rufus

You may have noticed recently a big push for Sunderland to become a host city for the 2018 World Cup with Sunderland Football Club chairman Niall Quinn and Sunderland City Council leader Councillor Paul Watson urging the North East to get behind Sunderland’s bid. We were asked by Sunderland AFC and Sunderland City Council to produce a brand for the campaign, ranging from the logo design, website design, pop up stands, pull up displays, stationery, t-shirts, flags, banners and other materials, in order for Sunderland to have a solid base for the bid to be launched. A successful bid would mean qualifying matches during the World Cup finals would be played at the Stadium of Light. However, Sunderland is keen to embrace the whole of North East England in its proposal, ensuring that as many places and people as possible across the region benefit from playing a part in the biggest sporting event in the world. By logging on to www.england2018bid.com, and selecting ‘TO ADD YOUR SUPPORT, CLICK HERE TO REGISTER’ link on the right, then selecting ‘Sunderland’ as preferred host city, members of the public can show The FA that they want Sunderland to host matches in the World Cup in 2018. A ‘Back the Bid’ book will also be available to be signed in key locations around Sunderland, including the City Library, Civic Centre and the Stadium of Light. Promotional activities will be taking place across the city in the coming months to support the bid, kicking off with school pupils in Sunderland submitting letters and pictures to show The FA what hosting World Cup matches would mean to them. While strong public support alone won’t secure Sunderland’s host city status, it will be taken into consideration by The FA. An outline bid for Host City status must be submitted by 8 July and FA officials will visit the city on 14 July. The final bid must be submitted to The FA by 6 November 2009. In total fifteen cities are competing to be host cities for England’s World Cup 2018 bid. So come on, let’s show the country how proud we are of our city and log your votes at www.sunderland2018bid.com. Ha’way the Lads!

We all know we have some talented people within our building but one stands out like a sore thumb… it’s our Mr Lee Simpson. Not only can he whip up a website within hours but he can whip us into a frenzy with his hot tunes he plays us all day long. Hence him being renamed, Lee-J. He truly is the Fatboy Slim of the Rufus gang and is hot on the heels of the legendary DJ, Jimmy Savile. On occasions he drives us mad with his obsession with Rod Stewart, but hey ho, no-one is perfect! Keep rockin Lee-J… Wooooo haaaaaaa! [/caption]

On the 28th May, the G-Force (ie Gareth and Graeme) were kindly invited to a ‘Non-Bosses Free Food and Drink Night’ by Codeworks Connect in conjunction with Thursday Fizz at ‘As You Like It’ in Jesmond. It was a networking event for anyone working in the creative, digital or media industries and consisted of free drinks and a range of Indian cuisines. There was also live music, retro games machines and a beer tasting competition. The lads had a great night even though they nearly fell out over a game of Connect 4! Wow boys, a lot of thought went into that game!

Wow… what tremendous weather the month of May has brought us. The first glimpse of a few rays gets us stripping off, BBQs raging, paddling pools out, sunburns that you could fry an egg on and people complaining it’s ‘too hot’, (eh, what’s all that about?). Too hot? Hopefully the month of June brings us many more golden rays so we can tell people we’ve been somewhere exotic from around the world, when actually we’ve been sitting in our back garden! Here comes Summer! Ooooo weeeee oooooo wooo Anyone for a sausage?