November 2026 update including the monthly branch meeting held on Sunday 1st November 2026 at the Londesborough Club.
Monthly branch meeting.
The new 6pm start time is starting to attract a few more attendees which is good. As it’s getting darker and colder on a night, we will continue to meet at 6pm, just we so can get home quicker! Trish from the Londesborough agrees!
The minutes from several LUSC exec meetings were read out. Members of the Committee will be attending a celebration of life for Dave Gaertner on Weds 11th November. Dave was a very active member of the LUSC in the 90s / 00s he helped out with the old Elland Road Roar, the LUSC fanzine from days gone by. He helped set up the LUSC website and was always seen with Phil Beeton in the trailer matchdays. Dave was a really nice bloke and will be sorely missed.
The Wilko 92 project is gaining traction. There’s still a lot to do to raise funds but the LUSC are working with Dave Tomlinson, who has been attending the LUSC exec zoom meetings.
The LUSC Thorp Arch visit was oversubscribed as usual, but the day was very enjoyable. An article on the programme page from the day will be done and hopefully this long standing event will continue to be honoured. Chris Bowes from our branch was in attendance, we have a couple of photos which will be on this post.
There will be LUSC Christmas cards this year. John Mann has secured a nice picture from the YEP I think. See below further details. A new branch has been set up from Waterford in Ireland
Memberships
We are still getting new members enquiries, whether via our own website / facebook / word of mouth. Quite a few from people who are new to Harrogate and some old members returning. At least it keeps the Membership Secretary busy. We will look to increase our visibility to optimise this (see below AOB). More cards are being ordered as we speak from the Exec. Cards will be returned once processed by Roy, provided there is a self addressed stamped envelope. Otherwise pick up at away games or at the Holbeck Club home games, pre and post match.
Away Games
We ran trips to Arsenal (with our friends from Bradford 2011 LUSC) and Sunderland on our own. No coach to Bournemouth due to lack of tickets. Still had good day out at Bournemouth by the seaside. It might well be that the pattern is that we share to the longer aways and run our own to the local ones. This is very dependent on tickets. Please can all branch members remember to put themselves in for the ballots. They’ll be reminders on the closed groups and mailing list, just in case people forget which days to order on. The branch will always aim to be cheaper than the Leeds travelclub.
Pick ups Knaresborough (Marquis of Granby), Starbeck, The Skipton, Coach Stand Fat Badger and Leeds The Palace Pub. Pick up at Unity Club, Little Horton, Bradford also.
Treasurer’s report
No serious losses of late. Still very dependent on tickets. Bank balance is in reasonable nick. Should be able to afford the Player Sponsorship this season, unless it goes up dramatically.
Website
From last months discussion, we will aim to contact our developer and let him know our decision about updating the website. It is now fully functional, and just needs articles etc. doing regularly. As Jamie said, there is 12 years of stuff on there which people are still looking at, according to the analytics, so it would be a shame to bin it. All articles require a bit of time to do. There’s plenty of stuff to write about, just not enough time to do it in. As Nmecha’s sponsor there is a link to our website, so there may well be traffic / interest generated from this. There are NO plans to expand on social media other than facebook or the website. It’s more than enough.
A.O.B.
Chairman’s efforts
Chairman Charley’s contribution to the Billy Bremner statue fund was in the programme. Charley kindly donated a item of memorabilia to Heidi Haigh on behalf of the branch to be used as a raffle item to help raise funds.
Christmas cards
Christmas cards. We will aim to sell them at 50p per card. The cards are always great quality cards, and very good for sending out to Leeds fans and people who don’t like Leeds, just to annoy them. As soon as they are available we will get some off the LUSC.
Fixture lists
Fixture lists from LUSC are now available. There will be a stack left at the Holbeck club and the Londesborough behind the bar. Otherwise available from us at aways / in the ground.
Branch visibility
After years of trying to avoid all this publicity, we now need to seriously think about embracing it, like the Chairman. Facebook has been sending messages regarding monetisation of the page. This is clearly a hint that the facebook interactions are worthy of being monetised. The post of Messrs Littlefair, Sharp and Stephenson at West Ham racked up nearly 15k views. I’m not altogether sure of whether that was Mr Sharp looking at it continuously though.
As you are aware, the agreement is that the Chairman, Charley Megginson deals with the publicity on facebook. Mainly because he has the time to do so, and in recent years has gained the knowledge and expertise on how to best interact with social media to benefit the branch and other Leeds United fans. Although we joke about this, it is in fact quite serious. Charley has amassed many followers on noseybook and maxxed out his friends capacity. The Secretary and the Comms Officer are not as proactive and certainly not as prolific when it comes to promoting the branch.
Raising the profile
As it stands, it appears we are wasting opportunities to promote the branch and the wider LUSC. We may also be squandering opportunities to increase the membership.
As voted by the meeting, we will look towards sponsorship opportunities to help promote the branch. The Comms Officer will also stop ignoring the messages from Facebook regarding monetisation, and be more proactive about this. Obviously, the branch remains a non profit organisation, however, any monies generated will go towards things like continuing to subsidise travel to away games. Subsidising brekkies at the pubstops, looking at funding for the end of season events e.g.the Annual BBQ, helping towards costs at LUSC events e.g the Annual Quiz.
More importantly, we will look to donating towards worthy causes, like the Annual Christmas Dinner organised by Bruce Reid, and also the end of season donation to St Michael’s Hospice.
***If any branch member is keen to assist with fundraising activities, please contact us***
Player sponsorship
According to the Sponsorship page in the programme, we are still sponsoring Lukas Nmecha. We are still awaiting a reply to confirm this and also an invoice. Also still waiting for the benefits package from last year’s sponsorship, which should be a signed shirt, which we will look to raffle off to a branch member for Christmas.
Chris and Archie’s Big Day Out
Pictured is Archie (Chris Bowes’s nephew) at the Thorp Arch LUSC Day with Jean – Matteo Bahoya. Archie and Chris had a brilliant day watching the players training and then got a chance to meet up with them for photos / autographs etc. This is the picture Chris requested to be on the website. It is excellent that Leeds United continue to uphold this LUSC event to get more youngsters interested in Leeds early, to promote the next generation of dedicated Leeds fans. On On On.
Always Leeds Always Loyal
