On Thursday, 6th March, we celebrated the Senior Tigers Club’s 25th Anniversary. What has become normal for our March members meeting is that we once again held a full-day social event. But this year, we also included celebrations for the anniversary of the formation of the Senior Tigers Club.
On arrival, everyone was given a 25th Anniversary Souvenir Brochure and a commemorative pin badge. Then, our members could enjoy complimentary tea, coffee, and biscuits while chatting with friends.
Richard Mathers from Tigers Leisure had a stall with many sales and discounted items to purchase. This proved very popular with our members, as there was a constant queue with many members ‘bagging a bargain’. Many people went home with bags full of merchandise.
During the morning session, we all had the opportunity to view the Hull City Wall of Fame, which is situated along the tunnel on the way to the pitch. Group tours were led by Brendon Smurthwaite. The wall includes the names of every Hull City player from the beginning of the football club in date order who has played in at least one senior game for the club. The players who had their names in gold are also entered into the Hull City Hall of Fame.
Also, during the morning session, there was a joint presentation from the Tigers Trust and the NHS talking about the benefits that volunteers bring to them.
Richard Dexter from the Tigers Trust told us that they are desperate for volunteers and that if any of us could spare the time, no matter how small, it would be appreciated. The Tigers Trust has been going since 1990, and they will be celebrating their 35th anniversary this year. Tigers Trust are the official charity of Hull City Football Club, engaging with people from the age of two to our ages. They enable people to live a healthy and happy life in the local community.
Joining Richard was Rachael Hardcastle-Pearce from the NHS, who is their Head of Volunteering within the Humber Health Partnership, which includes HRI, Castle Hill, Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Goole hospitals. She gave an introduction to the volunteer roles in the NHS and told us of the benefits of volunteering and what a difference it makes. There are various roles within the volunteering sector, including Patient Companions, Admin Support, Retail and Hospitality. She told us that they have restarted the trolley service, and volunteers are invited to operate this service.
To finish off the morning session, our members enjoyed a buffet lunch.
Members who had not attended in the morning started arriving at 1 o’clock for our afternoon session and the monthly members’ meeting. Barbara started the afternoon with her announcements about upcoming outings and the end-of-season meal. She will be contacting all members with updated information in due course. Barbara was also pleased to announce that our guest Rachael had today been made a trustee of the Tigers Trust.
As we were celebrating the Senior Tigers Club’s 25th Anniversary today, we had four guest speakers. One of whom was Adam Pearson, the ex-owner and Chairman of the football club. Allen, our Chair, was pleased to announce that Adam would today be made an Honorary Member of the Senior Tigers in recognition of his support of the Senior Tigers and what he has done for the city of Hull. Adam said how honoured he was to receive this. He was given a commemorative pin badge and a souvenir brochure, and he then cut our anniversary cake.
The other guest speakers were city ex-players, Adam Lowthorpe, Mark Greaves and Scott Maxfield. Our usual interviewer, Richard Beachell, was unable to join us today, so Brendon Smurthwaite very kindly agreed to step in for him. Adam, Mark and Scott talked about their time playing for the football club and gave an insight into what they are involved with now.
Adam is a local lad who followed Hull City growing up and joined the football club on a YTS Scheme. He and Brendon have known each other since childhood, playing for Cottingham Rangers together. Making his debut for Hull City was a proud moment, going from supporting his home team to playing for it. Adam now plays for the ex-Tigers with Dean Windass, and he is the Chief Executive of the East Riding FA.
Mark is also a Hull lad and joined Hull City via the non-league route. He fondly remembers watching Hull City from the stands at Boothferry Park with Adam Lowthorpe. He told us that Jacob, his son who also played for Hull City, was a mascot when Mark played in the 2009 FA Trophy Final at Wembley for York City. Mark now watches Jacob play whenever he can.
Scott, whose ‘grannie’ came from Hull, has fond memories of the city. He joined Hull City in 1996, having started his football career in the Doncaster Youth Team. His debut was against Wrexham when he came on as a substitute. Unfortunately, they lost that game. One abiding memory of playing for Hull City was a match against Bradford City at Boothferry Park. There was a riot inside the ground, and the players were all in the centre circle surrounded by police on horses. That was at the time when Martin Fish was the club owner. Scott is currently the Chief Executive of the Iron Foundation at Scunthorpe. Their aims are similar to those of the Tigers Trust.
Adam Pearson remembers being the Chairman of the football club during unprecedented times when the crowds went from eight thousand at Boothferry Park to twenty thousand plus at the KCOM Stadium. He said he would like to get back into football as there is nothing better than being involved in sports. His abiding memories of being in Hull were the promotional away win at Yeovil for Hull City and going to Wembley twice with Hull FC when he was their owner.
Pat gave her usual vote of thanks to our guests. She went on to say how the Senior Tigers Club had gone from strength to strength since it was formed in 2000 and how grateful we were that our guests joined us on our special day.
Mark and Max very kindly made the draw for our super raffle, which raised £454.00.
Shirley Cormack
Photos to follow
