Andy Morgan
12:00am, Mon 23rd Jun 2008
Woking FC are very pleased to announce the appointment of our first club Chaplain, Ian Nicholson.
Ian has been a longstanding fan of the Cards, attending his first game after he moved to Mayford from Leeds in 1967. After University and a few years working in Europe he has lived in central Guildford for over 25 years and is a regular at home matches. Ian?s wife Jackie is a Specialist Nurse at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and all three of their children, Ross, Lindsay and Anna, have been Cards supporters over the years.
The Club has been looking for a Chaplain for a while and Ian brings with him a wealth of experience of church and charity leadership. Firstly, this was as the leader of Guildford Community Church and now as the founding director of The Matrix Trust. The Matrix is an innovative youth charity which employs 10 ?relational? youth workers in secondary schools in West Surrey. Other Matrix teams work with students, initiate community renovation projects and train teams of young people for charitable work overseas. Ian also travels extensively, supporting similar initiatives worldwide.
Ian comments ? I am really excited about this opportunity to support the people associated with the club in whatever way I can ? whether they be management, players, staff, academy or fans. Over 75% of professional clubs now have Chaplains who are busy in the background offering time, support, advice and a listening ear. Football clubs can be pretty intense and turbulent places at times and it is always important that people come first - a chaplain is dedicated to having time for people, whatever their background or faith. The role is honorary ? which is a posh way of saying unpaid!
Football clubs like Woking have an incredibly important part to play in the fabric of local life ? often connecting families and communities across many generations. As well as helping us be the most friendly, supportive and people-oriented club we can I would also hope to be able to help us engage even more positively in community life in Woking and Guildford.
I look forward to meeting many of you from time to time but in the meantime if you want to chat to me about any aspect of the role feel free to email me iannicholson@matrixtrust.com or chaplain@wokingfc.co.uk
Thanks, Ian?
