We had a change of venue for our April members’ meeting. This month, we were in the Legends Lounge, formerly the Dugout. Barbara apologised for the change of venue and explained there had been a mix-up of room availability and dates. It was a tight squeeze as the layout of the Legends Lounge had changed since the refurbishment, which resulted in the majority of seating being on high bar stools. Luckily, we could accommodate everyone comfortably after chairs had been brought in. During the refurbishment, the walls were painted black, covering the wall that displayed every name from the football club membership, which was rather sad.
Barbara announced that the end-of-season meal would celebrate VE Day, which falls on the following Thursday. The theme will be red, white and blue. We will have a sing-a-long and a quiz. Barbara then gave out information about upcoming outings.
The EFL are raising money by cycling from ground to ground for a charity which teaches people how to do CPR. David Prutton, who comes from Hull and works for Sky TV, was riding from Harrogate Town football ground to the MKM Stadium, arriving towards the end of our meeting. The Committee agreed that the Senior Tigers would donate £100 to this worthwhile charity, and it was handed to David Prutton on his arrival.
Allen announced that the newsletter will now be issued mid-month and not at the beginning.
Our guest speaker this month was City player Charlie Hughes. He was delayed arriving, and so we had our teas and coffees while we waited for him.
Richard started the interview by saying it must be frustrating after Saturday’s result against Luton. What went wrong? Charlie replied. We didn’t score, which made us laugh. Charlie went on to say, we were not good enough, but we must keep our heads up and move on. Asked about the away support, he said it was a massive help and thanked the travelling fans for their support.
Charlie has been at the club for six months and now lives locally. He said the Club had been good in helping him settle in. Richard asked what he did in his downtime. Charlie said he likes to sleep, to the amusement of the members. He did say that he is quite good at golf.
Charlie started playing football in Sunday League football. He was spotted by the Manchester City Youth Team and stayed with them for three to four years and loved it. Unfortunately, foreign players who were joining the club were fitter and stronger than him, and the decision was made to move on to the Liverpool Youth Team, where he stayed another three or four years. Once again, foreign players were coming in, and so he made the decision to release himself and went to Wigan on trial and signed for the under 14’s. He said it was a tough decision to leave Wigan to come to Hull as he was, by then, captain and playing in every game. But he wanted to progress in his career, and as Hull is in the Championship, he decided to join Hull City.
Charlie is a very entertaining young man, and he has a great career in front of him as long as he doesn’t get a serious injury.
Richard gave the vote of thanks to Charlie and also thanked Danny Briggs and Brendan Smurthwaite from the football club for arranging players as guest speakers at our meetings. Richard wished Charlie all the best for the rest of the season.
To finish off the afternoon, we held our raffle, which raised £334.00.
Shirley Cormack
Richard interviewing Charlie Hughes A full house listening to the interview
Richard with Charlie Hughes Allen with Charlie Hughes
