3RD AUGUST
TUESDAY 10TH AUGUST
TUESDAY 17TH AUGUST
TUESDAY 24TH AUGUST
TUESDAY 31ST AUGUST
We will release further details about the summer fun days over the coming weeks.
NEW WEBSITE
From the 1st of June, the new Barham FC website will go live. The youth website will continue for a few more weeks but all fixtures, results and club information will only be available and updated via the new site. A link to the site is below.
FA PLAYER REGISTRATION SYSTEM
The FA online player registration has been rebooted. Players/parents will find it easier than ever to register themselves or their child with the club using the brand new FA Player Registration System.
In this section, we will run you through some of the new and improved features which we think will make a real difference to how you sign up to play!
1. Self Registration Form
After listening to players & volunteers, the FA knows you often have to dig out a pen and provide your personal details to the club on paper forms. To make things easier the FA has added a brand new "Self-Registration Form", which BFC will send to you via an online link, allowing you to input your details and feed it straight back into the club's online system, ready for you to be registered and get playing!
2. Improved online consent
We know returning paper forms to us is a lengthy process. It's easy to misplace them or put off completing them until you get pestered by us. The improved online consent allows us to send a form to your email address to complete. We can now resend these emails if they get lost and crucially if you provide online consent to Barham FC, it will last for 5 years. Offline consent will only last for 1 year.
3. Mobile optimised design
The new Player Registration System has been optimised to enable you to complete your club admin regardless of the device you use. As a player, you can easily update your personal details at myaccount.thefa.com, approve your consent or complete your self-registration form. As a parent, you can complete all of these processes on behalf of your child.
4. Improved Parental Linking
You no longer have to provide your full name, date of birth and address to your club secretary to be linked to your child. Instead, provide the email address and then you can complete the rest within the secure site using the enhanced ‘Email Capture Tool’.
5. Submit medical & accessibility information
You are now able to submit any medical and accessibility information relating to you or your child straight to the club to be securely stored within the Player Registration System for your safety.
MEMBERSHIPS/SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscription fees for 2021/22 BFC membership are due by 31st August 2021.
We did well in our third season of youth football. All of our youngsters have made progress and continue to enjoy their football but unfortunately, the second lockdown meant a complete halt to grassroots sport.
The committee has been working hard behind the scenes to keep the club up and running. We are fortunate to have received the continued support of organisations like The Atherton Grassroots Fund and the Nailbourne Foundation but there have been additional costs involved in the day to day running of the club.
Our three fully functional FA approved pitches at the Bear Trap and the Brickfield Recreation Ground require continuous maintenance such as grass cutting and line marking. There are also equipment costs, league and club registration fees and insurance premiums. Our subscription fees help to cover all of the above, plus our end of season presentation evening, floodlights, match fees, tournament entry fees and referee costs.
The committee has once again frozen the youth subscription prices for the 2021/22 season.
Here are the prices.
A - Youth Members Playing League Football: £120.00
B - Youth Members Development (non-league): £50.00
For Category A, there is the option to pay your membership fees in six monthly instalments of £20.00 (just £5.00 per week).
For Category B, there is the option to pay your membership fees in five monthly instalments of £10.00 (just £2.00 per week).
SIBLING DISCOUNT AVAILABLE: Please contact our treasurer, Diane, for information.
Please use online or telephone banking where possible. If paying by instalments, please set up your payments as a standing order. Please arrange for your payments to go out on the 1st of the month, where possible.
Our account details are as follows,
ACCOUNT NAME: BARHAM FC
SORT CODE: 23-05-80
ACCOUNT NO: 27711812
Please use your child's name as the payment reference.
Please follow this link to download your membership form.
For admin purposes, the BYFC 2021/22 season will begin on the 1st of July 2021.
ADULT MEMBERSHIP FEES
MEN: £150 PER ANNUM + MATCH FEES
LADIES: TBA
The committee is available to answer any questions you might have about our subscription prices; we also welcome any feedback you would like to provide.
EASY FUNDRAISING
Please remember to use ‘easyfundraising’ every time you shop online. For example, over 5,000 shops and sites will donate to Barham Football Club, including big names like eBay, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, ASOS, M&S and Just Eat!
You could help raise money for our club when you use ‘easyfundraising’ to renew utilities including car and home insurance, energy, phone contract or broadband. Uswitch, GoCompare, Confused.com and many more will all donate to us for FREE!
If you haven’t signed up to support us yet, it’s easy and completely FREE. These donations really help us, so it would be great if you could take a moment to get started!
You can find our ‘easyfundraising’ page here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/barhamfootball/?utm_campaign=raise-more&utm_medium=email&utm_content=rm-rbd21-e1
VOLUNTEERS
Barham FC is always looking to recruit enthusiastic volunteers that can help us run the club. We want to have as many coaches and coaching assistants as possible so we are able to offer more opportunities to play football. The FA is aware of the need for coaches and is in the process of changing the way coaching qualifications are obtained. They have now completed the transition of the FA Safeguarding Children Workshop, FA Introduction to First Aid and FA Level 1 in Coaching Football away from county FA’s and into The FA centrally.
There are some significant changes to the structure of Coach Education, so please see the list below which summarises the new courses.
FA Safeguarding Children
Individuals that need the FA Safeguarding Children qualification for the first time.
Price: £30 - Online Only
https://thebootroom.thefa.com/learning/qualifications/fa-safeguarding-children-workshop
FA Safeguarding Children Recertification
Individuals that need to renew their FA Safeguarding Children qualification
Price: Free - Online Only
https://thebootroom.thefa.com/learning/qualifications/online-safeguarding-children-re-certification
Introduction To First Aid In Football
Individuals that need to complete Emergency Aid training
Price: £30 - Online Only
BT Playmaker By England Football - The first step to becoming a qualified coach. Prerequisite for Introduction To Coaching Football
Price: Free - Online Only
https://thebootroom.thefa.com/learning/qualifications/the-fa-playmaker
Introduction To Coaching Football (Launching 14th June)
REPLACING the FA Level 1 in Coaching Football.
Price: £160 - Online Only
https://thebootroom.thefa.com/learning/qualifications/fa-level-1-in-coaching-football
The club will cover the cost of the training as and when it becomes available.
If you are interested in being involved as we develop our youth and adult teams, please speak to Tony or Michael about how you can help. Here are links to information about volunteering in football:
Get Into Volunteering
Get into Coaching
The Boot Room
THE CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE
Football at The Bear Trap is in full flow, with mini-cubs, cubs, pandas and bears all enjoying plenty of football. The youth league teams are nearing the end of their season. The U15’s (Bears) are still right in the mix at the top of the league. Their final game of the season is on Sunday 6th June at home on the recreation ground, kick-off at 2 pm. Please come and give them support; it could make all the difference to a win!
The faster movers in the club at the moment are the adults. Both the ladies and the men’s sections are achieving good numbers and tremendous progress.
The men have played a couple of 8-a-side games and acquitted themselves extremely well.
We will be deciding what teams we will be putting into the various leagues next season and looking forward to many children enjoying matchplay football.
We continue to push for our clubhouse and are always looking for fundraising incentives to provide the required funds.
Anyone looking to get themselves or their children involved in the football club, please contact us.
Tony
Chairman - Barham FC
We hope that you have enjoyed this newsletter. We will endeavour to send it out via email every Friday; however, if you miss an issue, a copy can be found by following the NEWSLETTER link on the club website.
Look out for match reports, fixtures, club news and competitions in future editions.
Have a great weekend.
Many thanks
Barham FC
*Correction* The men's membership fee is £100 per annum + match fees.