07/11/19
Slough Town’s new Community Engagement Manager talks about his role with the club and future plans for raising the profile of the club with the local community…
An introduction…
I have been coming to Slough Town since the eighties and have lived in Slough for 46 years so I think most regulars should at least know my face by now.
When I’m not watching Slough Town I work as a Research Manager at the National Foundation for Educational Research in town, and maybe more pertinently I volunteer behind the bar at Arbour Park.
I am very passionate about my team and my town and I badgered the current management team to let me have a go at this role. My first job for the club in this role was to organise Non-League Day, which we all felt was a great success despite some pretty horrific weather!
There is a tremendous team of volunteers running our club and I look forward to contributing to the team’s ongoing growth and success.
My remit…
Will be to raise the profile of the club with the local community, the outcome of which should be a significant increase in attendance on match days, not only in terms of overall numbers but also the diversity of the crowd. Although the club has made tremendous progress on and off the field since moving home, attendances have levelled out somewhat recently, with us currently averaging 776 at the time of writing. I see my job as getting that average up around 1,000 in the next couple of seasons as well as tapping into and engaging harder to reach areas of our community.
My absolute focus from now to the start of the season will be getting more kids down to Arbour Park. We will be offering schools, youth clubs and youth football teams in the area free tickets and match day experiences at every home game. Alongside this, we will be targeting other areas of the population we feel are under-represented in our support base.
Coming up…
Here is a summary of what we have planned in the foreseeable future:
December 7 vs Braintree (home) – “Kick it Out” Day and Christmas raffle draw
December 21 after Hampton & Richmond (away) – Christmas party at Arbour Park
December 22 – We will open Arbour Park to Slough’s homeless, providing food, showers and haircuts.
December 26 – vs Wealdstone (home) (TBA)
February 15 – vs Havant & Waterlooville (home) – Ladies Day
April 13 – vs Dulwich Hamlet (home) (TBA)
Summer 2020 – revitalised ‘Legends Day’ and Euro 2020 games live at Arbour Park
Getting involved…
I will be working very closely with the Supporters Trust who already do a fantastic job promoting the club in the local community. If you haven’t done so already, I would recommend joining. A list of the benefits of Trust membership can be found here.
Every month we will be distributing posters to local businesses and this is something I definitely could do with a hand with. Please get in touch if you can display a poster or help distribute them. In particular I am looking for help doing this in Langley, Cippenham, Burnham and Windsor.
Also, I am interested in any ideas you may have for any of the above. In particular, I’m open to any interesting ideas we can do for the Wealdstone and Dulwich games listed above (both of which should draw a big crowd).
My club email address is mark.bailey@sloughtownfc.net and mobile is 07429 118940. You can always come and find me behind the bar on match days.
COYR
Mark Bailey
An introduction…
I have been coming to Slough Town since the eighties and have lived in Slough for 46 years so I think most regulars should at least know my face by now.
When I’m not watching Slough Town I work as a Research Manager at the National Foundation for Educational Research in town, and maybe more pertinently I volunteer behind the bar at Arbour Park.
I am very passionate about my team and my town and I badgered the current management team to let me have a go at this role. My first job for the club in this role was to organise Non-League Day, which we all felt was a great success despite some pretty horrific weather!
There is a tremendous team of volunteers running our club and I look forward to contributing to the team’s ongoing growth and success.
My remit…
Will be to raise the profile of the club with the local community, the outcome of which should be a significant increase in attendance on match days, not only in terms of overall numbers but also the diversity of the crowd. Although the club has made tremendous progress on and off the field since moving home, attendances have levelled out somewhat recently, with us currently averaging 776 at the time of writing. I see my job as getting that average up around 1,000 in the next couple of seasons as well as tapping into and engaging harder to reach areas of our community.
My absolute focus from now to the start of the season will be getting more kids down to Arbour Park. We will be offering schools, youth clubs and youth football teams in the area free tickets and match day experiences at every home game. Alongside this, we will be targeting other areas of the population we feel are under-represented in our support base.
Coming up…
Here is a summary of what we have planned in the foreseeable future:
December 7 vs Braintree (home) – “Kick it Out” Day and Christmas raffle draw
December 21 after Hampton & Richmond (away) – Christmas party at Arbour Park
December 22 – We will open Arbour Park to Slough’s homeless, providing food, showers and haircuts.
December 26 – vs Wealdstone (home) (TBA)
February 15 – vs Havant & Waterlooville (home) – Ladies Day
April 13 – vs Dulwich Hamlet (home) (TBA)
Summer 2020 – revitalised ‘Legends Day’ and Euro 2020 games live at Arbour Park
Getting involved…
I will be working very closely with the Supporters Trust who already do a fantastic job promoting the club in the local community. If you haven’t done so already, I would recommend joining. A list of the benefits of Trust membership can be found here.
Every month we will be distributing posters to local businesses and this is something I definitely could do with a hand with. Please get in touch if you can display a poster or help distribute them. In particular I am looking for help doing this in Langley, Cippenham, Burnham and Windsor.
Also, I am interested in any ideas you may have for any of the above. In particular, I’m open to any interesting ideas we can do for the Wealdstone and Dulwich games listed above (both of which should draw a big crowd).
My club email address is mark.bailey@sloughtownfc.net and mobile is 07429 118940. You can always come and find me behind the bar on match days.
COYR
Mark Bailey
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