NEWS AND EVENTS
2008/9 Season
Not long to wait...................
Bury St Edmunds Branch 2008 AGM - Tuesday 15th July 2008
The Bury St Edmunds Branch held its AGM on Tuesday 15th July 2008, followed by its first committee meeting of the new season. One branch member was voted onto the committee for the 2008/9 season, that being Di Dingley who was duly elected after being proposed by Nigel Cole and seconded by Jean Walker. We all welcomed Di onto our committee and we hope she enjoys being part of a fine team!
All other committee members were elected back onto the committee for 2008/9, on-block. The meeting was followed by the first committee meeting for the 2008/9 season, and then a celebration of our Chairman Jack Last birthday with a few slices of cake!
...and here is the cake which the committee presented to Jack;
Coach Fares - Due to the massive rise in fuel costs and general running costs, we have had to raise the coach fares for the 2008/9 season, the first increase for over 4 years. Cutting's Coaches have been very kind by only passing on necessary costs in our fees for this season, for which we thank Roger and Wendy very much. The committee acknowledges the necessity in their rise in coach fees due to the rises previously mentioned - they are unavoidable unfortunately.
At this AGM we carefully scrutinised the accounts for the past season, and based on predicted coach attendance numbers and the new cost price for the coach we have set the fares for the new season as £5.50 for Adults, and £5.00 for concessions (definitions are stated in the coach section of this website).
This is a £1.00 increase on the past 4 seasons.
We believe that this increase is very reasonable based on running costs increases, and the new fares are very favourable fare in comparison to other methods of travel to and from Ipswich including parking etc.
We do hope that our current members and new members understand the need for this increase. We still expect to have to dip into branch funds slightly in order to run our service at these fees.
If we were to leave the fares at their current level our calculations showed that the branch funds would run totally dry within two and a half seasons.
We have however kept the one-off membership fee per season, and also the cost of one go on the raffle card on the coaches exactly the same as last season.
Cutting's Coaches continue to provide coaches at VERY reasonable prices, with a very reliable and friendly service. Roger and Wendy of Cutting's Coaches are very much appreciated by our branch.
Jack thanked all committee members for their hard work throughout last season, and the committee thanked Jack for his hard work and for keeping us all in order!
The branch accounts were examined by all committee members at the meeting, and are available for viewing if required by contacting Nigel Cole.
The branch made a small loss during the 2007/08 season as it did during the previous season. We do have some savings in the branch account which we can dip in to, however we are having to manage these funds very carefully as each season passes and we do continue to rely on our members superb support of our coach to remain in existence.
The committee is EXTREMELY grateful to all members of the branch for their continued support of the coach travel - we are very proud that we are able to provide very reasonably priced travel to and from Portman Road for many people.
July 2008 Newsletter
Our July 2008 Newsletter is available for download in PDF format by clicking the link below. Please ensure your computer has the facility for downloading PDF documents before opening this document.
July 2008 Newsletter
Bury Town 0 Ipswich Town 3 - Weds 9th July 2008
945 people attended this match at Ram Meadow in Bury. Rain fell for much of the match played on a very good surface.
It was a good competitive match. The Ipswich Town side was made up of first team fringe players and some youth team players, whilst Bury Town included the former Ipswich Town player Kevin Horlock in their team.
The Ipswich goalscorers were Dean Bowditch, Jaime Peters, and Ed Upson.
Thank you
The committee thanks all members who supported our branch throughout the season. We look forward to seeing you all again at the start of the 2008/9 season.
Please continue to visit this website for up to date news and information.
May 2008 Newsletter
Our May 2008 Newsletter is available for download in PDF format by clicking the link below. Please ensure your computer has the facility for downloading PDF documents before opening this document.
May 2008 Newsletter
Players Awards Evening - Sunday 4th May 2008
Nigel, Jack, and Jean from the committee attended the annual ITFC Players Awards evening at Portman Road on Sunday 4th May 2008.
A great evening was had by all.
The ITFC supporters player of the season for 2007/8 was Jonathan Walters, with Pablo Counago second, and Jason DeVos third.
Many players made entertaining speeches during the evening, and a fine buffet and disco was enjoyed.
Official Haverhill Branch Inter Branch Quiz
On Monday 7th April 2008 the Official Haverhill Branch held their annual quiz at the Haverhill Bowls and Snooker Club.
Nigel and Jean attended this fine event, with Nigel's Mum and Dad making up the Bury "A" Team.
A full report on this superb quiz can be found by visiting the news and events page on Haverhill Branch Website - click HERE
ITFC Supporters’ Roadshow – Woodbridge, Tuesday 8th January 2008
A report on this event, attended by Nigel Cole and Jean Walker of the Bury St Edmunds Branch, will appear here in due course.
Supporters Roadshow held at Bury St Edmunds on Wednesday 10th October 2007.
A Supporters' Roadshow took place in Bury St Edmunds on Wednesday 10th October 2007.
During the first part of the evening David Sheepshanks, Jim Magilton, Jason DeVos, and Derek Bowden answered ITFC related questions which the audience were invited to ask.
