I think this was a good season overall - clear of any major relegation worries and a win at Wembley. This season was an excellent one on the social front with group travel remaining a really good experience. A big mention must go out to Al Millington who handled the logistics of Match Day Organiser. The friendships that are forged over the season make the defeats easier to take and the victories all the more sweet when you celebrate together. My personal highlights were the days out at Hillsborough and Wembley and for next season I have Bramall Lane & Deepdale on my to do list. I'm sure you will echo my appreciation of our Information team lead by Dave Brown who will take on the popular weekly e mail circulation vhtb. He is competently supported by HTB Editor Geoff Graham, Webmaster Paul Parke and Publicity Officer Jane Jardine.

The excellent partnership with the Civil service Club sees us use it for Branch meetings and the odd extra social. The staff there again pulled all the stops out for our Wembley pre match party which included a guest appearance from former Blues player Lee Maddison. Our conscious decision not to do our own merchandise this time but instead promote the Grace Little Centre through #teamabbott t shirt sales was a very rewarding achievement. We hope to get a good photo of many of the 35 members attending the summer trip to Berlin wearing the t shirts.

The Branch has continued to increase sponsorship of the club. To get over 60 members in Foxy's for the Orient game was a great effort and to have the JPT trophy present was an extra bonus.There are positive signs that the club are becoming alive to increased fans interaction as demonstrated by a constructive meeting between reps from the Supporters' Club, United Trust, London Branch and the Club represented by the new Commercial Manager Clair Fidler. There are early signs that she will bring in some much needed creativity around matchday offers. Some initiatives have worked this season such as the real ale at the club but we need a mechanism for fans to make other suggestions. It's some time since a fans' forum and there does not appear any clear opportunity or structure for suggestions to be put to the club. We can't just believe that financial backing of Greg to produce results on the pitch is all that is needed to bring the fans back. There is a lot of effort around how to best re-generate fans interaction with the Club as most fans are in agreement that there are lot of things that the fans can do to support the club in addition to cheering them on during games. I am now a lot more confident that the main players involved in these discussions can come to agreements so as to get the momentum going.

Our Branch football team finished the season on a high with a 3-0 victory at Harlow Town. We follow the play offs with interest as our only other three games this season were against supporters of teams involved. A big thanks goes to the tireless work of captain and organiser Chris Tembey. I've really enjoyed stepping away from playing and barking out instructions from the touchline ! Like all roles within the Branch we look to ensure we have resilience going forward. You won't be surprised to learn that we will be looking to fine tune procedures for next season particularly around phasing out the use of cheques. For those of you who can I would please ask that you set up a standing Order for your membership renewal. Our AGM on 5th July at the Houses of Parliament will provide both an excellent social evening and the opportunity to re-align our army of volunteers. I hope to see you there.

Simon Clarkson