THE Trust will shortly be asking its members for a definitive vote on the way we should best use our cash reserve.

In our column last week, we gave an extensive report of proceedings at our recent members' meeting.

As we related, four proposals were put forward, these were:

* 1 to hand the cash to the club.

* 2 to set up a `shares trust' to invest in the club.

* 3 to use the reserve to attract `matched funding' for a major community project to benefit the Academy.

* 4 to retain the funds for a `rainy day.'

On the night there was no support whatsoever for the handing over of the reserve. The overwhelming verdict was not only to retain it, but to continue to build it up for the future. A full version of this report can be found on the news page of the Trust website www.htfc-supporters-trust.co.uk.

There has since been a meeting with club directors, Andrew Watson and Roger Armitage, to discuss the outcome of the members meeting. The club were asked to put forward any other options for consideration, none were forthcoming.

Discussions are ongoing.

The executive committee of the Trust are meeting tomorrow to finalise the details and preparations for the postal ballot.

All full members will be asked to return their ballot papers with their choices from the four alternatives. The ballot will be on the basis of a single transferable vote.

Under this system, members will be asked to mark their vote as a preference, with 1 being first choice, 4 being last choice. If there is no overall majority in favour of one option, the option with the least votes will be transferred to the second choice. This process will continue until there is a majority vote.

The Survival Trust, of course, continue to raise funds to help the club.

We continue our commitment to donate a majority of new funds to the Academy via the Development Association, of which we are a member.

The Academy's continued success has been confirmed by the undisclosed seven figure sum that the sale of Jon Stead has generated. Bearing in mind the club's desire for a self financing Academy, the Trust asked the club to consider that 10% of future transfer fees be returned to the Development Association on the sale of any Academy product.

The club decided against this policy.