With December 2008 having very quickly slipped into yesterday's history books, it has brought to an end a very busy and very successful community related year.

In 2008 I have represented Norwich City on over 250 occasions, appearing and speaking at various NCFC community related events, functions and openings within our region. On top of this our community delivery partners have been just as busy organising and managing different initiatives and schemes, which have had such a positive effect on people's lives.

The Club's community programme reaches high levels of success because of the passion, enthusiasm and drive shown by the staff working within Carrow Road. It's they who should be constantly applauded for their professional and dedicated approach in working with the fans and making Norwich City a Premiership standard Club.

We all look forward to building on the excellent work carried out by the Club and taking it proudly into 2009.

Cheers
Gossy

Aviva Sales and Marketing Conference
Club sponsors Aviva used Carrow Road as the venue for an all day marketing conference on December 2, which saw Lee Clark, Mark Fotheringham, Bryan Gunn and Neil Doncaster all take centre stage on the panel for a special NCFC forum.

Aviva Sponsorship Manager, Lee Sparkes, said: "Three hundred staff attended the event and we've received positive feedback regarding both the content of the event and also the football club as a venue. So for us it was a successful conference to deliver our messages to our staff. I would like to pass on our thanks to the catering team who looked after us so well during the day and evening.

"Please pass on our sincere thanks to 'the panel' who entertained us for an hour and for some who gave up their time at such short notice, this was extremely appreciated. Feedback from the Aviva staff is they enjoyed hearing from Bryan, Neil, Lee and Mark and that Gossy was a fantastic host. Lee's rendition of 'Gazza' eating the apple crumble in 10 seconds still makes me smile! So thank you Norwich City for your support with this special event."

Norwich City Show Racism the Red Card
The Study Centre hosted a 'Show Racism the Red Card' event on December 19 at Carrow Road with The Secretary of State for Education, Ed Balls as the main VIP guest, along with then Canary manager Glenn Roeder. The Club were delighted to have hosted this event and show it's support for such an important initiative. In conjunction with the Study Centre this is one of several such forums that have been held with young people to discuss the issue of racism and bringing people together.

It was an honour for us to have welcomed Ed Balls who spoke and answered questions from the 130 school children who attended. Well done to Ros Watson and her team for organising and managing the whole event.

Aviva 'Footy Finance' Initiative
City's main Club sponsor Aviva along with the Canaries launched a brand new scheme to help young children understand the vital link between money and football.

The very first 'Footy Finance' lessons were held here at Carrow Road and included 20 children all aged 11 and 12 from Framingham Earl High School. They were given the role as Board of Directors and a £40 million budget to spend on everything from buying and selling players to making decisions about the website and marketing.

The idea of the scheme is help children improve their numeracy skills by introducing a Norwich City related task that is both enjoyable and fun. The second aspect of the scheme is playing football at Carrow Park under the guidance of our FITC staff. I'm sure this crucial initiative will be of great benefit to lots of children in their desire to gain extra confidence working with numbers.

Double Club Celebration Awards Night
Norwich City stars of the future, Kris Renton and Luke Daley, were the guests of honor at the Double Club Celebration night held at Carrow Road. The night was an opportunity to congratulate four schools for completing their Study Centre designed numeracy, literacy and football course, which took place at Carrow Road and Carrow Park.

Students from Sprowston High School, Hewett High, Cliff Park High and Acle High were all presented with certificates by Kris and Luke. Well done to Paul Wickens from the Study Centre who delivered the 12-week course and organised the night of celebration.

NANSA Family Centre
Myself and Chloe Turner, the NCFC Events and Promotions Manager, made a visit to the NANSA Family Centre based in Norwich to hand over Christmas goody bags to all the children who regularly attend this very special facility. The Centre provides free help and advice services to all the families whose children have disabilities including cerebral palsy. On behalf of the Club we also presented a signed NCFC shirt to be auctioned to raise much needed funds for the Centre.

Special Christmas visit to Margaret!
On behalf of Broadland Housing and NCFC I made a trip to Bowthorpe to visit Margaret Gibson who suffers from many medical ailments and is virtually house bound. Margaret is a passionate Norwich fan and it was a pleasure to meet her and see her extensive collection of Norwich City memorabilia, which was proof that she is certainly one of the Club's greatest supporters! The signed shirt I presented her with will be a great addition to her amazing collection.

Speaking about the visit Margaret said: "Unfortunately, because of my health I can never go to see the Canaries in action at Carrow Road, but I always listen to the game on the radio and try and catch TV highlights whenever possible. So it was such a pleasure to receive a visit from Jeremy and I'm absolutely delighted with the shirt, which I will treasure."

Life long City fan returns after 40 years
'Once a Norwich fan always a Norwich fan' - The words spoken to me by 80-year-old Bernard Phillips who travelled all the way from South Africa to visit Norwich and Carrow Road. Bernard has never stopped supporting the Canaries since he was a little boy and remembered cheering on his favourite team during the great FA Cup run of 1958-59.

Having spent the 40 years living and working overseas he decided it was time to revisit Carrow Road and see the vast amount of changes that have been made. I was delighted to meet Bernard and show him around our impressive stadium.