Well, where does one start to summarise the 2019/20 season? It started so well in August 2019 with the AGM but finished abruptly in March 2020.
So let’s try and recap the Senior Tigers year.
The year started with our AGM when the existing committee was re-elected unopposed. Along with the addition of Helen Carter becoming an elected member.
Our new constitution was put to our members and the vote was carried for acceptance unanimously by the members.
The full minutes of the AGM are available to members by request to the Secretary.
After our tea/coffee break we had the pleasure of the company of Tom Mathers. Tom had us spellbound during his interview with David Bond. What an outstanding and varied career he has led.
Our first meeting of the season in September started with another superb buffet lunch provided by our Football Club to which we once again extend our much felt thanks.
We welcomed Paul Bryan & Elizabeth Claugue onto the committee and Paul will be looking after the Wellbeing of our members.
A new sound system is needed as our existing one is no longer in working order.
We welcomed Brian & Brenda Beck onto the Memorabilia team to help Tony Conway, Helen Carter, Stuart Tomlinson and Rob Wilson with their work on this important project.
We had the pleasure of the Head of Hull City Academy Jon Beale as our guest speaker. Jon also brought along one of the rising stars of the Academy Keane Lewis Potter. Jon gave us a detailed look into the aims and objectives of the Academy and Keane gave us insight into the day to day life of a young player making his way to becoming a professional footballer.
Barbara arranged our first outing of the season a day at Saltaire, from the moment we met our role-playing guides in the chapel the scene was set for a fabulous day.
October saw us in the Kingston Suite. Our speaker was Rob Bell from the Hull History Group who enlighten us all to the life and antics of a pre-war player for Hull City Patrick O’Connell. What a colourful character he was.
On October 10th, our Secretary Allen, through his connection with Hull Fair and The Showman’s Guild, organised a visit to meet members of the Guild at the New Walton Club. What a strict code of conduct the showman live by. It was good to see Hull Fair from their perspective.
Our October trip took us to the Middlesbrough F.C. Riverside ground then onto Thirsk to the James Herriot Centre. Another successful trip was organised by Barbara.
We went back into the Dugout for our November meeting. We tried out a new PA system which met with general approval. At this meeting, we welcomed as our speaker a true gentleman who has put his heart and soul into one of our successful local semi-professional football clubs, North Ferriby. A truly warm round of applause was given to Les Hare. Who gave us an in-depth look into what it meant to him to be involved in local grassroots football.
Our trip this month was a chance to revisit the National Football Museum in Manchester well worth a second visit always something new to see.
December saw us in the Circle Restaurant for our Christmas Lunch. We had the pleasure of the company of Hull City Commercial Manager Joe Clutterbrook and the fans liaison officer, Ann Holland. A special welcome was given to Hull City Assistant Head Coach Cliff Bryne.
Tom Wilkinson got our little grey cells working extra hard with his music quiz. Over 180 members and guests enjoyed another superb lunch from the Tiger Events Team in the lovely Circle Restaurant. A special word of thanks to Ernie for another fantastic display on the raffle table.
January 2020 marked a milestone in the Senior Tigers as it is 20 years since the club was formed. To mark this achievement a celebration cake was provided for our enjoyment with our teas and coffees.
The cake was cut by four of the original committee Gordon, Alan, Ilona & Betty. A word of thanks was extended to all members for the support they have given the committees past and present over the last 20 years.
Our guest speaker, who was interviewed by our old friend David Bond, was Roy Bly who talked about his father Billy, a great stalwart of Hull City who gave many years of service to the club.
Our trip this month took us Hawes for a tour of the creamery and lunch in the restaurant.
February marked the 2nd anniversary of our Memorabilia day in the Kingston Suite. Since then a dedicated group have been working to bring some of those items and many more memories to our website. This meeting marked the day we went live with the Memorabilia section of our website. This section will leave a lasting memory of the history of this great football club of ours. At present, there are over 12400 items to view ( 11000 pages of programmes, over 1400 individual items). A special mention is needed here to Rob Wilson for without his expertise and knowledge of IT none of this would have been possible. Thank you, Rob.
Our thoughts turned to the ladies of our membership, so we invited Sarah Johnson & Pauline Hardy to give a brief talk on some of the activities that are available in the area for them. One of the most popular being Ladies Walking Netball which was met with a good degree of interest.
Our speaker for February was an ex-player who became one of our supporters’ favourite players and who belongs in that special group that has played in every division for the Tigers, Andy Dawson. Andy gave a detailed and interesting account of his time as a professional footballer and is now guiding the lads at the Academy. He had the Senior Tigers full attention throughout the interview.
The Appleby & Frodingham railway at the Scunthorpe steelworks was our destination for our excursion this month. Over 100 members enjoyed bacon sandwiches on board at the start of the journey around the steelworks. This was followed by an excellent Buffet Lunch at the home of Scunthorpe R.U. Club.
The Senior Tigers received an invitation to meet with Ehab on 24th February. So Barbara, Rob & myself accepted the invitation on behalf of the Senior Tigers.
One of the reasons for the meeting was to inform the football club of our intentions regarding the launch of our memorabilia section onto our website and for further publicity we felt was necessary to promote this important section. We also thanked him and the football club for the help and support they have given the Senior Tigers over the last 20years. In brief, we came away from the meeting feeling that he showed a great deal of interest and respect for the Senior Tigers and added that he would give his and the club’s support with the progression of the history and memorabilia of our website.
At our March meeting, the menus for our May lunch were available. Throughout the year we have been collecting during our tea/ coffee break donations to help the WWF save the tiger fund. Our target of £500 is well on its way. We gave a very warm welcome to our speaker this afternoon our first-team coach Grant McCann. We were especially pleased that Grant was able to make it this afternoon considering the pressure he must be under with a horrendous injury list and recent results not going in the Tigers favour. He gave an account of being a young lad growing up in Northern Ireland during the troubles and of the relative security at 16 of becoming a member of West Hams Football Academy and then his subsequent journey through his football career and into management. We wished him and the team all the best for the rest of the season with a warm round of applause.
Just as we were starting to plan our next trip to the Wold Top Brewery and our May lunch came the news which altered our way of life for who knows how long. Covid19, the coronavirus, hit the world with such devastation. The whole of the UK in late March went into lockdown. The Senior Tigers year came to an abrupt end. Who knows when we shall meet again in the Dugout.
But as I sit here writing this year’s end of season report there is one of our committee members who deserves an extra special mention. Paul Bryan.
Paul has during these difficult times made sure that each and every member of the Senior Tigers has had regular telephone calls from him, checking to see if they are ok and if any help was needed. Paul, we salute you I know how much these calls have meant to our members, so on behalf of them, I say thank you for making the time, being a friendly voice at the other end of the telephone and making sure none of our members were forgotten during this pandemic. Paul your letter from the Jim Dick, the Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding, was richly deserved.
On your behalf, we donated £1000.00 to WISHH to show our appreciation of the fantastic work the front line workers of the NHS are doing during this pandemic.
Until we all meet up sometime in the future, take care, stay safe, keep smiling.
