London Calling: August

A new season has begun and after a good start we’ve slipped up against Barnet. Big deal. Not the end of the world, but according to some sounds as if we can see it from here. I don’t think so. You don’t turn into a bad side overnight and although we have a hard month ahead we shouldn’t be throwing in the towel just yet. With a little more accuracy up front, we could have gone it three up against Barnet, who failed to impress me I’m afraid. We’ve still got a fairly stubborn defence, the midfield looks the most sorted for years and we’ve now got a target man up front and some options to play alongside him. This is the strongest United side we’ve had for many years and whilst even more strengthening would be great, I don’t feel there is any reason to panic. Barnet were a strong, tall, physical side and we shouldn’t forget the two penalty claims – both stonewall certainties in my book. Firstly, Hawley was wrestled to the ground and then Adam Murray nearly had the shirt ripped from his back – there is an excellent photo in Newcastle’s Sunday Sun of this one. If either of those penalties had been given then Barnet would have struggle to get back into the game.

The result failed to take the gloss off the day for one London Branch member – Laura Spark who was celebrating not only her 21^st birthday but also her engagement. The celebrations continued after the match in Foxy’s where invited guests were able to forget the result and tuck into a fine buffet and a few more drinks. Anthony Williams turned up to say hello to Laura – he was part of Laura’s birthday present – and before you leap to the wrong conclusion – you will notice from the club programme that he has been sponsored by Laura courtesy of her parents, Barrie and Liz. Fred Story also popped along to wish Laura well and add a few words of his own. It was great to see that the club players and officials were prepared to give up their time to come along and it is this that differentiates Carlisle United from most other clubs and certainly the faceless PLCs that dominate the Premiership.

The summer saw the London Branch celebrate its 30^th AGM at the House of Commons courtesy of Eric Martlew. Special guests included Tony Cunningham MP for Workington; Lord Clark of Windermere – who opened the meeting; and the MP for Wigan, Neil Turner, a Harraby lad. Launching the Blue Lotto at the meeting was Alan Nichol who had travelled down from Carlisle especially for the meeting. He was rewarded when almost all of the attendees at the meeting signed up on the spot and one of them, Jason Casey, became one of the first winners. After the meeting everyone moved across the road to St Stephen’s Tavern for promotion celebration involving free food and beer. It was a great evening and with almost 50 members turning up certainly one of the best attended AGMs ever.

With over 250 members, the London Branch is booming and interest has never been so high. We keep members informed with our fanzine ‘Hit the Bar’ now published monthly, and an online Virtual Hit the Bar published weekly for members. We also have our own website, but over the years as people have come and gone we’ve had problems in getting it running consistently, but Andy Harrison has really got to grip with things now and the website is back up and functioning and looking better than ever. There is still a lot to do, but some key functions (e.g. directions and where to meet at away games) are back. The social side of the London Branch is also proving successful with the recent barbecue and sports day in St Albans being well supported. The next major event is for our eleven-a-side soccer team to travel to Cambridge to take part in a charity competition later this month. Last year we went as a non-league side – this year the tables are turned and with Chris Tembey’s excellent organisation we will be taking a full squad with substitutes, all sporting our new Carlisle United away kit.

Hope to see you on our travels

Malcolm Fawcett

information@carlislelondonbranch.org