NEWCASTLE UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB
I
t’s a long time since we witnessed dancing on the streets with so much jubilation in the City as was seen on 7th October, the day Newcastle United were finally taken over by a Saudi-led consortium of Amanda Staveley, Rueben Brothers headed by Jamie Rueben and new chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan of PCI Investment. It has been an uplift for the supporters and the whole city which was palpable on the 8th with everyone in the City Centre and beyond, smiling with that feel good factor. As landlords of the football ground and the training pitches, the Stewards Committee took a particular interest in developments, (like everyone else glued to the news channel hoping for the right result) and will look forward to building a good working relationship with the new owners over the coming months. It was really pleasing to hear that the new consortium is committed to not only improving the club but also the City and surrounding area. Hopefully we will be able to get together with the directors and have the opportunity to inform them that we are no ordinary landlords, the rent
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Freemen Magazine
they pay does not go to a commercial business for profit, but to the Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne, a charity. Moreover, not a charity with a chief executive on a mega salary but an organisation with over 1800 committed Freemen run by 11 elected volunteer stewards on their behalf, tasked with looking after 900+ acres of Town Moors on behalf of the City and its residents; probably the biggest inner-city open space in the country if not the world and an organisation where the income is used to preserve, maintain and improve the Town Moors, affectionately referred to as the city lung. To echo our Chairman’s remarks, ‘we are the original environmental organisation’, an ethos embedded in legislation via the Town Moor Act 1988. After all we have been doing it for over 800 years. We are a fantastic and proud organisation in which all Freemen are encouraged to get involved and play a part whether directly or through their company, we would love to hear your thoughts.
Howay the Lads.
VISITOR’S TALES
F
or many years, Ian Miller was the Town Moor Money Charity Visitor, visiting recipients to assist with applications. He also and organised many social events such as coach trips and theatre visits. I had visited Joyce’s mother and when she died I met Joyce for the first time. I discovered that she would qualify for Town Moor Money Charity as a Freeman’s daughter, single parent family on a low income. I said that she’d need her father’s oath paper and her full birth certificate to show she was his daughter and her marriage certificate to show her changed surname. She said that it would be embarrassing as she had been married four times – but the last time she hadn’t bothered to change her name, as he was a very old man who had just lost his wife and she was sorry for him. She was small in height but large in girth and wore slack fitting clothes. Despite her alliances she was still poor and I represented her with her form at the trustees meeting. When I called to tell her she had qualified she said “let me give you a hug” and gave me a bear hug! I was surprised that her slack shapeless clothes contained so much woman and I attempted to put my
arms around her, but they couldn’t meet – then I saw my reflection in a mirror and I almost burst out laughing as I thought we looked like sumo wrestlers! She broke off and saw the smile on my face and asked if I had enjoyed it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth! Her daughter was bright and attractive, a teenager still at school and when I called she would ask me if I would like a cup of tea and she would make it. Usually when I visited their elders, teenagers would turn up the TV or leave the room altogether. Two years later she had left school and was job seeking and doing a promising course, but three months later when I asked her mother if she had a job, Joyce gleefully said “she doesn’t need one now, she’s pregnant!” Joyce was smoking more each time I saw her and eventually I stopped going into her smoke-filled flat, with the excuse that I was running late and hadn’t much time to chat. She died shortly after and I heard that her daughter had a new partner and more children. Freemen Magazine
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