By Deb Jones
June 19 2003

On Wednesday 11th June, around 300 supporters of the Bristol Shoguns, including the Lord Mayor, Councillor Bill Morris, attended a meeting at the Memorial Ground to hear an update on the formation of a Supporters Trust.

The evening brought together the results of around 3 weeks work from a group of some 40 supporters who had volunteered to form a working party, following the Press Conference held by Malcolm Pearce on May 14^th, at which, he declared his intention to remove his financial support from Bristol Shoguns.

“We have chosen the name BRIS Trust, as it captures the most important aspect of our ethos. Bristol, Rugby, Independent, Supporters, Trust – our aim is to enable the members, through collective strength, to influence the running of Bristol Rugby Club for the benefit of the wider community. The Trust should not be confused with the 5000 Club that has recently been launched – membership of the Trust does not include the purchase of any tickets, or merchandise and revenues from the Trust do not go directly to the Club – this is a method for supporters to show their commitment on an on-going basis – regardless of who the owner(s) of the Club are”. Said Gillian Patterson in her opening statement.

There followed three presentations on the formation of the constitution, the way the Trust would be funded and accounted for, and how the Trust planned to appeal to as many potential members as possible.

David Higgs answered questions from the floor and then asked that the Trust Model be adopted. This was given a 100% vote of confidence by the supporters in attendance, as were the names of those people from the Working Party who had put themselves forward as Interim Officers.

By the end of the evening over 120 individuals had joined the Trust and over £7,500 had been raised through membership dues and future pledges. Add to that the number of application forms that people took away with them and you can understand why the Trust is so confident about the future.

Since the meeting on the 11^th – a further 65 members have returned their application forms and raised another £2,715 taking the total to over £10,000 in just one week.

The BRIS Trust also has its own website at www.BRIST.org.uk - application forms as well as information on how to get involved can be found at this site.

Pictured below is Mr Bob Cogan, who was the first supporter to join the BRIS Trust. Mr Cogan, who is 79 has been a Bristol Supporter for over 50 years. He is pictured with Gemma Pullen and Tricia Burns from the Working Party.