Leading independent investment managers and wealth advisers Philip J Milton & Company Plc of Barnstaple has just celebrated its best year’s performance for clients since the Firm was established in 1985.
Keeping with the Firm’s tradition of doing what it can to support local charities and voluntary organisations, giving a little back to the very Community which has made it so successful, it is delighted to give a helping hand to Woolacombe Football Club by sponsoring it with the provision of a brand-new kit!
To kick-off a new Tax year, the Firm has just announced that the funds over which it has discretionary control on behalf of its thousands of clients (from across the World but mainly locally) have now broached £220million which is no mean feat for a Business which was started from scratch by Managing Director Philip J Milton from his parents’ sitting room and with just a few pounds to pay the first few months’ overheads behind him.
Says Philip “We have always been keen to support local initiatives just like Woolacombe Football Club, not only enjoyed by the regular players but also guided and directed by some more experienced individuals behind the scenes who help to keep everything together for the team.
We were reminded recently of another very successful investment firm’s approach to managing its clients’ investments which considered the different components and types of holdings as a football team all working together to create the best ‘balance’, so a Goalkeeper, Defensives, Mid-fielders, Wingers and some attackers. It’s as much about being consistent and having a wide range of different investment players in your portfolio team as it is having goal-scorers because if you think you are doing the wisest thing by simply having players forever on the front line (or back in goal) you really leave yourself wide open to serious and unplanned risks, so prudence is also wise!”
The Firm really is in a league all of its own in terms of the service and results it achieves for its clients!
A little about Woolacombe Football Club
Woolacombe Football Club was established in 2003, where it was consecutively promoted 3 years in a row until unfortunately it had to shut the Club down for various reasons in 2007. It was an entire 10 years later until the club was reformed in 2017 under new management and with an entirely new team. This time around, the club had but a few players who were local to the village and/or members of the original team and with a dwindling support network from local players and sponsors, it was soon left to players from outside the village to try and grow the club in a positive direction. Since 2017 the club has been promoted once, battled some horrendous winters, had struggles filling key club roles, have regularly had issues starting each week with a full squad, survived a global pandemic and have still come out fighting with another possible promotion in this current season. We have a few challenging games left but it is looking promising.
One thing the club lacked more than anything was funding and facilities.
The Team’s pitch is situated at the Meadow Playing Fields in Woolacombe, owned by the National Trust and managed by the local Council. However, the Club consisted of no dugouts, rusty old goal posts and an outdated football kit. In the last year the team has managed to petition for new goal posts, has had the support from SWC Builders, Cooper & Rudd Construction and Jewson’s to create new dugouts, a successful local catering firm called Tommy G’s funded new training tops and we now have a brand-new kit thanks to the generosity of Philip J Milton and Co Plc. We shall continue to seek out support from local businesses, as without their generosity, grass roots’ teams like ours will forever struggle to exist.
The goal for the Club is to continue to develop and grow and to attract players old and new into the Team. We have also recently decided to put on a Summer Beer and Football Festival in order to generate further interest and income for the Club; so that we can build much needed boundary fencing, eventually fund some flood lights so that we can play and train all year around, to buy essential equipment such as new balls and to build our image on social media. We also hope that an event like this will attract new interest from the local residents and businesses, to let them know that we are passionate about keeping Woolacombe FC going and that we would thoroughly value their support in helping to secure the Club’s future. It requires a team effort!
As an extra note, we are a friendly club with some great lads and we have an active social scene. We would happily welcome any new players to come along to train with us
