WISA - DT Elections 2010

Dons Trust Elections - Questionnaire 2010

Have you been involved in any projects / organisations / working parties or volunteer groups on behalf of the Club or the Dons Trust? If so, what was your role and what did you achieve? If elected, and bearing in mind the time consuming nature of the Dons Trust Board, will you still carry on this work?

David Hall

As set out in my 'manifesto' I have sought to assist the club in a number of ways over the years, mainly on the Finance Working Group. In the early days I helped Erik and co with some of the work on business planning, the Share Issue, the Bond Issue and the efforts to secure a loan after we did the deal with Khosla. I also assisted in a small way on the bids for the KM Leisure contract and Morden Park and helped facilitate an early meeting of the DT Board when we agreed the Aims of the Trust.
I'll be absolutely honest and say that in recent years I've not been as involved with the club, other than getting along to games - and bringing in new fans! This has mainly been due to a whole string of other commitments and extra responsibilities at work which resulted in me getting more involved in advising on the government's social housing agenda.
I continue to be busy but think that at this key stage of the club's development I am in a better position to help now than I have been before.
When I have found time I've been prepared to help out in various ways. Amongst other things I have done a couple of the clean ups and managed to get my son to do one of the Walk for Wimbledon events with me: I remember it well as we beat Slough 9-0 that day…

Mark Davis

Yes. I was involved on the fundraising group for a year or two from an early stage (Walk for Wimbledon II was my biggest contribution during that time). Then I was DT Secretary for two years. During that time I also participated in the Constitutional Review Group and was, for a few months, a co-opted Board member. For the past two years I've been running the fundraising group and have managed individual projects within that.
The way the DTB operates is different from when it was first set up and shouldn't, in itself, be a vast time commitment. I'm not proposing to take on substantial additional duties, over and above running the fundraising group and participating as a Board member. If someone came along who was as good as or better than me at fundraising, then I'd be happy to take on another responsibility instead.

Nicole Hammond

I am on the Dons Trust Stadium Working Group, which meets monthly. I manage to attend around half the meetings. I am able to make occasional professional contributions to the work of the group. If elected, I would aim to attend all board meetings. I also volunteer on some matchdays, working on the turnstiles, for a handful of games every season. I don't foresee giving either of these activities up.

Kate Terriere

I haven't been involved in any projects yet but I would like to contribute now and hope I can do that by being elected to the Board.

Kris Stewart

Apart from being Chairman and Chief Exec, way back when, having been on the board for the last couple of years, and having been Chair of the board for the last few months, I don't do much in the way of volunteering on a regular basis - I simply don't have the time. I do help out where I can - for example, tonight I will be proofreading the programme for the Forest Green Rovers game. I'm happy to continue in the same vein - and should I not be elected, I would look for some way to offer some of the extra spare time I would have back to AFC Wimbledon.

Lee Willett

N/A

Stephen Cooles

Yes I have. At various times I have helped out with everything from cleaning the seats, weeding the stadium, working a turnstile and hanging out the player's kit to dry! My main contribution however has been to the Fundraising Group, where I am responsible (along with Neil Messenbird) for marketing the Dons Draw. For those who do not know, the Draw is the single biggest contributor to the clubs fundraising effort (around £100,000 p/a).
If elected I fully intend to continue to help out in any way I can, and do not anticipate there being any issue in doing so. Indeed I would hope that exposure to more of the clubs business would help in raising the profile of the Draw in new ways.

Tom Adam

I am very fortunate to be able to offer a substantial amount of time to the Trust. In the past I have been the Chairman, appointed when the Trust Board was in need of greater structure and focus. I stood down voluntarily after a couple of years as I thought that it was time for a new person to take over. During my tenure the Board became much more focused and a more harmonious group
I have also led the Stadium Working Group since we started the Trust. We have done a lot of background work to make sure that regular representations were made to the London Borough of Merton to keep the door open for a return to Merton and especially to the Greyhound Stadium. We did this work in liaison with WISA, making sure we were consistent in our submissions
The SWG is made up of a group of extraordinarily talented people, architects, surveyors, planners, engineers, a lawyer, and consultants in the sports industry. With contributions from outside specialists we have combined to produce an analysis of the sites where we could build a new stadium while planning and overseeing the development of our current stadium so that we are ready for entry to the Football League. We are ready for that step, which is a massive tribute to the Groups work

Simon Bath

Yes, I have been a key member of the fundraising group over the last couple of years. This involved being immersed in several different projects, perhaps most notably last years 'Dinner with Dickie'. I am very passionate about this commitment, and would most certainly carry on with the fundraising. i am also a member of the WUP and am key in helping to solve issues and put together the publication. I have also been involved with other areas such as running the quiz nights at the club (which are now under brilliant new management, really worth going too) . I hope to keep as many of these things going in addition to duties on the board. (If I get elected)

David Growns

As well as sharing the taking of the minutes at Board meetings, I volunteer every year for the Summer clean-up squad - the amount of hard work we do over two weekends has to be seen to be believed.
If I am elected I have the capacity to be fully involved. Circumstances at work allow me more time to get involved than I was able to in the past, so I will actually be looking to take on more.

Damian Woodward

I originally worked on the Commercial Working Group and when that dissolved continued working closely with Ivor to try and maximise sponsorship revenues etc. I only stopped when we appointed Keith, when it was clear that we needed a full time professional to really do justice to the opportunities we have. Since then nothing other than contributing prizes etc to fundraising evenings and making sure my company spends some money each year on the Club. We achieved a great deal in the early years and set the platform for achieving sponsorship revenues well above our natural level. Keith has done a great job carrying this forward.

Christopher Gibbs

I have attended one summer clean-up session, and that's it. Irrespective of the outcome of this election I will be doing a lot more from now on.

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