The club have a raffle for shirt sponsorship again this season so I’ve purchased a ticket to show my support. I’ve also paid for a player kit sponsorship which I think will be my 6th consecutive season as a kit sponsor. The first player I sponsored was Dwayne Coultress if memory serves. I’ve also paid to retain the advertising board on the perimeter wall. I have a small advert in the programme but that will be covered in the cost of the raffle ticket. Better to get these paid now so the club have a little bit more revenue to play with.

To help with the difficult times ahead I have made a further donation to the 1881 fund of £500. This brings my donation total to £1500 (a further £50 for 2 virtual grand nation horses too but I’m not counting that). Travelling to the football with my dad really gives us something to look forward to. He’s 82 and it give us something to look entertain us at the weekends. The club has always been very friendly and welcoming to us and it’s worth it to spend quality time with my dad, even if at times the football isn’t quality. Easy access and friendly faces are priceless to us. It can be a real struggle getting disabled access to many football clubs, despite their claims. Berwick and the lower leagues in general have been very good in this respect and should be commended for this.

The Lowland league has been ended and a Kelty Hearts declared winners. There still a twist to come I feel but for now Berwick’s season has finished so it’s time for the end of season awards. Last year due to relegation there was no award ceremony, our award was left on the desk of Dennis Mcleary to hand over to the winner.
This season due to the global pandemic the award will be posted to the winner at some point after lockdown is lifted. One part of the award is an Amazon voucher, that can be sent via email or similar.
Winners in previous seasons have been:
Sean Brennan 2016/17.
Steven Thomson 2017/18.
Lewis Barr 2018/19.
https://www.berwickranger.com/player-awards.html

The winner this season is Lewis Barr. Lewis also picked up the award last season and again has been outstanding in this campaign. Tireless and always putting in the effort, Lewis is a worthy winner yet again. Well done Lewis. Special thanks to my dog Pippa for accepting the award on Lewis’s behalf.

With many people feeling the pinch at the moment our friends at Northern Soul Kitchen are not exempt from this. Millie and the team are working hard to provide food for the local community but with the cafe shut it’s a difficult time. That is why I have donated £100 to the guys to help out. They do a great service for the community and I only wish we had managed a better collaboration with Berwick Rangers when they were shirt sponsors. It was a time of turmoil at the club, board room takeovers and subsequent relegation dominated that season. If you can help with a donation, please do so. Thanks!

https://www.northernsoulkitchen.co.uk/store/p1/Donate_Today.html

I’ve decided to give another £500 to the 1881 fund, this brings my total donation to £1000 (plus another £50 for 2 virtual Grand national horses).
Who knows how this football season will end. With turmoil and controversy no doubt. Brora Rangers have been declared Highland league winners, they were pretty far ahead and it would have taken some unlikely outcomes for them to be caught. There is no relegation from the Highland league so a simpler affair than most leagues.

The lowland league is a bit more complicated, Kelty Hearts 6 points in front of Bonnyrigg Rose but they still have to play each other one more time. Relegation too could be a problem, there are a few clubs at the bottom who could have gone down.

I think a play off system would work for promotion/relegation but it’s a tough call. Bonnyrigg and Kelty play a home away playoff to see who wins the Lowland league and faces Brora. The bottom of League 2 has a playoff between the bottom 2/3 clubs to see who faces the LL/HL winners? Although Brechin are bottom of L2 10 points off the next team (who also have a game in hand). It would be a real tough call to scrap the season and restart. So many teams have put in so much effort and money to gain promotion this season and they may not have the funds and support to do it again. There is of course closed doors games in the summer as an option, but most players at Berwick level will be out of contract in May.
We will just need to sit back and see what unfolds.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/the1881fund