Easter tour?

Slight rethink on this now as quite a few of you are interested, but the cost is a barrier, added to which Mike reckons he can organise a tour for us to Devon on roughly the same dates for half the cost. Or even less. Watch this space for more news on this.

We have been invited to take part in the English International Festival of Rugby which is being played from 13th-16th April (the weekend after easter).

The tournament will take place in Bognor Regis with teams staying at a nearby Butlins Holiday Park. The tournaent has been going for some years, but this year appears to have merged with the Worthing girls' festival and is therefore running competitions for girls teams for the first time.

The wider junior club will be sendnig at least one or two teams (probably the age group that won at the Isle of Wight last year) and have provisionally entered a U14 and U17 girls team.

Some 4,000 players are expected over the weekend, and the girls competition seems to be likley to involve some 24 teams in three groups (so at least seven matches over the weekend).

The cost will be about £134 per person - plus £30 if travelling by coach (which the organisers provide). However, there is a sizable amount of grant support available to us which would potentially reduce the cost pretty significantly. And we have some five months or so to save us as well.

So the question is.... how many of you would be interested in going? Obviously the U17 squad is big enough to still go even if a few could not take part. The U14s would need to look to combine with other clubs, and maybe a county-wide team would be what would be needed here.

So please think about it and let me or Joe or Rachel know what you think asap.

(We are due to be playing Kettering away that weekend, before you ask...)