Barnstorm Global were delighted to be commissioned to create a family activity booklet for The D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth. The museum was awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable them to reach audiences that would not normally visit the museum, including disadvantaged families in Portsmouth.

The focus of The D-Day Story is the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany occupation. It is told using the personal possessions and words of the people who took part. The museum uses stunning imagery, audio-visual presentations and hands-on interactives which help bring the story to life. Based on ordinary people working together to achieve the extraordinary, The D-Day Story features the experiences of men, women and children. The story is told in three parts, Preparation, D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, Legacy and the Overlord Embroidery. In Autumn 2020 they were joined by Landing Craft Tank 7074, a 59 metre long ship that carried men and supplies to Normandy for D-Day – a fantastic addition to their collection.  More information about the museum can be found on their website or on their social media channels.

The family activity booklet is fun, informative and educational and includes lots of activities for families to do. The booklet can be found in libraries across Portsmouth, or available to download via this link D-Day Story activity booklet

“We were delighted with the booklet and the opportunity it gives us to share the stories of D-Day during these unprecedented times for people to enjoy at home”

Felicity Wood, Public Participation Officer, The D-Day Story.

We loved working with The D-Day Story on this project and have been supporting a number of clients ro find ways to reach diverse audiences through activities and events. This has never been more relevant with closures and social distancing measures in place across the country. If we can help you with a similar project or you just fancy a chat about what we can offer, drop us a line by email - alysha@barnstormglobal.com

• The Webb Ellis Cup visited Santiago, Vina del Mar and Valparaiso during stop 18 of the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour

• Hundreds of fans had the chance to see the trophy up close during the three-day visit

• Get into Rugby Festival, Mackay School visit and Minister for Sport visits among the many highlights 

• The Trophy Tour also attended a celebration of Ian and Donald Campbell, two World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees

• Tickets for Rugby World Cup 2019 are now on general sale at https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com 

Hundreds of rugby fans joined the celebration in Chile this week for the Webb Ellis Cup’s first-ever visit to Chile during the 18th stop of the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour. 

Rugby’s most coveted prize was on show across Santiago, Vina del Mar and Valparaiso where it stopped at the Chilean Rugby Union training ground, attended a Get into Rugby festival for local clubs and, visited iconic Valparaiso and one of the oldest schools in Chile.

The first event in the calendar was a visit to the Chilean Rugby Union and a Get into Rugby Festival, where academy players were on hand to inspire the next generation of players.  In the presence of the Webb Ellis Cup and against a spectacular backdrop, with views all the way to the Andes, teams tried passing, tackling and scoring at this grassroots festival.

Chile Rugby’s national sides have been making strong progress in recent years and they are an ambitious union. The naming of Pablo Lemoine as Los Condores’ head coach is a statement of intent. Lemoine is a rugby legend in his native Uruguay and as a  player he won  50 caps for Los Teros, appearing at Rugby World Cup 1999 and 2003.

The Chilean Rugby Union has ambitious plans to build on recent successes and carry on growing over the coming years. Last year, the men’s sevens team played in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, where they recorded victories over New Zealand and South Africa, while this year the side reached the Challenge Trophy Final at the USA Sevens. The women’s sevens side, who were training next to the Get Into Rugby Festival, took a break from their preparations for the Tokyo 2020 qualifier in Lima to have their photo taken with the trophy.  

Next stop was Vina del Mar and The Mackay School.  The school is one of the oldest in Chile and the backdrop for the Vina Del Mar Sevens tournament in recent years, one of two venues on the Sudamerica Rugby Sevens circuit, the other being Punta del Este, Uruguay.  During the event, school teams from the Valparaiso region took part in a training session and members of the local club, Old Mackayans, took the opportunity to snap a selfie with the trophy.  Following the events, the trophy headed to Valparaiso and some iconic photography at this World Heritage Site.  An important sea port, Valparaiso is characterised by hillsides of colourful buildings and made a spectacular backdrop for the Webb Ellis Cup.

On Friday morning, the trophy visited the seat of the Chilean government, Palacio de la Moneda, where the trophy took centre stage for some photos in front of this iconic building. Chile’s Minister for Sport, Pauline Kantor, who showed a notable interest and support for the growth of rugby, also had her photo taken with the trophy.

