Thanks to all who came to last night's pre-Xmas meeting. While there wasn't a huge amount of business on the agenda, it was a chance to get a sneak preview - and get your hands on - the new NARDI-sponsored replicas. Thanks to Ann for all her help in sorting out the merchandise last night - and for helping arrange for the Nest Egg to get the first look at the new kit.

On the financial front: the account currently stands at just over £1,800. This year the Nest Egg has put £4,300 into Rochdale Hornets as well as helping raise £260 for the players' accommodation costs at Whitehaven and a £134 donation to the Matt King Appeal. I was also pleased to report that, since we started, the Nest Egg has put £11,300 into Rochdale Hornets – an absolutely magnificent effort from everyone concerned.

Also discussed was my meeting with the case officer from Supporters Direct re. becoming a trust. Initial concerns that the cost would be prohibitive do seem to be justified. The general consensus amongst members is that - pending ironing out the legal status situation - the Nest Egg should stay as it is for the time being, with moneys raised better spent on inventment in the club rather than spent on running the association.. A copy of the full report is at the end of this email.

The new jersey made its debut last night, with the Nest Egg getting an exclusive first chance to grab one before Xmas. It's very similar to last year's, but the red replica is pretty eyecatching. It's also a bit strange seeing a Rochdale Hornets jersey without 'British Millerain' on the front.

The merchandise and jersey sales came to over £650, the raffle raised £88 (thanks to Andy for his usual 'persuasive' approach!!).

And that's pretty much it for the year. Thanks to everyone - the Nest Egg is the sum of its parts and we have one of the most loyal and committed memberships of any supporters' organisation. We're putting together a programme of fundraising events for next year - and hopefully we can grow the membership even more.

Thanks for your continued support. The Nest Egg really does make a huge difference - and that's down to you. Here's to a big season in 2005, have a great Xmas break and bring on the Law Cup!

Onward Hornets, Onward - and Onward Together.

Jim

PS Don't forget that the club shop is open this Saturday between 9am and 12 pm. The huge new range of leisurewear is proving very popular; we have a new knitted Hornets scarf featuring our new 'Battling Hornet' logo; and the new Nardi-sponsored jersey is available priced £40 for adults and £30 children's sizes.

MEETING REPORT - SUPPORTERS DIRECT NOVEMBER 2004

At the end of November I met with Jacquie Foster, case worker from Supporters irect, with the aim of establishing whether or not a legally recognised trust would be a iable route forward for the Nest Egg.

One key concern at each stage has been whether there is any benefit to be gained by becoming a trust - particularly given the significant financial commitment required simply to 'manage our status'. We suspected that the cost of trust status might be onerous, given that the reason for founding the Nest Egg was to raise funds for investment in the club. Basically, at the moment, every penny we raise for Hornets goes to the club, whereas becoming a trust would need us to meet our trust financial obligations before we could start investing funds in the club.

On a financial basis alone, the meeting with Jacquie revealed the cost of becoming a 'proper' supporters' trust.

Initial fees
Supporters Direct membership @ £50 p.a.
Financial Services Authority registration @ £60 p.a.

Constitutional fees
Despite our constitution/rules being written in plain English and to suit our circumstances, we 'd have to use the prescribed 'standard' rules in order to gain registration as an IPS (trust) - rules written for bigger, football based trusts and written in 'legalese'. Amends to the standard rules cost from £100 per amend to over £700 depending on the scale of the amends.

Auditing fees
As a trust we'd be legally obliged to submit fully audited accounts annually - this is also a pre-requisite of Supporters Direct membership. This would cost between £500 and £1,000. The auditors would need to audit all financial documentation plus all agendas and minutes of meetings in order to cross check all financial transactions and activity. It's not unknown for auditors to submit 'adverse' reports against trusts where non financial information doesn't tally (Notts County were 'adversely reported' because one set of their minutes didn't match the agenda to which they related).

Registration fees
The cost of registration as a Provident Society (a mutual/trust) would be somewhere in the region of £800. Supporters Direct still has no funding available for Rugby League clubs - though they are meeting with NW Co-Ops regarding the possibility of raising funding for what Jacquie described as 'rugby'. NW Co-Op is said to be 'pro-rugby league', but the funding is unlikely to be available until late 2005.

Given the figures outlined above, the first year costs (based on a worst case scenario) would be around the £2,600 mark with an annual cost thereafter of around £1,900.

Nest Egg's Legal Status
The meeting with Jacquie did flag up another issue which will need to be addressed. The Nest Egg was founded to be a democratic and equitable organisation run for, by - and owned equally - by its members. It was envisaged that all 'assets' of the Nest Egg would be owned collectively by individual members and all transactions undertaken by a majority vote of a quorum of members - and that's the way it's been run (indeed, Jacquie did recognise the 'good governance' under which the Nest Egg operates.)

We have been informed, however, that clubs can only register shares to individuals or to 'legally recognised' entities - and it seems that, whilst the Nest Egg operates perfectly well as an 'association of individuals' Jacquie is concerned about our status.

All shares, it seems' need to be registered at Companies House and we need to talk to the club secretary regarding how Hornets have gone about this. In the meantime, Jacquie will investigate the status of our shares with Companies House.
Registration as a trust would give us a legally recognised status.

I've been given the contact details of the Doncaster Dragons who have become a 'mutual/trust' by by-passing Supporters Direct and doing it themselves. I'll be speaking to them in the new year.