The Carlisle & Cumbria United Independent Supporters' Trust (CCUIST) was launched on May 5 at the Sands Centre in Carlisle. Since then, the trust has grown steadily, amassing over 800 members and gathering in a share fund in excess of £125,000.

The trust balloted its members in June about what they would like to do in protest at the continuing ownership of the club by Michael Knighton. An overwhelming majority of those voting chose to boycott home games (75%) while an even higher number (91%) voted to boycott club merchandise.

The CCUIST board held several meetings to discuss the results of the ballot and decide on the best course of action. It was decided after considering all the implications that the trust would not publicly advocate a boycott of home games, despite the clear preference amongst members to pursue this course of action. While it was noted that a clear majority were prepared to boycott, there was a significant number who would not and it was not possible to accurately gauge the feelings of those many supporters who have yet to join the trust. The board of CCUIST are aware a lot more fans will probably join up once a change in ownership occurs. In addition, several solicitors' letters were received on behalf of the owners of the club threatening legal action in the event of a boycott. Although it was not believed that this would be followed through, the cost of replying to such letters is prohibitive and the board would not wish to jeopardise the sizeable share fund in such a manner.

Members will have the chance to attend the trust's first annual general meeting (AGM) which will be held within the first six months of next year. This meeting will be the first opportunity to democratically elect members of the board, who at the moment have been co-opted. The current board consists of 22 enthusiastic and long-standing supporters of the football club who have all volunteered their time to the trust without payment.

In the meantime, the trust is determined to keep on growing and to make strenuous efforts both to replace the current discredited ownership and work with the prospective new owners in order to put in place a solid structure for the future. With this in mind, the trust has recently launched its junior membership scheme which is for those supporters aged 17 and under. Junior members can't make donations to the share fund but can join as junior members from as little as £5 for two years. Full details of this scheme are now on the official CCUIST website and also in the first CCUIST newsletter, which is due to be delivered to members this week.

The newsletter also contains notice of the first CCUIST members' meeting, to be held in the Sands Centre on Saturday October 20 at 11 am. This meeting is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please bring along your blue membership card to gain admission. New members will be able to join on the day and attend the meeting. It is hoped this gathering will help formulate CCUIST policy regarding protest action to take in the event of no takeover having been completed. All members will have the chance to have their say and it is very important that you take the opportunity to attend if you have joined us.

Look who's supporting CCUIST :

The team representing Adrian Smith (Saab) at the first annual CCUIST Golf Day, sponsored by Pirelli

CCUIST's Kate Rowley (front left) receiving £2,000 from the Co-op as part of their corporate membership

CCUIST's youngest member: Jak Graham Bell at 14 days old becomes the first 'Junior CCUIST'

The Trust are providing a downloadable application form. Please click below as appropriate. If you don't have Microsoft Word installed, you can download the free Word viewer which enables you to view and print the document. Save it, print it and send it back to the address shown on the form itself.

Download the form - Word 97 format

Download the Word viewer from the Microsoft website

IMPORTANT: DO NOT MODIFY THIS FORM IN ANY WAY! PLEASE PRINT IT OUT AND COMPLETE AS APPROPRIATE.

For more info on the CCUIST, please visit the official website : www.ccuist.org

Carlisle United is a club in crisis: Please read about our plight at this special website - A Club in Crisis - and help spread the word.

'Together we can save our club'