The Dons Trust’s third South London Press column – Volunteers

BY KEVIN RYE

The match against Rochdale was designated ‘Dennis Lowndes Day’. 

It was a day where his family, friends and others who knew, loved and admired him, sponsored the match in his memory. 

Dennis wasn’t just a long-time fan – he was also a dedicated volunteer. He provided so much

support and help to various parts of the football club, from being the kit man for some years after we reformed in 2002 to helping to run AFC Wimbledon Women.

As a qualified referee, he even ran the line for a match when we were short of officials! He’s the kind of person any football club would be lucky to have.

Dennis was one of a core of volunteers across AFC Wimbledon who don’t simply help out a bit but provide huge amounts of resources. They don’t just help out stuffing season ticket envelopes once a year – as important as that is. 

They provide our football club with thousands of hours of free labour every year, saving us many thousands of pounds in cash that we would otherwise have to spend.

Take matchday. Who helps direct and inform fans? Our team of volunteer Supporter Liaison Officers, Tim, Paul and Anuk. Who sells the matchday programmes? Our volunteer matchday programme sellers, led by Mark. Who does the announcements on a matchday? Chris. And then there are people like Claire, Aideen and Jim, among others, welcoming visitors to hospitality, and Laurence, who helps look after visiting press on a matchday.

Not only that, but behind the scenes over the years, we have had financial, legal and accounting advice from volunteers that has saved us huge amounts of money in professional fees. The recent Plough Lane Bonds that saw us raise millions of pounds to get the stadium built?

The team behind it with financial and communications expertise wouldn’t have come cheap. The years of pre-season renovations, painting and maintenance at Kingsmeadow? All given for free. And that’s just some of the help provided that we can fit into this column and which we know about.

Then we’ve got the AFC Wimbledon Foundation, Dons Local Action Group (DLAG), Wimbledon in Sporting History (WiSH), and The Dons Trust itself, which has relied on volunteers like John Stembridge to administer its membership for 20+ years. This club doesn’t just run because of volunteers, it innovates thanks to them.

These are just some of the people and projects we’ve managed to fit into this column. There’s a huge amount more that has been provided that hasn’t been recorded, but without it, the club would either not have been able to do something or would have had to pay for it – a project, a piece of development. 

Volunteering isn’t just something that we’ve needed in the past, it’s a core part of everything we do.

So as the most noticeable part of AFC Wimbledon continues to develop and grows into our new Plough Lane home, we want everyone to remember what volunteers have helped us to achieve: a football club that returned to the Football League in nine years, returned to Plough Lane after 30 years in the wilderness, created charities that extend our influence in the community, and still to this day provides matchday, backroom and administrative support that is the envy of most other clubs.

To have the opportunity to pay tribute to one of those wonderful people like the much-missed Dennis Lowndes – as we did against Rochdale – should serve as a reminder to all of us that volunteers are and will remain a critical part of everything our club does in the future too. And if you are, or have ever been, one of them yourself – thank you.

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD