CTFC Supporters Alliance- Board Pen Pictures
[SinglePic not found]Ian Townsend, Chair and webmaster for ctfcsa.co.uk: A Sussex resident for the last eleven years but initially from the North East, Ian has been watching CTFC since the early part of the last decade, and has now indoctrinated his entire family and brings them all to worship at the red altar! Ian has been chair of the Supporters Trust for the past season, founded the Community Engagement Team and provides the matchday music at the Broadfield Stadium as well as writing regularly for the matchday programme and occasionally for the local press- so yes, there is much he can be blamed for!
Ian is married with two children, lives in Hassocks, and is a Group Station Manager with London Underground.
[SinglePic not found]Simon Smith, Treasurer: Simon started supporting Crawley Town in 1988 and together with his son is a season ticket holder. Simon has 28 years experience in the financial services sector and is currently a director of an investment management company based in London and Hong Kong. He was also the Treasurer of the Supporters Trust.
[SinglePic not found]Barb Robinson, Secretary: Barb moved to Crawley during 1999 and very soon started going to matches at the Broadfield, becoming a season ticket holder. She now attends every home game and as many away games as possible- so most of them too!
In recent years Barb has volunteered at the Club, doing mainly admin tasks and research. A Supporters Club member for a number of years, last season she also served on the committee, as well as being the secretary of the Community Engagement Team, which was the precursor to a united supporters group. She is delighted that the Alliance has been formed to bring together all supporters of CTFC, and will work hard to make it a success.
Barb is also serving as a Membership Officer and as part of the Away Travel Organising Committee.
[SinglePic not found]Chris Cheshire, Membership Officer: Chris grew up as a regular supporter of her local club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, but with the abiding regret that there was no women’s football for her to get involved in at that time. Her first contact with CTFC was with the Town Access Group (TAG) when she contributed to the design of facilities for disabled supporters at the planning stages of Broadfield Stadium. Having helped design it, she became a season ticket holder in the disabled section of the West Stand.
Chris also travels to as many away games as possible, having to travel independently, and these have included Welling and Tamworth for the two glorious promotion days. She was involved in the Community Engagement Team, and, as a borough councillor, was privileged to get things moving for the Winfield Way sign; she hope it will always remind us that we are the custodian’s of Bruce’s dream.
[SinglePic not found]Colin Lowes, Community Officer: Colin –a native of Pound Hill-has been a dedicated supporter of our mighty reds for more than 50 years. He has served on the committees of both the Supporters Club and Supporters Trust, and for the last few seasons has been Trust Vice- Chair. He also represented the Supporters Club regularly at National Federation.
He is delighted to be involved in the new Supporters Alliance, and looks forward to his role in strengthening links between the club and the community as we start our new adventure in the Football League.
[SinglePic not found]John Hooper, Community Officer: John has been supporting CTFC since 1963, and has been a member of the Trust Board for the last four years. His best CTFC moments are listed as, “winning the two league titles at Welling and Tamworth, seeing our name on the League fixture lists, and watching Cliff Cant “flying” after scoring against Northampton, our first win against league opposition in the FA cup”. He also has fond memories of the moment at Town Mead when the referee suddenly picked up a piece of lino from the pitch which had been used to hide a pothole, and the occasion when Dave Haining’s mum wielded an umbrella at the referee after a whole series of shocking decisions, during an FA cup replay game against Eastbourne United (at Horsham) in the 60s.
John is 59 years old, and a resident of Gossops Green. He is married to Ann, for 32 years, with has three grown up children. He is a Technical Buyer for an engineering company within the nuclear sector.
[SinglePic not found]Ken Blackmore, Senior Travel Officer:
Ken moved to Northgate in the early 50s with his family after his Dad’s company Telcon Metals relocated from Greenwich in London to Manor Royal as part of the London Overspill.
He was educated at Northgate Infants & Junior School before going to Hazelwick Secondary School.
Ken played sport in Crawley for many years, playing & managing in the local leagues but also refereeing in a county league Youth final and successfully managing the Crawley League Representative team that often played against Crawley in the John Maggs era of the 1980s. He began watching Crawley Town in the mid 1950s and has seen them progress from Town Mead to the Broadfield Stadium and the amazing heights of this year.
His other hobbies include Tenpin Bowling, where he represented Sussex, and he is currently the fixtures & handicap secretary at Copthorne Village Golf Club. Living in Pound Hill with his wife and son- who is also an avid Reds fan- they are all looking forward to watching the Reds in the Football League.
New board members- James Laraman, Owen Pickering, Paul Prendergast and Colin Bowman- profiles and pics coming soon!