ENGLISH CURLING'S ICE MAIDENS WOULD WARM TO SUPPORT FROM SPONSORS

The English Ladies Curling Team needs your help. In spite of the British curling team's excellent performance at the 2002 Olympics, there is still very little support for the sport in England, with all of the funding being directed towards Scottish teams. However, the team is determined to put English curling on the map. Between its five playing members, the team has won nine English Championships and competed at eight European Championships and one World Championship. At last year’s European Championships in Switzerland it won a Silver medal in the ‘B’ Division and promotion to the top ‘A’ Division. This gives the English Ladies the opportunity to play against the best teams in Europe at the European Championships in Italy in December 2003 and to earn a place at the World Championships in Sweden (spring 2004). The Championships are covered by Eurosport and the team is optimistic that several of its games will be televised - at last year’s Championship the English Men’s team had five of their games covered. Last year the team was sponsored by Twinings, which made it possible for them to compete in Europe and the most prestigious competitions in the Scottish calendar. Unfortunately, due to a “shake up” at Twinings, their sponsorship has not been continued this year. This is disappointing for the team, to say the least. They are therefore asking primarily for financial help - but assistance from clothing companies that could provide them with playing kit would also be most welcome. The English Ladies Curling Team is a five member playing squad and also has a coach who is an Olympic umpire and has featured as a pundit on Eurosport. Although the squad's members all give up their time for the love of the sport and for the honour of playing for their country, their passion is being funded largely out of their own pockets. As can be imagined, this is a very expensive business – just to attend the European Championships this year will cost in the region of £1,000 for each squad member – and they all have to travel to train and compete in preparation for Europe. Should any company decide to sponsor the team, they would have their logo(s) displayed on the playing kit that the team wears to all training sessions and competitions that they enter in the UK and Europe (in line with the World Curling Federation's rules they are allowed to display two sponsorship logos whilst actually playing at the European Championships). In addition they are at liberty to display sponsorship logos on their off-ice kit - jackets, fleeces, sports bags, luggage, etc. They can also provide a link to the sponsor's website from their own, and visitors to the team's website would see the sponsor's name as sponsor on its home page. Contact: Nicola Woodward. Other contact details in our Sport: General section.   E&OE

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