The season has started well under Gavin and his new squad. Thanks to supporters for getting behind the team as we look ahead to an exciting season that holds so much promise.

The new season sees further changes at St James Park to enhance supporters’ match-day experience as the club seeks to continue to move forwards on all fronts.

Car Parking at St James Park:
The new car park is now open. The new car park increases our parking capacity so more supporters can now park at the ground on match days. We have reduced the car park fee to £3 for this car park and hope that this will be welcomed by supporters and will encourage greater use of the car park reducing pressure on street parking.

With the new car park now operational supporters use the turnstiles at that end of the ground. Only for segregated games will we use the turnstiles at the Cricket Ground end and these will be for away supporters, conveniently adjacent to the coach park.

New Glasses in The Venue:
In line with all organisations the club has taken a hard look at our carbon footprint and how we can become greener. One measure has been to introduce re-usable polycarbonate glasses in The Venue. These are sturdier than the single-use, flimsy plastic ones that brought plenty of complaints and can be washed and re-used or re-cycled. A deposit of £1 is charged which is redeemed on return of the glass to the bar or to a returns area outside on the patio. This is an important measure that both provides a better quality glass for your pint and reduces the amount of plastic waste. Get behind this move and let’s do our bit for the environment.

Bar queues in The Venue:
We are always listening to supporters’ feedback. A recurring gripe has been queues at the bar. A pint is now only £4 and we urge supporters to come to The Venue early on match days to enjoy the game on the Big Screen and beat the queues. To reduce the queues we are now opening both bars in The Venue with three separate queues at the main bar, one purely for cash, two for card only. The separate bar in the Anne Leighton Suite has a reduced offer of draught beer but takes cash or card. We will trial these arrangements through September. Sam Jones, our new manager in The Venue, is doing a great job and welcomes your feedback.

Brackley Town Supporter Group:
Our Supporter Group has been up and running now for 15 months. The group represents all sections of supporters and provides feedback on all aspects of match days and the supporter experience. The group has decided to engage in some fund-raising this season with the aim of providing an electronic scoreboard at St James Park. This would be a fantastic further facility at the ground. A proportion of proceeds from 50/50 ticket sales and programme sales now goes towards the scoreboard fund and the group will be running some fund-raising events and are hoping to produce a club calendar. Watch out for news of upcoming events and progress towards the target of the scoreboard fund.

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