#AmazingAccrington

Lockdown inactivity It ’ s not for everyone!

Jack Barrett memorial walk, at Anfield's Shankly Gates.

Accrington Nori brick.

Accrington Stanley's Memorial Garden.

There is no doubt at all that the events of the past few months have severely impacted life as we know it. Firstly, we were hit with the cancellation of the remaining fixtures in our 2019/20 League One campaign.

It was the only decision that was acceptable to our club, followed quickly by the decisions to cancel our end of season presentation dinner and the annual golf day. This has continued with the delayed start of the 20/21 season unfortunately without the Stanley faithful being present in the ground. Our memorial garden project at the Wham Stadium was due to start in March. It eventually got underway once the team from Readstone were cleared to get onto the site. They made good use of the excellent Spring weather, which lifted the spirits of most of us in lockdown. With no viable activities, the Trust board had to be creative to keep people engaged. We've had no matchday badges, no away coaches, no fundraising events, and no monthly meetings. Even the market shop had to close in March to protect our staff. The one that was most viable was to stage a virtual 50/50 draw every week for 8 weeks to represent the games that remained unplayed. The club sells 50/50 draw tickets, mainly via Stephen Davies, on match days and “Big Ste’s virtual 50/50 draw” was born. Using our www.onstanleyon.com website and social media channels we set out to sell virtual tickets to fans near and far with 50% of the sales being that week’s prize. We had no idea if we would sell 50 or 500 tickets every week. The weekly virtual Trust board meeting was introduced using Zoom and the ideas began to flow.

As the numbers continued to grow, we took the opportunity to support our local community. We made donations to the Hyndburn Hub to assist with the great work they do and marking the VE day celebrations, we also donated to the Accrington Royal British Legion (RBL). Over the course of 8 weeks we sold more than £12,225 of tickets and managed to donate a magnificent £2600 to the local charities. The final draw raised over £2300 of sales, a long way from the initial 703! The enthusiasm shown by our magnificent supporters, aided by the crazy live draws, and hosted by Ultras head honcho and Trust board member, Jason Graham, made us think that this could develop into something more permanent. More Zoom meetings quickly followed and Club 1968 was born. As a number of people were happily paying £5 or £10 weekly, we devised a permanent member draw. Just £10 a month to enter gives us a monthly prize pot of £1500 with a top prize of £1000. Rather than wait for players to subscribe via Paypal, as with the virtual 50/50 draw, we asked for standing orders. This cuts out the majority of the administration. The monthly draws take place live on Facebook, with a series of guest “draw masters” and over 250 active members. All the proceeds go towards developing the facilities around the Wham Stadium. If you wish to join in, please contact Stanley@club1968.co.uk for details. Another socially distanced event was the October “Jack Barrett memorial walk". The route follows Jack’s footsteps by walking from Liverpool to Accrington.

The Accrington Stanley Memorial Garden at Wham Stadium, thanks to all those involved.

A group of four intrepid walkers, Josh Adcroft, Andrew Camm, Anthony Murgatroyd and James Cheverton, took just over 13 hours to walk the 40 miles from the Shankly Gates at Anfield back to the Wham Stadium on a bright October Sunday. At the same time, other groups walked from Deepdale, Preston (Jim Curtis, Darren Woodhead, Jase Graham & Lucy Blackledge) and from Ewood Park (John Schofield & Carole Jefferson). The walkers raised over £3,500 in sponsorships which will help in future ground developments. Whilst all the excitement of the draws was taking place, the construction of the garden was progressing quickly and it is now all but complete. The memorial walls are in place as are the initial memorial plaques purchased by supporters to remember friends and family who are no longer with us. These are still available, priced £50, via the website or in the Accrington Market Hall shop. We must thank our friends at Readstone for their excellent work on site. There’s the ever supportive team at SDA for the graphics, Stephen Lowe and Cath Holmes for their expertise on the planting (kindly sponsored by David

Davis), B & W Plant Hire for the use of a machine and Shaun Taylor for giving his time to drive it, the Incredible Edible Accrington for their kind donation of the oak for our benches, Accrington RBL for the superb memorial bench and all our volunteers for the gardening works. As the resumption of football at the Wham Stadium is still to be decided (at the time of writing) we are unable to plan an official opening of the garden as we really need a game with fans to go ahead. However, we are sure that this will be a super addition to the Stadium and will allow a few moments of peace and quiet for those who wish to take a few moments to remember a loved one who is no longer with us. The garden is open in normal club working hours and also on future match days.

Peter J Leatham Chairman, OASST

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