The club were delighted that 117 people signed up to become members of Hinckley AFC at Tuesday night’s Public Consultation Meeting, held in the TF Bell Suite at the Greene King Stadium.

The meeting was the first opportunity for you, the members of the community, to buy your share and membership in your club as part of the ‘one member, one vote’ system.

With basic membership set at £6, including a £5 annual fee and £1 for the share, membership could also be bought at £26 (including a Hinckley AFC t-shirt). Founder membership could be bought at £100, with life membership set at £1000.

Other items on the agenda included an introduction from Steve Jelfs, who updated fans on the situation regarding the Greene King Stadium. He explained there are still hurdles to overcome in acquiring the ground, and whilst he is confident that he will have control of it eventually, no time scale can be put on this.

Should a deal not be in place for the start of the 2014-15 season, a contingency plan is being lined up. We are hopeful that we will be able to confirm details by the end of the week.

League wise, we hope to apply for the Midland Alliance, at Step Five of the Non-League system, for our inaugural season, though ultimately this decision is down to the FA.

With the deadline approaching for the business plan to be submitted to the FA, our Facebook page is approaching 1000 likes, whilst our twitter page (@hinckley_afc) is also gathering a substantial following.

A raffle was also held on the night, which raised £217 towards club funds. Prizes included holding membership numbers 2-10, with number one being offered to the widow of the late Matt Gadsby, who died playing for Hinckley United in 2006. The other prize was a Hinckley United shirt signed by Andre Gray.

Items on the agenda include updates on the club’s ground and the league that the club may be entered into for the 2014-15 season. The full agenda is our the events page.

• The latest Working Group meeting took place on Friday 24th January. The Working Group sub-groups have been busy in their areas and have made very good progress.
• From the Public Meeting a couple of weeks ago we have welcomed 2 new volunteers to the Working Group with experience which will help us start the Community Football clubs. If anyone else in the community wants to help, just step forward and join us – it`s your club!
• We are honoured that the leader of Hinckley & Bosworth Council – Stuart Bray – has publicly stated his support for the creation of the Club. “I am excited about the prospect of having a community owned football club in Hinckley and will give it my full support.”
• The new Hinckley A.F.C. Website and Twitter feed will be launched on 1st February.
• Discussions are still taking place to secure our ground and facilities. As the Chairman of the Working Group stressed at the Public Meeting, these discussions are at a highly sensitive stage but rest assured progress is being made and an announcement will be made as soon as appropriate.
• We are getting tremendous support through Social Media, with over 450 “likes” on Facebook (take a look J) and numerous new followers to various personal feeds on Twitter. Local press and radio are well informed and have been featuring our progress; and of course we have featured so far on 2 programmes on 5Live (Danny Baker and Non-League Show). Word of mouth is still very important so don`t miss any opportunity to tell people about your new football club!
• A Marketing Plan involving local promotion, sponsorship deals etc is being developed and will be put in to place in the next month.

So, your club is taking shape and is really coming to life now! Keep an eye out for the next Working Group update in the next couple of weeks. Also, don`t hesitate to contact one of us with any suggestions, ideas, comments. It`s YOUR club!

Hinckley A.F.C. – One Community, One Voice, One Passion!