The final stop of the tour was the Prince of Wales Country Club, where children from local schools were given the chance to have their photo taken up close with the trophy, followed by a lunch where members and guests came together in celebration of two World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees, Donald and Ian Campbell.

Ian Campbell, born 15 May 1928 in Santiago, was fly-half, centre and captain of both the Santiago “Prince of Wales" Club and the Chile National team. He started playing rugby towards the end of the Second World War at Saint Peter’s School in Valparaiso, following in the footsteps of older brother Donald, who also represented both sides with distinction.

Ian and Donald were of Scottish descent, the sons of Colin Campbell, businessman and amateur soccer player, who represented Chile in the 1910 Soccer South American Championship.  Donald Campbell made his debut against Argentina in Buenos Aires in 1938 as a fast and powerfully built centre. The match was Chile’s third international and he played once more for his country before volunteering to join the Royal Air Force as the Second World War took hold. Donald died in action in 1943, while his teenage brother Ian was cutting his teeth in the intensely competitive Santiago rugby scene.  Ian went on to captain Chile for 15 years, retiring from the international game in 1961, but continuing to play for the Prince of Wales Club well into the 1970s.

Ian Campbell was delighted to see the Webb Ellis Cup in Chile during the event and said; “Having the Webb Ellis Cup here in Chile is a real honour.  Chile is still a fairly small rugby country but the sport is growing here, with rugby having caught on well during my lifetime.  I hope that current teams are inspired by the Trophy Tour and that we will see teams from Chile playing at Rugby World Cup in the future.”

At the end of the tour, Chile Rugby President Jorge Araya remarked; “We are grateful to World Rugby for bringing the Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour to Chile for the first time.  It is a testament to the positive work happening here to grow the game and continue to improve our high performance programme.  With Olympic qualifier tournaments in the near future, we are confident that we will continue to build upon our success to date, and having the trophy in Chile has undoubtedly inspired players and fans, young and old.”

The final international stop in the Trophy Tour calendar sees the Webb Ellis Cup travel to Argentina, before returning to Japan, embarking on a 100-day tour of the host nation before the start of the Tournament on September 20.  To view the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour schedule, visit www.rugbyworldcup.com/trophy-tour

Demand for Rugby World Cup 2019 tickets has been unprecedented with over five million ticket applications received to date. Fans now have the opportunity to secure their place at Japan 2019 as the last remaining tickets are available via  www.rugbyworldcup.com/tickets. 

For more details on Rugby World Cup 2019, visit www.rugbyworldcup.com.

• The 17th leg of the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour visited Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte as thousands of fans attended events with the Webb Ellis Cup across Brazil

• Community rugby programmes were at the heart of the tour, with ‘Rugby e Nossa Paixao’ and ‘Rugby Para Todos’ demonstrating the power of rugby for good

• Bianca Silva, member of World Rugby’s ‘Try and Stop Us’ women in rugby campaign and her Brasil Rugby team mates are inspiring the next generation of players

• The future for rugby in Brazil looks bright, with recent Nielsen research finding there to be more than 16 million fans, and the men’s 15s team at an all time high of 24 in the World Rugby rankings

• The Webb Ellis Cup will travel on to Chile and Argentina before arriving in Japan for 100 days to go until Rugby World Cup 2019 

This week the 17th stop of the Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour saw rugby’s greatest prize, the Webb Ellis Cup, travel across Brazil with visits to Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

The trophy began its tour in Rio de Janeiro, where the trophy joined Rio Rugby Club and local players from ‘Rugby e Nossa Paixao,’ for a training session on the world famous Copacabana beach.  Training in the sun under the rugby posts that were erected ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, when rugby sevens made it’s Olympic debut, the session had a distinctly carnival feel. Rugby e Nossa Paxiao means ‘rugby is our passion’ and works with young people from local favela communities, using rugby to promote values such as respect, teamwork and solidarity in the players, skills they can continue to use into their adult life.

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro undoubtedly raised the profile of the sport in Brazil and the legacy continues, with recent Nielsen research finding there to be more than 16 million fans – those who are ‘interested’ or ‘very interested’ in rugby – making Brazil the sixth largest potential rugby nation in the world.  This love for the game was no more apparent than during the visit to one of Sao Paulo’s largest favela communities, Paraisopolis, where more than 100 local children took to a local football pitch to take part in a ‘Rugby Para Todos’ (rugby for all) training session supported by some of Brasil Rugby’s star players from the women’s game.

