No-one can doubt the ambition of Cameron Walker-Shepherd in quitting Bristol & West AC to join Birchfield Harriers.

In swapping Midland League athletics for the British League Premiership, he will be taking on the best athletes in the country.

The 17-year-old junior international pole vaulter from Stapleton is striving to be the best, so wants to compete for one of the best clubs in the country against some of the very best vaulters in the country.

Sadly, Bristol & West cannot offer him that at the moment – and without a proper track and stadium, the club is unlikely to be able to offer any other of its current athletes or crop of emerging young stars the chance to compete on a national stage.

Club chairman Mike Down said: "Because of the state of Whitchurch, we cannot host a Midland League match let alone a British League fixture."

Until the club has a proper home of its own that can stage a proper league meeting and to which athletes will be happy to train, then the talent drain will continue to undermine the club's ambitions.

As Down argued, if the club had a proper track and home to allow the possibility of progress into the British League, then who knows what sort of team they could field.

Which leads to the 'Avon Dream Team', a team drawn from athletes who compete or competed for clubs in Avon and who were born and bred in the area before moving on, like Walker-Shepherd, to further their ambitions.

Kevin Fahey's Avon Dream Team – Men – 100: Ryan Scott (Yate/Newham & Essex Beagles) 10.49; Dan Cossins (Team Bath AC/Birchfield Harriers) 10.55. 200: Dan Talbot (TBAC/Birch) 21.31; Cossins 21.42. 400 (including relay): Gary Coleman (Yate) 49.42; Adam McBraida (Yate) 49.6; Joe Hutchinson (TBAC) 49.6; Andrew Dean-Young (B&W) 49.7. 800: Frank Baddick (B&W/NE Beagles) 1:50.00; James Thie (Westbury/Cardiff) 1:51.23. 1500: Baddick 3:42.69; Steve Mitchell (B&W) 3:44.29. 5000: Jon Wills (B&W) 14:24.53; Tom Russell (B&W) 14:39.43. 3000S/C: Sean Hazell (B&W) 10:06.20. 110H: Ding Yang (B&W) 16.2; Yannick Budd (B&W) 17.0. 400H: Simon Merrill (TBAC) 56.43; Alastair Todd (TBAC) 56.7. HJ: Ed Mason (TBAC) 1.90; Adam Wall (Yate) 1.85. PV: Christian North (B&W/Woodford Green) 5.03; Cameron Walker-Shepherd (B&W/Birchfield) 4.70. LJ: Ding Yang 7.09; Seb Bomani (TBAC) 6.44. TJ: Anthony Mattis (B&W) 14.05; Paul Weston (B&W) 13.50. SP: James Preston (B&W) 13.28; Jamie Brock (Yate) 10.48. DT: Preston 37.76; Mark Spivey (B&W) 31.20. HT: Preston 37.22; Ashley Jones (Yate) 31.62. JT: Jake Filer 48.96; Matt Muggeridge 48.27.

Women – 100: Elaine O'Neill (TBAC/Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) 11.52; Emily Diamond (B&W) 11.80. 200: O'Neill 23.58; Diamond 23.63. 400: Laura Maddox (TBAC) 55.77; Hayley Smith (Yate) 58.8. 800: Ruth Mitchell (B&W) 2:10.06; Emily Merrick (B&W) 2:12.58. 1500: Floren Scrafton (Yate) 4:29.03; Annabel Gummow (B&W) 4:31.62. 3000: Gummow 9:30.06; Kate Goodhead (B&W) 9:32.1. 100H: Jo Eaton (Yate) 14.2; Emma Peters (Yate/Cardiff) 15.7. 400H: Peters 60.19; Hayley Pitman (B&W) 65.2. HJ: Emma Gulliver (TBAC) 1.66; Pitman 1.65. PV: Sophie Upton (TBAC) 3.80; Katherine Ogden (TBAC) 3.50. LJ: Amy Woodman (B&W/Birchfield) 6.37; Natasha Lewis (TBAC) 5.40. TJ: Sara Barry (Yate/Cardiff) 12.75; Sophie Wells (Yate) 10.97. SP: Gemma Young (TBAC) 11.42; Christina Jones (B&W) 11.29. DT: Hayley Green (B&W) 34.87; Jess Flower (TBAC) 27.28. HT: Zoe Dereham (Yate/Birchfield) 68.00; Bethany Jones (Yate) 39.27. JT: Jones 32.72; Ashley Frost (Yate) 30.67.

(Squad consists of two athletes with former local club and current club where appropriate and season's best according to the UKA Power of 10 rankings).