Salvation at last! Our "everlasting" campaign to give Bristol the track and field facilities the city has long coveted was finally rewarded on Thursday night (28th January) when the proposed twin development of a 6-lane training track in conjunction with the City Academy at the club's old headquarters at Packers ground in Whitehall together with the upgrading of the Filton College track to a fully appointed 8-lane competition arena was passed unanimously by the City's cabinet.

It is anticipated that both sites should be up and running by the end of this year, with the Packers track scheduled for completion by September. While I am sure we may all feel these dates are on the ambitious side, the funding is in place and there is no reason why, weather permitting, we should not be using both facilities within the next year.

I would like to thank all those who have spent countless hours in helping us make this finally happen, and now it is up to our athletes to take over and prove that our efforts have not been in vain. There will be no excuses now, so let's make this new dawn the launchpad to make Bristol and West once again one of the top track and field clubs in Britain. We have done it on the road and cross country and there is no reason now, with the new infrastructure and the initiatives it will allow us to roll out, that we can't achieve the same success in track and field.

MIKE DOWN
(Chairman)