August Meeting

We have started the new season as we ended the last with a very impressive turnout at the first monthly get-together since returning to the Premier league. There were 5 new members amongst the 22 who turned up to find out what we are planning to get up to over the coming 10 months. Welcome to George Henderson, Brian Collie, Ryan Goodfellow, Andrew Neil and Margaret Preston who were attending their first London Hibs meeting. Apologies were received from Brian Rogan, Ian McKenzie, Grant Ramsay, Tony Connor, Kevin Robertson and John Ewan who for various reasons were unable to make the meeting and it was also good to see Pete McLeod back after being out of contact with the club for a few months. With Brian Rogan on holiday, Stuart Donald chaired the meeting.

Membership/Finances

Our paid up membership at the moment now stands at 97. When you consider that it was not so long ago that our target membership for the full season was 100 members, this is a fantastic response and a good position for us to be in so early in the season.

Andrew Murray gave a quick update on our finances, which shows that we are back in the black, despite having recently paid out for Merchandise (�1000), Season Tickets (�500), Player sponsorship (�300) and Hibs 2000 (�200). With money still outstanding for fanzines sales (�300) and with over �800 worth of merchandise in stock, our finances are looking quite healthy and will be even more so when all our members have sent in their subscriptions for the new season.

Entertainment

• Golf Day. This will be organised by Alex Lindsay and will take place on a Saturday/Sunday in early October. If you are a golfer and would like to take part in the first ‘London Hibs Golf Challenge’ then watch this space, as further details will follow at the September meeting and in the next newsletter.
• Player of the Year Function. Saturday 23^rd October – see details below.
• Burns Night Supper – this will take place on either the 22^nd or 29^th January 2000. Details to follow.
• Quiz Night at the September meeting. See details below.
• Tour of Ireland to celebrate Hibs 125^th anniversary. Andy Bell is looking into this at the moment and will report back to the meeting in September with costs, dates, programme etc.
• Pool Competition – date and opposition to be confirmed.
• End of Season beano – trip to Brighton/Southend!
• Speaker evenings. We will approach Hibs over the next few weeks and invite the Chairman, the Manager or a current player along to our November gathering on Tuesday 9 November. Our club will of course cover all travel and accommodation expenses so we would hope to see a magnificent turn out at this meeting. Details to follow in September.
• Karting Day/evening
• Race night at the Dogs or a Day at the Races.
• Sportsman’s dinner. 

The above will be discussed again at the September meeting when we will decide which events we should go ahead with. If anyone has other ideas for consideration then can you please speak with Craig before the meeting.

Player of the Year Presentation

We have invited along a number of guests to the evening and have received confirmation from Malcolm McPherson Alex McLeish and Andy Watson. Invitations have also been sent to a number of ex and current players who will hopefully be able to come along. The evening will begin at 7.30pm with the presentation to Russell taking place at 8.30pm. There will be a hot and cold finger buffet at 9pm and dancing through until 1am.

This will be our first ever evening function at Easter Road so we would encourage you to invite as many friends and family along to what will surely be a thoroughly enjoyable night. Tickets will cost a very reasonable �10 each and, as we are limited to 180 people only, we would encourage you to buy them sooner rather than later as they will be sold on a strictly first come, first served basis. From the response we received at the August meeting, it looks as though it will be a well attended event, so can you please complete the ticket request form (sent to you by snail mail) before returning it to me (with cheque). If necessary, you can send a post-dated cheque dated 7 October to cover payment for your tickets.

Fanzine

We are planning to produce the next issue of HHHT to go on sale before the Dundee game on Saturday 23^rd October. As always, I’d be grateful if you could start thinking about your contributions and ensure that they are with me by Friday 1 October at the latest. Our last fanzine was a great success selling over 1000 copies and we would like for the next issue to be equally successful, so please do your bit and contribute.

Tickets for Games

Following on from the problems that some of us had recently getting hold of tickets for the Hearts game, it was suggested at the meeting that someone from the Club should act as ticket co-ordinator for all ticket games. This is a great idea but will need a member to take responsibility, so if there is anyone who would like to look after this role, then can they please let me know or volunteer their services at the September meeting. The next all ticket game at Easter Road is against Celtic on Saturday 28 September. Adult tickets range between �15 and �18 and �8 concessions. Tickets will go on sale in the Famous Five (North) Stand on 15, 16, 17 September cash/cheque sale only. Tickets will also be available via the Credit Card Ticket Hotline, 0131 661 1875.

September Meeting

Our next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 14^th September starting at 8pm. Following the formal part of the gathering, we are planning to hold a Hibs quiz to find out just who should wear the Hibs anorak that so many of our members claim to own!

The rules for the quiz are as follows:

• Players.
• League and Cup
• Hibs general
• Pot luck

1. The team with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, there will be a tie breaker.
2. The quiz will last approximately 1 hour.
3. Surprise prize for the top three teams.

Football Team

The football team will shortly start their 2^nd consecutive season in the APFSCIL top division. Following on from their success over the last couple of years, they are looking for new blood in the team so if you would like to play for the team, or would like to help out in some other way, then can you please email Kevin Robertson to let him know of your interest.

Stuart Lovell

At the AGM in June we committed to increasing our club’s spend at Easter Road throughout this season. As part of this, we have sponsored Stuart Lovell’s home jersey throughout the 1999/2000 season. One of the main reasons for choosing Stuart is because he spent his youth in the South East and his early playing career with Reading – so you could say that he is the nearest London Hibby that we have at Ester Road! This has cost the club just over �300 but in return for what is a relatively small investment, we will receive a mention in all match day programmes and we will also received a signed strip at the end of the season. Hopefully, Stuart will make it along to the Player of the Year bash.

Guess the Score Competition

After 5 games, the league table for this season’s ‘guess the score competition’ is being led by Paul Flynn with a very respectable 17 points, followed by both Morton Love and Pat McKinney on 14 points. There are still 4 games to go before the first quarter prizes are awarded following the Aberdeen game on 2 October.

One of the entry forms which was returned did not have the members name on it so if you contributed to the competition, but your name does not appear on the above then can you please contact Andrew Murray.

Membership Information

Membership Information

With the snail-mail copy of this newsletter, I have enclosed a copy of the latest list of members showing their address, telephone number and e-mail address. I would be grateful if you could check your own information and let me know by telephone or e-mail if any of the details are incorrect.

News from Easter Road over the last Month

Don’t forget that the next London Hibs meeting will be on Tuesday 14^th September in the Holyrood.

And finally, for those members who have not yet sent in their subscriptions for the new season, then can you please do so by return.

 Mike McSherry

Club Secretary