We could, of course, proceed with building a stadium having been granted a guaranteed rolling lease which would satisfy the necessary footballing authorities but we would have to finance the complete building costs ourselves which, given the amount needed, is not possible for a club with our limited resources.

For this reason a while ago we appointed a company with the necessary experience to assist our negotiations with the local authorities and source fund raising grants to find the full amount on our behalf and it appears that they have been potentially successful in their fund raising efforts subject to one important proviso. This proviso is that we must have proof of a long term lease to satisfy the terms required by the grant providers.

As Westlands Playing Fields as a whole is designated as school playing fields there has been a recent consultation process undertaken by the council with all users of the facilities at Westlands asking if they would have any objections to Romford FC being granted a long term lease on the part of the land we have been allocated.

Happily there have been no such objections and the next stage of the procedure is now underway. This stage involves the London Borough of Havering, who manage the playing fields on behalf of central government and support our application, making a formal request to the Minister of Education for the necessary long lease to be granted.

This latter stage is due to take eighteen weeks which means that a decision should be available to us in the early new year and I understand that we have already heard back from the ministry with some detailed questions so it seems that they are taking our application very seriously. Latest news is that the committee concerned will be sitting at the end of January 2015 so, hopefully. we might know our fate shortly after this.

In the meantime while we wait for the necessary processes to take place there may well be other smaller fees we will need to pay in the run up to the end of the year and beyond and for this reason we are transferring the small £178 balance left from our original Boro Bonanza fund the bulk of which has been used to pay the design, admin and legal fees etc required for our Westlands needs into a new fund. The last amount taken out of our old fund being, of course, our planning application renewal i

We will still be using the previous Paypal method which can now be accessed via romfordfc.fund@gmail.com and using the existing Santander bank account which will be administered as before by Mike Woods and myself.

Please help your club in anticipation of our financial needs with a donation of any amount however small you may be able to spare. If you prefer to use a cheque please make it payable to R.Morgan & M.R. Woods. Receipts will gladly be given for cheque or cash donations if required.

Lastly but just as importantly we are bringing the Boro Bucket back into action for your loose change donations plus, hopefully, an occasional fiver or tenner or even more. The bucket will be located, as usual, at the turnstyle entrance as you come into the ground or at the PA position in the back of the stand as you leave.

Many thanks and Up the Boro![/size]