The nomination period for the Argyle Fans’ Trust board election is drawing to a close, with nominations due in by 5pm on Wednesday 17th October.

Serving on the Trust Board can both help the club and community and be rewarding in itself. If you’re interested in standing please email the Trust Secretary, Linda Fleming at secretary@argylefanstrust.com or call on 07725 754349. There is still time to put yourself forward!

If applying by email signatures from nominees are not required – we will instead contact them to verify their nominations. To stand, you must have had an active membership as of 28th September and be aged 16 or over.

Further information about the election can be found here.

We’d love to see more Trust members stand for the election, so to give you a bit more of a feel for what it’s like to be on the Trust Board, Linda asked one of the existing members about the role.

What made you get involved with the AFT and want to be an active member of the Board?

Like many others, I joined the Trust as the club’s financial difficulties worsened early in 2011. One reason for joining was to be better in touch with news on the club’s situation, but I was also aware that the more people who joined the Trust the stronger its voice became. As the club entered administration I began helping out with various activities including leafleting and the bucket collections. When the first Trust board elections were announced, I felt I could help more so stood for that. To me, it’s important we have a strong Trust as a voice for supporters, and so that we can also lay on events for the better of the community and for football in general.

Are the roles of the different Board members clear in terms of who does what and is there a clear division of responsibility?

While some board members have specific responsibilities, like campaigns and liaisons, these also vary over time, so we can help out with events as and when we have time to do so. When we meet we agree what activities and actions we need to take, and usually these will each be picked up by one or two Board members. So recently for example we had two people organising the pig racing social night, and we now have two others pulling the Safe Standing Roadshow together for the 10th November. We’re also just beginning to plan the Plymouth Foodbank collection for 8th December.

How often does the Board meet?

Our Rules require we meet at least four times a year, but in practice we meet every few weeks. We usually meet on a Saturday before a home game, to make it as easy as possible for everyone to attend. You don’t have to make every meeting, but obviously the more people that attend each meeting the better. All the meeting logistics and minute-taking are handled by the Trust Secretary, who we couldn’t do without!

Are there any particular challenges in terms of managing communication given the Board operates remotely?

We talk quite a lot by email, though if something urgent comes up we have a telecon facility so we can all get on the phone and talk together to decide what to do. We hope to make more use of Skype for that in the future, but we don’t expect board members to be technical wizzes, indeed we want to have more ‘offline’ members represented on the board, and reach out to more ‘offline’ fans.

What is your estimate of the time commitment per month?

This varies, as we might work on one or two projects or events in one month, and nothing in another. Board members usually help out on match days at Home Park with the gazebo. Overall, it can take as much time as you want to put into it, but on average you should put aside two to three hours a week.

What’s the best thing about being on the AFT Board?

The most rewarding thing is meeting new people, and making new friends, and helping the club and community while doing so.