An April Fool's prank e-mail claiming Cup Match had been cut to one day left members of the public outraged yesterday.

Angry Chamber of Commerce boss Diane Gordon — whose name was falsely added to the bottom of the hoax note — spoke out against the culprits and reassured people the annual two-day holiday is not in jeopardy.

Mrs. Gordon added that, contrary to the e-mail, the annual Queen's Birthday holiday is also not about to be axed.

The executive vice president said the message had led to a deluge of complaints at the Chamber as well as the Cabinet, which was also named in the note.

Sent by info bdachamber (info@bcc.bm), it stated: "Dear Member,

"We hope that many of you will get this message today and pass the word on to others to avoid further confusion.

"The following message is being released by the Cabinet Office as of Monday March 31st.

"Please note that the usual CUP MATCH public holidays will be changed this year (2008). Instead of the usual 2 day public holidays, there will be one day (Friday August 1st). This is in order to align Bermuda's public holidays more closely with our largest trading partners, the US and UK.

"We are also planning to end the annual Queens Birthday holiday, and a separate announcement will be made at the appropriate time. The annual Cup Match cricket match will now take place on Friday and Saturday.

"END.

"Diane Gordon Bermuda Chamber of Commerce."

Contacting The Royal Gazette to set the record straight, Mrs. Gordon said: "I was out of the office around 11 a.m. and I received many, many calls from Government officials, from members of the public, just a wide-reaching group, about an e-mail that's been received — sent, with my name on it, stating it's from the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce.

"We received many calls, very outraged, from many sectors about this, asking hopefully that this was a joke.

"The Chamber and I are treating this as a very serious matter. We are investigating through our IT people.

"We would like to apologise to anyone who may have been insulted, but this was not from the Chamber of Commerce. It could be from anyone.

"I'm very annoyed that somehow or other my name is attached to something that I'm not responsible for.

"I guess more than anything else it causes confusion for people. Also, I think when you put in the body of an e-mail a message is released by Cabinet office, it makes Government look bad as well."