NORTH Elmham Football Club is entering a new era.

Its first team almost won Division Three of the Crown Fire League at the first attempt, but things started to go astray after losing a crucial fixture to Thurton and Ashby.

It resulted in the chairman/manager handing in his resignation, but after an emergency meeting it was agreed to try to keep the club going, especially after all the effort and results of last season.

June 6 saw the annual meeting needing to make key decisions.

In a very informal start to the meeting chaired by Steve White, people in the room introduced themselves and had their say as to what they saw as the future for development for the club.

It was during this session that Jackie Price introduced herself, detailing her previous history at Foulsham FC and offering her services to North Elmham along with her vision of how the club could progress, as well as bringing almost a complete ladies' team to join the club (matches played on a Sunday).

The North Elmham club now has a chairperson in Jackie Price, secretary is Steve White (although a number of the secretarial duties will be shared between Jackie and Steve); Chris Fisher is vice-chairman, Shane Vertigan is the first team manager and Sharon Bamforth (also ex-Foulsham) is the new treasurer.

One of the first aims will be to go for the Charter Standard Mark since it is a compulsory requirement with many leagues, although not the Crown Fire League at the moment.

There was considerable general discussion of new ideas for the club, a number of which will need further investigation.

Training for he first and second teams will start on Tuesday, June 28, at 7pm at the playing field for those wishing to get fit for the new season. It will also be an opportunity to meet a number of new players who are joining the club. Ladies' training will start on Thursday, June 30, also at 7pm.

Elmham is on the look-out for a few more new players to replace those who have left.