Hitchin Town secretary Roy Izzard has paid tribute to the late Peter Gooch.

We heard the very sad news last Saturday that Peter Gooch had passed away.

Peter was the managing director of Alma Engineering Limited who have been the official shirt sponsors of Hitchin Town FC for an incredible 22 years since 2000.

I cannot believe any shirt sponsorship comes close to this longevity in either local or national football.

If a sponsorship lasts even five years you would be quite surprised so 22 years is surreal.

Peter had always been a Hitchin supporter and approached the club about sponsorship at a time when Peter Prince, then the club physio was working at Alma.

Alma Engineering have contributed well in excess of £100,000 to the club and Peter invested this money knowing it would be unlikely to have increased the Alma sales.

He was just a great supporter and a lovely man. He even donated ink cartridges for the club printer to help save costs.

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Alma Engineering is a family run sheet metal fabrication company located in Biggleswade with over 40 years experience designing and manufacturing bespoke products.

In 2019 manager Mark Burke paid the following tribute to Peter Gooch and it is just as relevant today: ''We're incredibly grateful to Peter Gooch and the whole Alma Engineering team for their continued support of Hitchin Town FC.

"In today's day and age , and especially in football, such loyalty is incredibly rare. But 19 years of continued support really is something special. A huge thank you from everyone at Hitchin Town FC.''

Unfortunately Peter's health had declined over the last couple of years and his death was described as a happy release to stop any further suffering. We are going to celebrate Peter's life with a minute's applause at the Lowestoft game on Saturday.

Rest in peace Peter and many condolences to his family and friends.

Roy Izzard, Hitchin Town FC