And that was Non League Day. Breathe out…and relax! Oh, if only! The off-the-pitch work goes on, be it Football Committee or the raft of helpers from the Supporters Trust.
But, my oh my, while we must move on to whatever we are doing next…I was truly blown away by the huge crowd and generosity of you all last week. To be able to be in a position to hand over nine thousand pounds to two local charities was way beyond my wildest dreams. It makes me so proud to be a part of our modern 21st Century Dulwich Hamlet. To paraphrase Hannibal Smith from the ‘A-Team’: “I just love it when a plan comes together!”

Tonight, as part of our on-going outreach to schoolchildren and their families we have a bunch of kids from Dulwich Prep School attending, we hope they enjoy what will be for many of them their first to Champion Hill. I don’t know about you, but when I was a youngster football always seemed more magical under the glare of the floodlights, hopefully they will feel that excitement too. Don’t forget if you have a child at a school that hasn’t been to Dulwich Hamlet as part of our community outreach, then email our Schools Liaison Officer on the Football Committee, George Parnavelas, at gparnavelas@gmail.com and he will arrange a game for them to attend. We include the parents and teachers in this offer, so it won’t cost them a penny to bring their youngster along to a match. And we don’t just stop at schools, it can be a youth group, or junior football team. We are more than happy to reach out to anywhere in our local community to sample the Champion Hill matchday experience, so drop George that email when you get home.

Talking of schools, we have a brand new competition, that is being launched by one of our supporters, working alongside George. His name is Robert Hyneman, and he is a deputy head in a local primary school. This is a ‘Design a Christmas Card’ competition, where the winner will have their entry printed up as the official Dulwich Hamlet Christmas Card for 2017…and as you may have seen on our official website [www.dulwichhamletfc.co.uk] there’s a whole raft of benefits for the school that the ultimate winner attends too.

At our next home match, this coming Saturday 21st October against Burgess Hill Town, we shall once more have collecting tins out from the Dulwich branch of the Royal British Legion, supporting the annual Poppy Appeal. As always, when they are here, we shall also be donating the proceeds from the ‘50/50’ tickets sales. Please give generously, if you are able. Some you may wonder why they’re her so early, as we are scheduled to be at home on Armistice Day, which falls on a Saturday this year. It’s simple… we are due to play Lowestoft Town in the Bostik League, but if either ourselves or The Trawler Boys progress to the next qualifying round of the FA Trophy that will take precedence over a league match, and there’s no guarantee we will get a home draw, if we do.

The night before, on Friday 10th November, all of you are invited to pop down to the ground for our small non-denominational laying of wreaths ceremony in the Club Boardroom at our War Memorial, which was inaugurated a few years after the end of The Great War, in the early Nineteen Twenties. The players who names are inscribed on it will never be forgotten, and even more so thanks to the booklet from the ‘Hamlet Historian’ stable, by Roger Deason, that remembers them all. Some of copies of these will be available on the night, and the evening will also see the launch of a companion brand-new booklet by Steve Hunnisett, who had written a volume on the four players of ours who never came home from the Second World War. More details will be found soon on the Club website as well, so keep a lookout on there.

Another date for your diaries in November is an event right at the end of it. On Wednesday 29th November we are holding another Quiz Night as part of the on-going fundraising to take the first Team squad to Hamburg next July, part of the ‘Inter City 125’ appeal, where we will play a special 125th anniversary match against our close friends from Germany, Altona 93. Get that date in your diaries, it’s always a fun-filled night and it will take place in our club house, starting a half past seven. For those of you who have been requesting it, this one will NOT be football specific, but one that will have a much broader appeal, having a ‘general knowledge’ theme.

Enjoy the game tonight, and we’ll see as many of you as possible again on Saturday.

Mishi Morath (Football Committee, community liaison lead)