Rugby Para Todos first began in 2004 to give opportunities for young people from Paraisópolis, a favela community in São Paulo, to play rugby. Since then, the project has assisted in training more than 5,000 children and adolescents in both rugby and the values of the game, in São Paulo and Rio. 

A number of Brazilian national team players have come through the programme in Paraisopolis and credit this as having been instrumental in their success. The Brazilian squads have had a string of impressive results over the past year, with the senior men’s team climbing to an all time high of 24th in the World Rugby Rankings, while the women’s sevens team achieved promotion to the 2020 World Series with an impressive victory at the recent qualifier event in Hong Kong.

Bianca Silva, Brazil Rugby’s player of the year in 2018, is one of the stars that came through the ranks of Rugby Para Todos in Paraisopolis and joined the Trophy Tour activity.  Silva had been encouraged to attend a Rugby Para Todos session as she waited to find a school place after her family had returned to São Paulo having spent a period living in the countryside.  Following a few days of rugby-related “fun and games”, she was introduced to an oval ball for the first time and as she started to learn more about it, she “fell in love with the sport”.  

Bianca Silva, Brazil women’s 7s player and member of World Rugby’s ‘Try and Stop Us’ Women in Rugby campaign  said “The project Rio Para Todos is my family. This is where I started playing rugby at 11 years old. The project helps build strong personalities and it helps young people to learn maturity, discipline and respect.

“It was really exciting for everyone to have the Rugby World Cup Trophy here. It has been fantastic to see how impactful the launch of the ‘Try and Stop Us’ campaign has been and i’m very proud to be part of it. Our ambition now is to be successful on the World Series next year and qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”

Women’s rugby is one of sport’s great success stories, experiencing unprecedented growth around the world and Silva’s unstoppable qualities saw her recognised in the recently launched World Rugby campaign ‘Try and Stop Us’ which is promoting the women’s game globally. More information on the #TryAndStopUs campaign can be found at the new www.women.rugby website with content promoting #WomenInRugby including features on all 15 ‘unstoppables’.

The tour ended at Estadio Independencia in Belo Horizonte, where fans queued for their chance to take a selfie with the Webb Ellis Cup ahead of the Brazil v Argentina clash.  Whilst Argentina were the winners of the match, it was apparent how far Rugby in Brazil has grown and how much desire there is to keep building on their successes, with sights firmly set on reaching a Rugby World Cup in the near future.

Agustin Danza, Brasil Rugby CEO said: “We were delighted to receive the RWC Trophy in Brazil. Its presence here allowed us to increase rugby awareness in the country and to give the rugby players and fans a memory they won´t forget and that will inspire them to keep pushing for the growth of rugby in Brazil.

“We are very proud to be hosting the World Rugby Under 20 Trophy in July. This is a great opportunity to showcase rugby in Brazil, and motivate young players around the country to give rugby a try. It will also be our first time playing in the U20 Trophy,  so it will be a great opportunity for our players.

“We are very excited that we are progressing as planned towards our goal with the men’s 15s team of qualifying for RWC 2023 in France. We have made great progress in the past years and are working very hard to keep up our pace of growth. We realise it's a challenging goal, but the challenge is what motivate us.”

The Trophy visited iconic Brazilian landmarks during the trip, beginning with the SugarLoaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.  At 396m high, this was the third highest point the trophy has reached on this tour, having previously visited Table Mountain in Cape Town and Everest Base Camp in 2018.  

The final international stops in the Trophy Tour calendar will be Chile and Argentina before the Webb Ellis Cup returns to Japan, embarking on a 100-day tour of the host nation before the start of the Tournament on September 20.  To view the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour schedule, visit www.rugbyworldcup.com/trophy-tour

Demand for Rugby World Cup 2019 tickets has been unprecedented with over five million ticket applications received to date. Fans now have the opportunity to secure their place at Japan 2019 as the last remaining tickets are available via  www.rugbyworldcup.com/tickets. For more details on Rugby World Cup 2019, visit www.rugbyworldcup.com.

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