Meeting attended by: Barry Ross (Chair), Claire Barrett (Social Secretary & Safeguarding), Lynn Anderson (Committee Member), Antony Linford (Committee Member), Riley Barrett (Youth Representative) and 10 other members (names withheld for privacy).
Apologies: Kerys Harrop (Patron), Lynda Courts (Treasurer), Darren Harris (Social Media), Ellie Yates (LGBTQ+ Representative), Andrew Whitlock (Social Secretary), Peter Milner (Committee Member), Sadie Miller (Youth Representative) and four other members (names withheld for privacy).
Barry Ross (Chair) welcomed everyone to the Annual General Meeting of the Birmingham City Women’s Supporters Group. He introduced himself as well as Claire Barrett (Vice-Chair, Safeguarding and Secretary), Lynn Anderson and Antony Linford (Committee Members) and Riley Barrett ( Youth Representative).
BR ran through the activities from the last season:
Shared the Disability Annual Survey from Level Playing Field.
Invited by Bik Singh to join him on stage as he collected the 2025 Fans For Diversity Award in the women’s game on behalf of Blues 4 All, at their event held at The Emirates in September.
In conjunction with Blues 4 All, we held a Watch Party at The Maggies for our away game at Sunderland in September.
Handed out 500 samosas for Blues 4 All before the designated Diwali game against Charlton in November.
Raffled a replica Women’s Euro Final shirt, signed by Lauren Hemp, which raised over £300.
Met with Georgie, founder of Help Harry Help Others to see how we could work together.
Had a stall at the Women’s Football Fair in Birmingham in November, where we were joined by Lindsay, founder of Just A Ball Game on our stand. Riya Mannu attended the event to support us and to join in their Q&A.
Launched our first Supporters Group scarf as the club shop doesn’t sell them. Gave one to Amy Merricks who insisted on a picture with it. The resulting social media posts resulted in many sales.
Worked with a number of publishers who offered giveaways to our group members.
Shared a number of surveys on women’s football to our group.
Were asked to become a member of the Independent Blues Supporter Clubs, who have thousands of followers. Our first collaboration with them was to help collect donated Easter Eggs to bring some joy to care home children at Easter.
Organised a Supporters Group coach with Blues 4 All to the away game at Durham in February. The cost was subsidised by a grant from Fans For Diversity.
Invited to discuss new Womens stadium with the architects.
Organised a number of social get-togethers at the Son Caney Cuba Bar.
Raffled a signed Blues Annual signed by the majority of our players.
Organised a Supporters Group coach to our final away game of the season at Charlton. Partied all the way there, and all the way back again after becoming WSL2 Champions.
Had a table at the Players Awards where we presented Lily Crosthwaite with our Supporters Group Player of the Season award, and Christie Harrison-Murray & Lucy Quinn with Outstanding Service awards.
Continued working on the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) Women’s Network and attending regular Zoom meetings, as well as the FSA AGM earlier this month.
Increased our Social Media following to over 2,300 on Facebook and over 1,200 on Twitter.
Continued to send out our monthly newsletter to our members.
Once again, we attended every home & away league & cup game last season.
Continued to grow the number of members of our Supporters Group.
BR, in the absence of LC, provided an update on the group’s accounts for the 2025/26 season.
Opening balance for the year was £900.88.
£1750 was spent on coach transport, with £1245 brought in from coach tickets; a loss of £505.
£456 was spent on custom scarves, with £600 brought in from their sales, a profit of £144.
£94 was spent on raffle costs, including the lottery license, with £398.24 raised, a profit of 304.24.
£111 was spent on graphics & stationary.
£100 was given to the Blues Foundation.
£508 was raised through miscellaneous donations.
£11.99 was spent on ongoing website costs.
£53 was spent on the new Blues Women Supporters Group flag which featured across the season.
£106.69 was spent on the custom player awards for Lily Crosthwaite, Lucy Quinn and Christie Harrison-Murray.
Closing balance for the year stands at £1022.44.
BR outlined the objectives for the upcoming season.
Consider more coaches for away games in the WSL.
Continue with regular social get togethers.
Look into merchandise opportunities for our group if the club shop doesn’t sell them.
Continue working with the FSA Women’s Network and Fans For Diversity
Build on relationships that we have initiated last season.
Look for joint initiatives with other groups.
Continue to help those who need our help.
Continue to increase our membership.
Stay true to our values.
BR then opened a discussion with attendees asking what they would like to see from the supporters group next season.
AL shared that a member of the Blues Women OSC had tragically passed away and could we look into organising flowers/message on the big screen at St Andrews. BR and AL will look into what can be done.
Carol and Stacey Smith mentioned that here have been several accessibility concerns this season and it would be beneficial if there could be an Accessibility Officer on the committee to address these types of issues. This lead into a wider discussion about accessibility and it was noted hat there needs to be a dedicated sensory room at St. Andrew’s.
We then moved onto the committee elections where the following positions were up for election: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Safeguarding Lead, Social Media Secretary, Treasurer, Social Secretary, LGBTQ+ Representative, Young Committee Representative and general Committee Members.
BR announced that Lynda Courts was stepping down as treasurer after six years and expressed how grateful he and the committee were for all of her hard work and dedication to the supporters group.
The following members were elected/re-elected:
Barry Ross was re-elected as Chair
Claire Barrett was re-elected as Vice-Chair, Secretary and Safeguarding Lead
Lynn Anderson was elected as Treasurer
Darren Harris was re-elected as Social Media Secretary
Andrew Whitlock was re-elected as Social Secretary
Ellie Yates was re-elected as LGBTQ+ Lead
Carol Smith was elected as Accessibility Representative
Sadie Milner and Riley Barrett were re-elected as Youth Representatives
Peter Milner and Anthony Linford were re-elected as Committee Members.
Any Other Business
The only other item that was raised here was the subject of fundraising ideas and sponsorship. Barry welcomed any new ideas for fundraising and sponsorship for the upcoming season.
The meeting was drawn to a close and and there was a round of applause for the newly elected committee members. Barry thanked those in attendance for coming and welcomed everyone to stay to continue our promotion celebrations.
