Position: Project Manager
Organisation: Cambridge Fans United
Location: Cambridge, UK
Job Type: Contract
Contract Type: Fixed term
Salary: £15K pa

Closing Date: Monday, June 15

Cambridge Fans United, the supporters’ trust for Cambridge United fans, needs a freelance project manager to take its online museum of club history, 100 Years of Coconuts, to a new level. 

Over the course of a two-year Heritage Lottery Fund-supported project, you will work with existing volunteers, and recruit others, to establish and manage an exhibit on Cambridge United history within the club’s stadium complex. You will also launch and manage a former players’ association and a Cambridge United hall of fame. 

A major focus of the project will be community engagement, so you will find yourself explaining the exhibit to visitors, working with schools to complement their curricula and mounting pop-up displays at local museums and community events. 

Liaising with the CFU Trust Board, the football club and its community trust, the Supporters' Club, schools, museums, community groups, local government and the media, you will evaluate outcomes and report back to the HLF and CFU, while maintaining and continuing the development of the existing online museum, www.100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk; all this while ensuring the project budget is adhered to. 

Skills? Those needed to carry out all that in a dedicated and professional way, and familiarity with Modes software is also essential. 

Experience? All of the above, and you will be at ease co-ordinating and managing volunteers and, on the other hand, working unsupervised.

It is desirable that you live in or near Cambridge and have a deep knowledge of the history and social history of football (specialising in Cambridge United), as well as an affinity with the aims of a club rooted in its community. There will be early morning, evening and weekend work, and the job will pretty much take up your whole working week. DBS disclosure will be necessary. 

Your interview will get off to a flying start if you can explain why coconuts are so special to Cambridge United supporters.

7 The Brambles 
Bar Hill 
Cambridge 
CB23 8SZ

David Matthew-Jones
Chairman, Cambridge Fans United Trust Board
d.matthewjones@btinternet.com

100 Years of Coconuts was launched, in the form of the online museum www.100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk, in 2012 to mark the centenary of Abbey United/Cambridge United. An initial HLF-funded project enabled the collection of oral history, a performance of Victorian-style football and the preservation of artefacts and memorabilia.

Since 2012, ‘Coconuts’ volunteers have expanded their sphere of activities to encompass a relaunch of the website with additional features, a lively social media presence, further oral history collection, an events programme and the creation of merchandise bearing the ‘Happy Harry’ logo.

Coconuts research has unearthed new information about the early years of Abbey United, the people who worked to establish it and the Barnwell/Abbey/Fen Ditton area in which it developed. Research is continuing and the results will be announced when it is complete.

About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, since 1994 the Heritage Lottery Fund has not only revitalised hundreds of museums, parks, historic buildings, landscapes and wildlife sites, but has also given new meaning to heritage itself. People from every walk of life are now involved with the heritage that inspires them, making choices about what they want to keep and share from the past, for future generations. HLF has supported more than 33,000 projects, allocating over £5 billion across the UK, including £413 million to projects across the East of England region alone. Website: www.hlf.org.uk.

For further information, images and interviews, please contact

Dave Matthew-Jones, Chairman of Cambridge Fans United Trust Board:

M: 07703 274034
E: d.matthewjones@btinternet.com

Or see the recruitment page for the position here.

100 Years of Coconuts, Cambridge Fans United’s (CFU) online museum of Cambridge United history, has received a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to enable it to open a ‘real life’ exhibit on the football club’s history at the Abbey Stadium.

Led by volunteers including supporters and local residents, the £50,000-plus project will tell the U’s story via an exhibit in the Cambridge United Supporters’ Club and pop-up displays at museums and community events. Visits to schools are also being planned, and students will be invited to the exhibit to learn how their local League football club has developed as part of their community.

The exhibit and pop-ups will consist of displays of documents, photography, artefacts and memorabilia, plus interpretative material and rolling oral history video displays.

The HLF funding will also support the establishment of a Cambridge United Former Players’ Association and a U’s Hall of Fame.

CFU, the Cambridge United supporters’ trust, launched 100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk in 2012 as United celebrated its centenary, having been founded as Abbey United in 1912. CFU Chairman David Matthew-Jones said: “The fantastic news of the HLF funding has inspired us all to take Coconuts project to another level.

“With the support of the HLF, the club and its Community Trust, we will be able to tell the extraordinary story of how Abbey/Cambridge United grew out of the Barnwell community and has continued to reflect and serve that community, while expanding its appeal and influence to a much wider region.

“Cambridge United is more than a football club. It’s also about people working together on and off the pitch to make lives better – and it’s always been that way.

“There is a fascinating story to be told about people working hard and selflessly to achieve their goals, on and off the pitch. We are so pleased to be able to tell that story.

“We are also excited about the creation of a former players’ association and hall of fame. We see all these initiatives as a way of bringing the Cambridge United extended family closer together.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said: “We are looking forward to hearing about the fascinating stories that emerge about the history of Cambridge United. It is a unique opportunity to capture and record the memories of players and supporters and to share their heritage with the wider community.”

The two-year HLF-funded project will begin in June. Meanwhile, supporters and others can gain a taste of things to come at the Abbey People Big Lunch on Sunday, June 7, 12 noon at Dudley Road recreation ground. Coconuts volunteers will man a stall and coconut shy.

Have you completed the following questions it is important you do as the answers so far have raised an issue and we would like a wider sample for testing.

Give your views and opinions by answering two quick questions concerning the Abbey Stadium re-development and the creation of a new Sports Village. 

If you would also like to leave your comments please also feel welcome to do so.

Please complete the survey here.

Cambridge News Story on Abbey development proposals here.

Further detail of potential Abbey Stadium redevelopment revealed.

Cambridge United reveal further details of the club’s exciting vision to become a sustainable Championship club, following the recent consultation exercise delivered by Grosvenor regarding the redevelopment of the Abbey Stadium and the creation of a Trumpington based Sports Village.

Read more here.

Andrew Stephen has produced the latest edition of the newsletter. 

Its provides a review of the season and much more

Have a read of it over the Bank Holiday. We hope you enjoy it

Follow the link to the news page. 

Give your views and opinions by answering two quick questions concerning the Abbey Stadium re-development and the creation of a new Sports Village. 

If you would also like to leave your comments please also feel welcome to do so.

Watch the action on YouTube from the FA Cup match against Fleetwood last season.

See the great photo's taken by Simon during the Fleetwood match via this link. 

Did you go? 

What do you remember about the match?