John Commerford signs up as a full paid (£5) member to CAS Trust

CAS Trust last week further demonstrated its commitment to CAFC grass roots and listening to fans, with visits to both Ashford and North West Kent supporters branches.

Invited to speak and rubbing shoulders with two established first team players - Chris Solly and Scott Wagstaff at the more distant venue; new interim trust secretary Richard Wiseman, and old hand interim liaison Officer Ken Sinyard, were delighted to be able to sign up veteran fan and Chair John Commerford (pictured) as a full member.

After completing the forms John said:

"I thought that Richard and Ken made an excellent presentation, and answered the questions from the floor extremely well.. A good night for the Trust I believe. The trust are always welcome here and I hope it will be a great success"

Elsewhere interim Treasurer Kevin Messere represented the Trust at the North West Kent executive meeting. The subject being the Trust's aims and objectives and to explore what it could do to help branches maintain, if not increase their membership and attendances, and any other logistical assistance - as part of an ongoing committment to support the CAFC grass roots.

Jean Huelin  Chair of NWK Addicks  (and an early paid member of CAS Trust) personally donated a signed Chris Powell training top to be auctioned for CAS Trust at our recent Back to the Valley event. After the recent meeting she commented:

"We were impressed with Kevin's responses to a number of our questions, and have invited CAS Trust to attend all our future meetings both of our Committee and events. The Committee are in full agreement with the Trust’s overall aim: “To Preserve Charlton Athletic Football Club for This and Future Generations” and we look forward to working with them on mutual objectives. We will be passing on CAS Trust updates to our members as well as encouraging them  to visit the CAS Trust website: www.castrust.org and consider joining.

Interim Trust Chair Barnie Razzell said:

"Sadly I couldn't be at either of these meetings, but these guys have shown once again that CAS Trust is a team of very committed individuals; who are more than willing to give up their spare time and travel some distance to get out there and talk to fans face to face - as well as doing surveys and leaflets around the Valley.  Engagement with supporters branches and groups is central to the work of CAS Trust in its attempt to reach our more dedicated fans. And while we will not be a like for like replacement for CASC main branch, we will be doing all we can to help them prosper - including more publicity and help with logistical and communication challenges. This is one way the trust can help maintain and maybe even grow the grass roots of this club which can only be to the long term benefit of CAFC".

• CAS Trust will be attending the Next North West Kent Addicks meeting on January 24th featuring Derek Hales.
• The Trust will also be talking to Fans via its second survey around the Valley before matches in late January and early February.
• We aim to produce our next newsletter CAS Trust News shortly which should be available in later in February.
• And finally, if you want a strong effective supporters' trust for Charlton, please become a full member today - it's only a fiver. This will allow your participation in our AGM in March and a chance to help and steer Trust activities as well as other full member benefits. The quicker people sign up, the quicker the Trust can have a chance to influence and give fans a voice  www.castrust.org/register.
• This proactive approach will allow us to help the club grow and prosper like Swansea and other clubs with sucessful trusts, but also help us be prepared should the worst ever happen like the situation at Pompey - which we hope it never does.