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You may have noticed that when you go to the Stacey West Bond website it now transports you to the Red Imps Community Trust site. This is deliberate, as all news and information regarding the bond will be placed on here from now on and a specific page will be populated shortly.
If you have any queries on the Bond scheme, please contact us still at bonds@redimpstrust.co.uk
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Daughter Lynn and son Neal are set to pass their late father’s Lincoln City shareholding to the Red Imps Community Trust and we thank them for this fantastic gesture.
John Cameron Cartwright, pictured here with Danny Cowley at Maidstone United’s ground, was a lifelong Imps supporter having been born in the city in 1933 where he lived above a shop on High Street until his family moved to Surrey when he was eleven.
John had a varied career including civil servant and agent for an MP, and was Deputy Chair of the Police Complaints Authority before retiring to Kent.
He never lost his passion for Lincoln City from those early years despite a stint as PA announcer with Charlton Athletic in the 70s and would listen to commentary and watch on iFollow. He attended matches when the Imps were in the area.
Everyone connected with our Trust thank Lynn, Neal, and family and pay tribute to John who was clearly a fine man and a true Imp.
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Lincoln City Foundation is the permanent charity partner of Red Imps Community Trust. Details are given below of the Foundation’s “Active Explorers” and “Football Evolution” programmes.
WHAT ARE THE “ACTIVE EXPLORERS” AND “FOOTBALL EVOLUTION” PROGRAMMES?
They’re both Summer Holiday Clubs for kids aged 4-12: it’s Ofsted-registered childcare.
WHEN AND WHERE ARE “ACTIVE EXPLORERS” AND “FOOTBALL EVOLUTION” SESSIONS HELD?
Every weekday until 29/08/25 between 8.30am and 5.00pm at the LNER Stadium, Sincil Bank, Lincoln LN5 8LD, partly indoors (in the Co-op Community Hub, behind the Stacey West Stand) and partly outside (on the 3G pitch).
HOW MUCH DO “ACTIVE EXPLORERS” AND “FOOTBALL EVOLUTION” SESSIONS COST?
“Active Explorers” sessions cost £26 per day and “Football Evolution” sessions cost £28 per day. Payment can be made by childcare vouchers.
HOW DO I BOOK PLACES ON “ACTIVE EXPLORERS” AND “FOOTBALL EVOLUTION” SESSIONS?
Please visit https://bookings.lincolncityfoundation.co.uk/project/60631 to find more details and to book places. For any more information, please email holidayclubs@lincolncityfoundation.co.uk.
HOW CAN DONATIONS BE MADE TO SUPPORT THE “ACTIVE EXLORERS” AND “FOOTBALL EVOLUTION” PROGRAMMES? There are numerous ways to support the Foundation financially, including before all home games via a collection bucket that can be found in the Trust’s Pod in the University of Lincoln Fan Village.
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Richard Lalka is granted lifetime membership of the Red Imps Community Trust for his sterling media work and Julian Burley wins a Special Recognition Award for his years of dedication running Vitals.
Main winner and our Fan of the Season is Paul Baker who has assisted with Trust activities in the Fan Village through rain or shine for years with great energy and enthusiasm. Congratulations Paul!
News
Football was in crisis as recently as the beginning of this decade. Bury FC had just folded. Another regular opponent of Lincoln City, Macclesfield Town, followed. At the opposite end of the spectrum, wealthy clubs wanted to form a breakaway European Super League. COVID lockdown switched off the game’s income streams overnight.
The Conservative government launched a Fan Led Review in 2021. The Football Governance Bill was then introduced into Parliament, seeking to turn the Review’s recommendations into law. The Bill has now received Royal Assent: the Football Governance Act 2025 is now the law of the land – English football has an Independent Regulator.
It’s perfectly fair to say that significant change will not happen immediately and that powerful vested interests will still cause problems. But simply having the Act in existence is truly a momentous event for the future of football. We are now at the start of a new journey and the direction of travel is clear. Clubs will eventually have to operate in a financially sustainable way. Rogue owners should play no part. There should always be meaningful engagement with fans.
