1st November 2008



Dear Club Member,

FORTY YEARS OF TEMPLE FORTUNE FC

If I asked a fellow Officer on our Management Committee to organise a function to celebrate 40 years of TFFC, I would probably find a Club Dinner for current and ex-players being arranged. Or maybe, if it's going to be football-related, a pair of Past v Present commemorative matches much like we did for our Silver Anniversary in 1993 at Bethune Park.

A Club Dinner is bound by its nature to take a lot of organising and, with our 40th birthday being the 28th of December 2008, its attendance around that time of the year would be adversely affected by the holiday period.

To be honest, the celebration of 40 years of this Club's existance has far more significance to my brother Peter and myself than most. Afterall, we were two of the original founders so I would respectfully say that this occasion will invariably have considerable sentimental meaning to us both. So it is with sentimentality in mind that I must confess that there is only one way for Peter and I to mark this incredible milestone.

There can be nothing more fitting than to return to the very park where TFFC was virtually formed, which is a stone-throw away from the location of the infamous old "Low Brick Wall" (if you know your TFFC history!) As luck would have it, our 40th birthday falls on a Sunday and, being a Sunday football club, there is only one thing to do.

And that is to play football on Sunday 28th December 2008 at Princes Park, Oakfields Road, in Temple Fortune, London NW11.

It just has to be! I can think of no other event which could be more apt and meaningful to the Club's founders. More importantly, it would bring a piece of history directly to anyone else interested in participating, a sense of "I was there" when TFFC celebrated 40 years of existance; or even "I am actually playing on the very pitch where Temple Fortune FC evolved in 1968!"

Such a humble experience should not be overlooked or underestimated. I think it would be great for new and old members alike to be a part of this kind of historic celebration, to actually see where we held kick-abouts four decades ago as keen teenagers amongst the leafy trees, where boyhood dreams of smashing the winning goal were virtually all we had to worry about in our youth at that time. I fervently believe that it is a fantastic way to celebrate this particular anniversary!

So onto the logistics of the event itself. On Sunday 28th December, we will be holding a small-sided tournament on that same sloping 'pitch' at Princes Park, with trees as goalposts, uneven boundaries and flexi-goalies! It will be football unlike any you have played before, a fun event with a great sense of history surrounding you. There will be five teams of 5, 6 or 7 players a-side (depending on how many respond), playing 10 minutes per game, one after the other in a round-robin 'league'. The tournament will commence at 10am and should finish at 12.30. A trophy – the Jack Kyte Challenge Cup – will be presented to the winning team. Photos will be taken for this event to be commemorated on the website.

We are looking for a maximum of 35 players. Because we have over 50 members, we are filling places on a first-come-first-served basis.

And that's it. Football at the place TFFC evolved. Forty years to the day the Club was formed. A fabulously fitting way to celebrate such a historic occasion.

Please look out for the invitation being emailed this week. If you wish to take part, please respond as soon as possible, because I will take the first 35 respondees.

Yours sincerely,
Nigel
Chairman