ArabTRUST Member Update August 2016

22 Aug

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Dear ArabTRUST member,

As we are a few weeks into the start of the season I thought now was a good time to update you with what has been happening with ArabTRUST recently and to let you know of some of things that we have planned over the coming weeks and months.

As you may have seen our Associate Director of 5 years Colin Stewart recently decided it was time for him step down from that role and from the board of ArabTRUST to pursue a new Associate Director position with the club. I would personally like to thank Colin for all his hard work over the years and wish him well in his new role. In other changes at the club we welcome the appointment of David Dorward and Laura Conway as Associate Directors together with Jim Spence in his consultancy role. We are supportive of the fans liaison committee which Jim and Colin are putting together, the first meeting of which is prior to the Raith Rovers match next Saturday. ArabTRUST will be represented at this meeting by Stuart Campbell who we have also nominated to be our next Associate Director and we are currently working with the club to confirm his appointment to this role and hope this will be completed in the near future.

 An important aspect of the aims and objectives of ArabTRUST is supporting youth and community development in and around Tannadice. On the community side of things with assistance from ArabTRUST, DUDA (Dundee United Development Association) and the club our sister charity United for All recently recruited Jamie Kirk as a fund raising manager in order to try and access funding to develop a wide ranging community programme. Jamie brings a wealth of experience to this role having previously worked with the Warriors Trust in Stenhousemuir and has recently had confirmation of his first successful bid for funding which should allow for the first of the planned community programmes to get started over the coming weeks.

ArabTRUST are also proud to be a sponsor of the Dundee United Women's team and are delighted that in their first season have already won a cup and are currently sitting top of their league undefeated and so on course for promotion. This is tremendous progress in such a short space of time.

In terms of youth development we have recently provided support towards the cost of trips for two of the youth academy teams to Northern Ireland and Oakham

There is nothing better than seeing a young player progress through the ranks and establish himself in the first team and the board of ArabTRUST think it is important that we continue to look for ways to support the Dundee United Youth Academy. We are therefore currently working on a plan with other groups which would see a major commitment to invest funds in this area over the next 2 to 3 years and more details of this will be released as soon as practical.

The July ArabTUST Player of the Month was won by Simon Murray for his performances in the league cup sectional games and the poll for the August player of the month award will be launched after the Raith Rovers game. Through-out the season there will be draws and competitions for ArabTRUST members to present the POTM award and also to win hospitality packages. Further details will be posted on our website and Facebook pages during the season.

The backing that the fans have provided the team so far this season from the purchase of season tickets to the attendances at the first few home games has been impressive. There are some encouraging signs that Ray and his management team are building an exciting team that will have us challenging at the top of the league and hopefully ensuring a quick return to the top flight of Scottish football.

This has been the first of what we intend to be regular quarterly newsletters to our members keeping you informed of the work ArabTRUST is involved in but it is also important that we hear the views of our members. We can be contacted via email on yoursay@arabtrust.co.uk with any questions or points you would like raised or by our member’s Facebook page. Board members are also available at the Tangerine Trading Posts in both the George Fox and Eddie Thompson stands and sometimes in the Hegarty Suite on most match days if you want to speak to somebody in person.

Finally we currently have vacancies on our board and so if you are interested in helping ArabTRUST please get in touch or speak to any of our current board members.

Arabest

Gavin Muir
Chairman ArabTRUST