As we hit the first week of May there is lots happening! In the lead up to our National Championships we have a week of wheelchair rugby planned. This is being delivered in partnership with the city of Stoke on Trent where we will be delivering the Rugby Wheels programme at Stoke on Trent College, Abbey Hill Special School and Stoke 6th Form College. The Nationals kick off on Saturday 3rd at Fenton Manor where our Division 1 teams will compete for the Cup and Division 2 will battle it out for the Shield. This year we are grateful to bring on board Roma Sports as our Nationals’ sponsor and they will be present throughout the weekend and available to show off their chairs and provide spare equipment. It should be a great weekend as all of our teams come together at the end of the domestic season in a celebration of rugby.
This week also sees the launch of a partnership between the GB National Squad and premiership rugby club Harlequins. The launch will take place at a press conference at Surrey Sports Park on Tuesday and GB Captain Mike Kerr will be joined by Chris Ryan, Kylie Grimes and Jim Roberts. Harlequins players will include GBWR Ambassador Mike Brown. Another big thank you is due to Mike who through the charity ‘Inmylocker’ has donated to GBWR another £1030 from the sale of some of his international kit.
Tuesday will also see us deliver the next session of our Help For Heroes programme at Tedworth House. This programme is really proving popular and with the Invictus Games now on the calendar for September the competition to make the GB squad for this is likely to get fierce!
Momentum continues to build for WWRC15 and I can now confirm that the official launch of the international tournament will take place in central London on 7 May. More detail over the coming week but it will be a very exciting launch with some celebrities taking part!
Good luck with training this week and I look forward to joining you on Sunday at the Nationals.
David Pond
