Arrangements for the Macrobertson Shield competition 2010

1.         Matches and Venues

• 6-10 August

GB v USA at Bowdon CC

Aus v NZ at Heaton Park CC

• 12-16 August

GB v NZ at Nottingham CC

Aus v USA at the Roehampton Club

• 18-22 August

GB v Aus at Surbiton CC

USA v NZ at Surbiton CC

2.         Opening ceremony

An opening ceremony is proposed in the Orangery at Heaton Park on the evening of the 5^th August. This will start at about 1900 and will probably be a carvery type 3-course dinner. There will be the usual short speeches, introduction of the teams etc. Additionally Manchester City Council have suggested a reception in Manchester City Hall, probably at the weekend, this has yet to be confirmed.

3          Travelling between venues

Please note that the day immediately following each test is a contingency day in case we lose play to weather etc and you may have to play on that day. Therefore you should book accommodation at the next venue from the night of the contingency day, not before.

4.                  Transport options

For those who fly into Manchester we can arrange for you to be met at the airport and taken to your hotel if necessary. Those who are flying into London have the option either to fly onward to Manchester with an internal flight or to pick up rental vehicles there and drive to Manchester or to get a train from London Euston to either Manchester Piccadilly or Stockport. Normally I would expect you to use the internal flight, but that depends on your ticketing, what offers on car hire you can get and so on. You should plan the return flight from London Heathrow or Gatwick.

If you arrive in Manchester / Stockport by train, again we can meet you if necessary. There are mainline trains between Manchester and Nottingham and between Nottingham and London for travel between the venues.

5.         Accommodation lists

The various clubs have prepared lists of local accommodation which may be suitable, these are attached to the covering mail as separate documents. For Heaton Park just use the Bowdon list. Of course you are free to make other arrangements if you wish.

6.         Local Transport at the venues

It may be possible to arrange for teams to be collected from and returned to their hotel each day. In any case public transport is good at all the venues. There are main line train services between the venues, so it is probably not necessary to incur the cost of hiring a vehicle.

7.         Referees

We invite each Association to send one referee to the event. It will be up to the referee / Association to pay for the referee to travel to the UK, once here we will billet them locally to where they are officiating. We will of course provide their lunches etc at the venue, they will be our guests at the various functions. Let Ian Vincent know if you are taking up this invitation. Ian.Vincent@cantab.net

8.         Contacts

Club contacts for information about transport, accommodation etc before the event are:

Bowdon	Christine Irwin
Heaton Park	Paul Rigge	paul.rigge@tiscali.co.uk
Nottingham	Ailsa Lines	AilsaLines@fsmail.net	+441400282841
Surbiton	Graham Brightwell	grahambwell@hotmail.com
Roehampton	Tristan MacIllroy	Tristan.McIllroy@roehamptonclub.co.uk	+44208 4804201

 We will provide emergency contacts for during the event nearer the time.

9.         Closing Function

The closing function and presentation will be on the evening of Sunday 22^nd  August. It will be combined with the presentations for the WCF Team Championship and will hopefully take place at the All England Club in Wimbledon, which is just a few miles from Surbiton.

10.       Programme

As soon as possible after your selection please send good quality digital photos and brief profiles of your players for the programme to the CA Office.

11.       Partners

We want partners to feel included and part of the event, so they will have access to the players’ areas and will be invited to attend all the functions, though in some cases they may have to pay for a ticket like everyone else except players and officials, it depends on the overall finances of the event.

12.       Warm-up matches

Obviously these depend on when you all arrive, and where, and of course if you want us to arrange something like this, you may prefer to have private practice sessions. We anticipate that practice will be available on the afternoon of the day before each test, however if you intend to come to the UK several days before the event for practice and acclimatization let us know the travel times and we will do our best to make arrangements for you.