The second part of the evening was a Question of Sport type quiz where a team of 4 supporters took on a team of 4 players. The supporters team included our very own committee member Nigel Cole, whilst the players team consisted of Alan Lee, Dan Harding, Danny Haynes, and Shane Supple.
After a titanic battle, the players team were victorious by a scoreline of 21-20.
A really great evening was superbly hosted by the legendary Simon Milton. Simon was also the quiz-master assisted by Jason DeVos.
Over 160 fans attended this event in the Athenaeum, Bury St Edmunds.
Haverhill Branch Quiz
Nigel and Jean, and Nigel's Mum and Dad took part in the Official Haverhill Branch quiz on 1st November 2007 in Haverhill.
The quiz was excellent, with a varied range of topics well put together by Max Eason, assisted by Iain Ross.
A hugely enjoyable evening.
The Bury team came third, out of four teams.
Away Travel
If you are thinking about going to an away match at any time, please call committee member Nigel Cole (see committee page) for details on available transportation. The Bury St Edmunds Branch does not provide transport to away matches, however Nigel can investigate methods of transport upon request. (This service does NOT include public transport).
A new book
Alasdair Ross has had a book published called Ipswich Town F.C. Programme guide.
It lists all Ipswich Town programmes from 1936 to the present day.
It costs £9.00 including postage.
To obtain a copy, send a cheque for £9.00 made payable to A Ross, to:-
Alasdair Ross
58 Lonsdale Close
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 4HD
Alasdair also runs an Ipswich Programme and Memorabilia club, which has over 100 members.
It is
£5 to join and for that you get 4 issues of club magazine- "Town Collectables"
Please contact Alasdair on the address above for further details.
Here is the front cover of the book:
Main Supporters Club AGM held on 13th September 2007
At the Main ITFC Supporters Club AGM held at Portman Road on Thursday 13th September 2007, Elizabeth Edwards was elected as the new Chairperson, with Alma Beckwith re-elected as Secretary and Fiona Warnock elected as the new Treasurer.
The previous Chairman Andrew Redfern and previous Treasurer Trina Nunn were thanked for their superb contribution to the Supporters Club.
Andrew and Trina are both well known to the Bury St Edmunds Branch, both having served on our committee before taking on their roles on the main supporters club.
Launch of the Official Haverhill Branch website
The Official Haverhill Branch launched its website on 11/09/07.
Here is the link to their site:
http://www.itfcsupportersofficialhaverhillbranch.co.uk
The Bury St Edmunds and the Official Haverhill Branches have always worked very close with each another - supporting each others events, traveling to away matches, and promoting each others branch.
It is with great pleasure that Nigel Cole from the Bury St Edmunds committee designed the Official Haverhill site for our very good friends in the far West of the region.
If you know of any ITFC supporters who travel to matches from the Haverhill area, please inform them of the Official Haverhill Branch who provides travel to Ipswich Town home matches from Haverhill, Clare, and Cavendish.
Welcome Home - our treasurer Al Garza
On 11th August our treasurer Al Garza was welcomed back home to the UK by his friends on the home coach to Ipswich.
Ipswich Town 2 Panathinaikos 0 - Sunday 5th August 2007
Just over 8000 fans attended this match at a very sunny and hot Portman Road, including a several members from our Bury St Edmunds Branch and some friends from the Haverhill Branch who traveled on a coach organised by committee member David Broomfield.
It was an entertaining and very watchable friendly match, with some encouraging performances from several players - particularly Alex Bruce and Pablo Counago.
Pablo scored both goals, in the first half.
The second half was marred by a bad looking injury to Gavin Williams.
The referee was the Premiership referee Peter Walton (Northamptonshire).
Bury Town 1 Ipswich Town 6 - Friday 27th July 2007
1926 people attended this match at Ram Meadow in Bury. They were treated to a decent game of football played in good conditions on a very fine playing surface. The Ipswich scorers were Billy Clarke (3), Danny Haynes, Owen Garvan (pictured) and Kurt Robinson, with Scott Chaplin scoring for the hosts. Several Bury Branch members were at the game.
The referee was Richard Beevor (Norfolk).
Ian Miller captained Ipswich against his former club, before his 4 month loan period with Darlington commences.
The Bury Branch wishes Ian the very best of luck with his career development at Darlington.
Kettering Town 1 Ipswich Town 3 - Thursday 12th July 2007
Nigel and Jean of the committee were in the 639 crowd at this match at Rockingham Road in Kettering.
We braved the rush-hour traffic around Cambridge and Huntingdon in order to give support to the Super-Blues.
Ipswich won 3-1, with second half goals from George O'Callaghan, Billy Clarke, and Michael Synott.
The journey home to Bury took much less time than the journey to Northamptonshire!
Nigel had visited this ground before, when Ipswich won 5-0 there in a pre-season match in the mid-90's.
I remember Micky Stockwell's long-range strike as if it were yesterday.
Anorak fact: - the same referee refereed both matches - Andy Woolmer (Northampton).
Branch Accounts - Freedom of Information
Any members wishing to view the branch accounts are free to do so. Please contact Nigel Cole 01284 766103 should you wish to.