We’re proud that the key investors at Lincoln see themselves as custodians of the club for the time being for the fans, both now and in future generations. Our club’s investors have been vocal advocates for football to operate in a financially sustainable way. And the manner in which they have embraced the need to engage with fans is first rate. They have encouraged our Trust to be a critical friend. Everyone who is a season ticket holder or who joins one of the other club membership schemes is automatically a Trust member. There are democratic elections for two representatives of the Trust on the club’s Board of Directors. The Trust has been given power to veto (if requested by fans in a democratic vote) any proposals for stadium relocations or changes of club name, colours and badge. There’s a Fan Advisory Board.
Our Trust has worked tirelessly to support the embedding of that culture in recent years. In doing so, we haven’t just collaborated with the club and with other fan groups associated with it. We’ve also sung the club’s praises to external parties, such as our friends at The Football Supporters’ Association, various other clubs’ supporters’ trusts and our contacts in the House of Lords and in the House of Commons.
Red Imps Community Trust welcomes the Football Governance Act and looks forward to the part that the Regulator will play in safeguarding the future of football.
The game is now in a much better place because of the new legislation.
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The Football Governance Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on 8th July. It looks set to gain Royal Assent, and thus become law, before parliament closes for the summer recess on 22nd July.
Supporter engagement is already embedded in the culture at Lincoln City FC, but the new law will strengthen it at all other clubs in the top five tiers of domestic football. There will also be increased club heritage and financial protections, with more blocks on unsuitable owners. On top of that, it will prevent any domestic club from entering a breakaway European Super League.
Red Imps Community Trust is an active member of the Football Supporters’ Association, which has worked tirelessly on the Bill. Please click here to read the FSA’s latest press release, which contains lots more information.
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The Red Imps Community Trust and Lincoln United officials seen pre-match at Ashby Avenue, with the Trust the game’s matchball sponsor and a great occasion for all there with the result finishing 2-2.
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It remains imperative that the Football Governance Bill should become law without delay: the urgent need for an Independent Regulator of English Football has been highlighted yet again by recent events at Morecambe FC, Sheffield Wednesday FC and Hull City FC.
Red Imps Community Trust is an active member of the Football Supporters’ Association, which has been working on the Bill for a long time. A progress report that it issued on 02/07/25 can be read here.
Rob's Column
With thanks to the Lincolnshire Echo
Your Trust – I say ‘your’ because most of our fans are members – has done a bit of soul-searching in the last couple of weeks. We like to think we’re on the ball and we do some good things but we can never stand still.
One area we think can be improved is assessing what younger fans think about their club and, indeed, this fans organisation that they are an important part of. We’ll soon be announcing a young supporters representative will be joining our board. What he – it’s a ‘he’ but I can’t identify him yet – brings to the table will, if necessary, be taken into the heart of the club and get the attention it deserves. The last few years at the LNER have been successful and this has attracted a lot of youthful fans to our games. Knowing what they think is pretty vital therefore. We’ll help those messages get heard.
Aiding this young fella will be a new dedicated Trust volunteer who is keen to assist, and you will maybe notice a significant Trust presence in the ground at matchdays in 25-26. We have a busy role in the Fan Village but not all our fans go in there so we’ll be promoting the Trust and completing surveys in the stands and circulation areas on a regular basis.
We’ve looked at our comms and our team do a great job. Our posts and content will continue to do the basics and more but there’ll be more of a creative element too this coming season. Feature video clips will be put out and, a hidden gem in our heritage work – our online museum – will be promoted much more. Judging by the collectors and other Imps history buffs who we see at our pre-match pod, there’s a real appetite for looking through Imps memorabilia. We have a good deal of it and it’ll soon be more readily accessed.
Our heritage remit has grown and grown. Our third landmark plaque, recognising our Imp nickname and its Cathedral-based origin, has been ordered from the manufacturer and we’ll have an opening ceremony in the next few weeks.
On top of that we’re hard at work setting up a Lincoln City exhibition in an amazing location here in this amazing city. It’ll be open during the summer school holidays so watch out for news of that.
I’ll now stop dropping all these not-so-subtle hints and never fear you’ll get much fuller details as soon as we’re ready. The bottom line is that we’re honoured to have so many brilliant members and we’ll continue to work hard on their behalf.
