The UK School Games is a multi-sport event for the UK’s elite young athletes of school age.

The sports programme has been increased for 2008 to include a second team sport – hockey which, combined with the existing programme of; Athletics, Badminton, Fencing, Gymnastics, Judo, Swimming, Table Tennis and Volleyball brings the total to 9 sports. The integrated programme of disability events in Athletics, Swimming and Table Tennis increases the athletes competing in 2008 to over 1500.

Each of the nine sports are combined into a four-day Games environment designed to replicate the feel of major event such as the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

The UK School Games seeks to create an inspirational and motivational setting which encourages more young people to take part and succeed in sport.

Responsibility for the development and organisation of the UK School Games lies with the Youth Sport Trust.

Since it was launched, six key themes have been created to ensure the UK School Games bring about systematic change in the way in which competitive opportunities are developed for young people and that a lasting legacy is created.

The UK School Games visions are:
1. Ongoing planning and delivery of a UK level sports event showcasing talented young sports people.
2. To bring about a step change in the content, structure and presentation of competitive sporting opportunities for young people.
3. Use the event itself, and themed branding of local and regional competitions, to raise the profile of school age competitions and the young people taking part, to promote the work undertaken in each nation to improve P.E. and school sport.
4. Integrate Olympic and Paralympic themes into the UK School Games by ensuring that the Olympic and Paralympic values are promoted through volunteer training, opening and closing ceremonies and an athlete village.
5. Create opportunities for young people to become engaged in volunteering at major sports events both as technical officials and event volunteers.
6. Ensure the event advocates and demonstrates the highest level of child protection and welfare systems

The BPMA has formally launched the BPMA Academy, the first official qualification for the promotional merchandise industry. The BPMA Academy Certificate is the first promotional merchandise qualification of its kind. It has been designed to help address the industry’s need for staff to have a sound knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the market. The qualification has been designed to benefit staff new to the industry, anyone who has recently set up a business within or connected to the industry, and recent graduates of associated industry disciplines looking to pursue a career in the promotional merchandise arena.

Products that have been through co2balance.com’s stringent carbon offsetting process are then allowed to carry its globally recognised CarbonZero logo. This certifies that the climate impact of manufacturing and distributing the products has been negated through investment in carbon-saving projects. The distinctive CarbonZero® logo immediately tells consumers that the item of promotional clothing they are receiving is a sustainable product. And it gives brands a walking billboard that shows they are concerned about the environment. According to Gary Rumbold, co2balance. com’s UK Operations Director, carbon offsetting along with a wider range of carbon reduction tactics is a highly visible way of demonstrating to the consumer that a brand is different from its competitors. He says: “Businesses that are taking steps to address their carbon footprint today will have the leading edge, both in corporate social responsibility and in marketing to a new ethical consumer base.” “A recent Carbon Trust study showed that nearly two-thirds of UK consumers want to know the carbon footprint of the products and services they purchase” In recent years, branded merchandise has played an increasingly important strategic role in helping to enhance brands and build customer loyalty. The advent of carbon neutral promotional clothing now offers brands a highly visible way of making a strategic statement about their green credentials. There is little doubt that the public are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of climate change and are keen to do something about it. A recent Carbon Trust study showed that nearly two-thirds of UK consumers want to know the carbon footprint of the products and services they purchase. And these low-carbon consumers tend to look more favourably on brands that are taking positive action to tackle climate change. Many brands offer promotional clothing that is recycled, organic or fairtrade. But there is still a lot of debate about what these terms mean because there are so many different measures. The carbon footprint of branded merchandise can actually be quantifi ed and is easily visible to consumers through initiatives such as forestry-based carbon offsets. Promoters can gain a signifi cant brand positioning advantage by using carbon zero to demonstrate their environmental credentials. An organisation’s carbon footprint is defi ned as a measure of the impact that its activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases it produces through the combustion of fossil fuels such as electricity, natural gas, LPG and oil. It is usually measured in units of carbon dioxide emitted. Businesses can become carbon zero by measuring the size of their residual carbon footprint and then investing in projects around the world that save the emission of, or absorb, an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. Through this process, they balance out their unavoidable emissions. For example, BrandInc produced its carbonzero- certifi ed promotional clothing by teaming up with the award-winning carbon offsetting specialist co2balance.com. co2balance.com calculated the clothing’s carbon footprint after taking into account factors such as production, machine usage.

Photo: www.globalcool.org

Photo: James McCauley / Lovebox 21st- 22nd July 2007

Photo: The Independent

Wyld Stallyons - July 2007

Brandinc recently supplied in 200 Limited Edition Gold t-shirts to Wyld Stallyons, which Andy from Mercury Music Prize nominated New Young Pony Club shows off as his latest apparel of choice... his very own Wyld Stallyons Gold Limited Edition Tee.