Hedgegrower on Help the Hatters !

It is some years since I first made contact with Help the Hatters.

The group was well into its wholesale reconstruction of County's training facility at Manor Farm. ....truly and astonishingly turning a farm into a training facility really.

It was inspiring stuff to see supporters weighing in with jobs they would likely run a country mile away from doing on the home front. 

Skilled craftsmen donated skills willingly and for free, and those with little in the way of skills to offer did what they could. 

Help the Hatters knew long before Tesco that `every little helps!'

Fitzy eyed me up warily before assigning me to mowing the grass- thus limiting any potential hazards.

 In truth  my contributions over the coming weeks/months were minimal, but it was instructional to see the most excellent training facility emerge eventually where once stood a dilapidated farm house !

Little has changed over the years......the faces maybe to some degree , but the driving ethic remains intact...`Doers not Talkers!'. Every year is a struggle to raise the funds to ensure we can do what we do, but with support from many unsung heroes in the County family, we live to fight another day....and another and........the periodic Treasurers Reports from Mike Hopper continue to confirm that ,despite all the difficulties, our collective head remains above the financial waves !

This year has seen Angela start again on the main fund raiser namely the Car Boot Sales at the Booth Street Car Park.

The site may have undertaken a major reconstruction, with rumours of more to come, but Angela has kept her Help the Hatters troops firing on all cylinders...turning out in all weather at ridiculous o'clock.

We are greatly indebted to everyone who makes the effort and turns out thus ensuring we stay afloat.

Another staple of Help the Hatters activities is the Edgeley Park Working Parties, which have just recommenced, under John Gaskin's gaffership. 

This is where our energies and a proportion of our funds go during the close season, and it is the regular EPWP's that have kept Edgeley Park looking as magnificent as it still does!

Season 2016/17 saw the spawning of offspring to our EPWP's in the form of the Monday Clean Up Squads. Meeting at 10am and tasked largely with clearing the mountain of litter still left by crowds at EP, the sessions have been another great example of Help the Hatters `doing stuff'

Much energy during 2016/17 has been channelled into the upcoming County Museum. A massive number of man hours have been spent ensuring that ,when the Museum opens soon( check the audio for exciting information on this ), it will be a credit to County , and will attract future County fans to visit  from the local schools. 

They will be shown around...museum and ground.....and a goody bag will include a ticket to a County game. Attracting hundreds....nay thousands of children in this manner can only make County more attractive going forward!

Fitzy and John Gaskin have probably been the hardest grafters on this project and I was pleased to catch up with the two Johns and the whole EPWP crew( hear Edd Powell, David Wright and Keith Lee in the  15 minute audio)at a recent EP session. This is a  link to the resultant conversations ....


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kb7d5l0aiz7smra/AABVK7tIArRkfBTDuohGImpJa?dl=0

So, there I think is an idea of what makes Help the Hatters tick, from the groups driving force and their increasingly willing `infantry'. 

Not resting, John, with the help of Natalie,sent out  an appeal recently to local businesses for help getting the Museum up and running.

This letter can be viewed via this link.......

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6kibqwvrc59ppzy/AADyrwYSxoKz7XnqLEePdxSga?dl=0

If you can help we would be pleased to hear from you!

I.O.County and long live Help the Hatters!

hedgegrower