Printerland have awarded Eccles RFC 30 complimentary tickets to the Sale Sharks versus Northampton Saints game for their hard work running the Duke of Edinburgh award. They are the only Rugby club in Britain to have achieved this. This was part of the Printerland & Lexmark Promotes Rugby Programme.

In October 2009, Christopher Tickle, a stalwart of Eccles RFC passed away under tragic circumstances. However, it came to light that he had done all the necessary hard work to complete his Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards Scheme Gold, which was posthumously awarded to him the following Year.

With the arrival of some new volunteers at the club it was decided to look at providing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award through Eccles RFC, as an integral part of the clubs ethos, and as a lasting memorial to Christopher. With the assistance of Oakwood High School, a local licence holder and award provider, Eccles RF U15s lads commenced their DofE Bronze on 1^st August 2010.

The initial idea was to see how the u15s got on with Bronze, then review where the club would take the Award in the future. The lads had to cover 4 skill sets to obtain their award; Physical, Volunteering, Skills and an Expedition. The lads became involved with local sports teams, learnt music instruments, took part in drama, undertook 1^st aid courses as well as their Rugby Ready Referees course .They also had to plan and complete an Expedition and spent several days having training walks and practice camps before embarking on two 8 mile walks and an overnight camp in Rivington Pike – where they all had to be self sufficient.The lads’ fantastic commitment will see them achieve a 90% pass rate (nationally the achievement rate is 30%).

Eccles RFC and Oakwood High School have been very supportive of everyone that has become involved, funding the training courses such as the British Expedition Leaders Award, which allows the lads to do their expeditions. The club also funded and provided the venue for the Rugby Ready Referees course.

What does the future hold? The lads are eagerly planning their DofE Silver programme, and the girls team are set to commence their DofE Bronze. Planning is underway at Eccles RUFC, looking at the long term funding for the DofE.The ultimate aim is to be an open award centre, accepting any young person in the Eccles RFC area to participate.

To find out more on Printerland’s Promote Rugby Programme please contact Lisa Taylor by email to L.Taylor@Printerland.co.uk

As part of the Printerland.co.uk/Lexmark Promotes Rugby Programme, Alex Brown who is Sale Sharks’ flyer visited Sale Grammar School to celebrate their upcoming rugby season.

He arrived straight from training at Carrington to join the squad as they were preparing for their away fixture at nearby rivals Ashton-on-Mersey High School. Alex watched as boys from Year 7 to Year 10 were challenged to perform their skills under pressure.

The Grammar school’s rugby ethos has been refreshed with the hard work of talented and enthusiastic rugby coach, Stuart Crampton. With the help of English teacher, David Price-Uden, Sale Grammar current crop of pupils are experiencing great support in the game, something that Sale are keen to stress is hopefully just the beginning. The school that only recently produced former Sharks back-rower and academy graduate, David Tait (now playing in Hong Kong), are looking to continue their growth as a rugby playing school with a highly competitive fixture list this season, including matches against sides from St. Bede’s, and “Sale Sharks Connections” schools, Bolton Grammar and Manchester Grammar School.

Alex’s visit to the training session saw a number of pupils take the opportunity to ask for tips related to the game, about the lifestyle of a professional rugby player, Alex’s own personal journey to the Sharks and picked his brains about his toughest opponent (namely, Sean Long, ex St. Helens and Hull FC half-back). The boys were also able to pose for a number of photographs with Alex, who later signed autographs and chatted to a number of players individually.

With the school looking to bring a group of noisy supporters along to this Friday’s game vs Northampton Saints, both the Sharks and Sale Grammar are looking forward to a strong rugby season for both sides in which they can support each other’s “revolution” for greater benefit.

To find out more on Printerland’s Promote Rugby Programme please contact Lisa Taylor by email to L.Taylor@Printerland.co.uk

The new models of Canon’s Pixma All-in-One printer range now support Airprint.

Airprint is Apple’s wireless printing technology which enables users to directly print from their iPad, iPhones or iPod touch.

Photos, web pages and emails can be printed via Airprint compatible printers without the need to install any printer drivers.

The Canon printers that it currently works on are the MG8250, MG6250 and the MG5350.

Eventually it will be rolled out so it works on the whole Canon Pixma range.

We are again giving a lucky Twitter follower the chance to win a Samsung SCX-4623FN Mono Multifunction Laser Printer.

All you must do is follow @printerland and retweet the competition to enter the prize draw.

This machine can Print, Copy, Scan and Fax and also has Network connectivity.

For terms and conditions of the offer and the product specifications then please click here

GOOD LUCK

We have teamed up again with Lexmark to promote rugby union to schools and rugby clubs across the North West through our Promote Rugby Programme.

On Saturday the 27th August, Sale Sharks were at Northwich RUFC for the Northwich Festival.

The winners of the Colts match which was held at the festival were presented with trophies by Sharks’ players Alex Brown and Kyle Tonetti.

Lisa Taylor, the Education and Community Support officer for Printerland also presented Northwich with 30 complimentary tickets for the opening game against London Irish on 9th September.
Lisa said,  ”The Printerland Promotes Rugby Programme has been a great success throughout our continued sponsorship agreement with the Sharks and bringing Lexmark on board will help us to put even more back into the local community through local Rugby clubs and schools in the North West”

The Promote Rugby Programme invites schools and clubs to apply for 30 tickets to a Sharks’ home game and also they will get a photograph on the pitch at half time.
The programme also includes a chance to get a coaching session for your club or school by a player of Sale Sharks. Also they can get grants for balls and other rugby equipment.