The saga is to be reported in the local press

Dear Supporters, Events are moving on swiftly now with a call from David White of the Henley Standard who will be running a story in the paper this week. He will also be talking to the Trust and no doubt AFC Henley; it will be interesting to see how the different views are put and compared. The Trust themselves recently made what I personally would consider to be a non-offer – it runs a bit like this: locals can go on the playing field, but areas will be roped off and if the natives misbehave, or dogs (resident or not I presume) misbehave, we will have to revisit the situation. Implicit in this is that the kicking off of local inhabitants could resume at any point, triggered by whatever the Trust/AFC Henley deem to be misbehaviour. And we, the locals, would have to police it all. If this position were to be accepted, I can see that once the dust has settled we could well be back to square one. In any case, as I have said several times now, this was, is and should always be our playing field, a free and open space for local families, their children and friends to relax and play on. Although teams may be welcome as guests for a match and a training session, outside of that it is supposed to be for the use of the locals. The Trust should be saying: “if any club’s behaviour adversely affects the free access to the playing field for the local inhabitants then the club’s use of the field will have to be revisited.” ...not the other way round! To AFC Henley and the Trust, which are organisations that indeed do good things, the solution is easy. Please fix it quickly. There is a meeting tomorrow between my neighbour and the Trust chairman – no doubt we will hear about the outcome of that. In the meantime, keep spreading the word. We need to change the mindset of AFC Henley/the Trust and then the right contract can follow. Thank you for your continued support. David