Our trip to the Brighton Community Stadium

By  Freya C, Balfour Primary School

We were invited to visit the Brighton Community Stadium to have a good look around and to get an idea of what it will be like during Rugby World Cup 2015 in September.

We saw the changing rooms, also the press conference room as well as getting a look at the actual pitch.

Balfour pupils in the changing room

We asked lots of questions about the build up to Rugby World Cup 2015.

We learnt lots of interesting facts during our trip, including;-

·        The pitch at Falmer uses 3G artificial grass

·        All four of the Rugby teams, USA, Japan, Samoa and South Africa, who are playing in Brighton, have already been to have a look round the stadium where they will be playing

·        There will be only three  days between Brighton football matches and the first Rugby match on September 19 so the staff will have very little time to sort out the pitch

·        They need to use a tractor to help lift the Rugby posts into place

100 days to go!

Today marks 100 days to go until the start of the Tournament on 18 September.

To celebrate Westdene Primary School’s Boys Choir shared their enthusiasm for Rugby World Cup 2015 in song! They also took time out at the start of the school day to throw about a couple of Rugby balls on the school field.

The school's boys’ choir is one of 20 from schools in England and Wales selected to be part of the ceremonies that will officially welcome the teams to Rugby World Cup 2015.

Westdene Primary School Boys Choir
(Photo credit: www.snapitnow.co.uk)

Emma Bright, Music Co-ordinator for Westdene Primary School in Brighton, said: “We are thrilled Westdene Boys Choir has been chosen to perform at the welcome ceremony for Japan for Rugby World Cup 2015. This is probably the most prestigious performance we have ever given & the boys are already working incredibly hard to be sure they give their best performance possible!”

Emma and the choir
(Photo credit: www.snapitnow.co.uk)

The Boys Choir is one of three choirs at the school. It has been running for just under six years and currently consists of 22 boys aged eight to ten years old. As part of the application process, Emma submitted a short clip of the boys performing at the school’s Spring Concert.

During the ceremonies, the successful choirs will sing the official Rugby World Cup anthem “World in Union”. The boys have so far learned one verse of the song. They will be working hard to be pitch and word perfect by the time the Japanese team arrive. 

The ceremonies will also include the formal presentation of official Tournament caps and Rugby World Cup 2015 participation medals.

100 days to go

Managing Director of England Rugby 2015, Stephen Brown, said: “Congratulations to Westdene Primary School on being selected to be involved in the Welcome Ceremonies for Rugby World Cup 2015. We were really pleased with the response that we got from schools wanting to be involved. The standard of the applications was very high and I would like to thank all schools that took the time to apply.”

Below is the test piece Emma sent as part of the application to be one of the choirs to perform at RWC2015 welcome ceremonies in September. The film was taken at the school's Spring concert.

Dressing the city

By Bec Britain from Same Sky 

Local community arts charity Same Sky has been charged with 'dressing the city' as we celebrate rugby in September 2015.  We hope to make it a riot of colour for visitors and teams as they explore Brighton & Hove.  We'll be hanging banners at the station, filling shop windows with rosettes, adorning the clock tower and lining Madeira Drive with flags.

Making a rosette

As inspiration, we've taken colours from the four visiting teams flags (USA, South Africa, Japan and Samoa). As these four teams also represent four continents, and us as the host nation the fifth, expect to see the shapes and colours of the continents featuring too.

Celebrating Rugby!

So to get ahead, we've started on the rosettes which will be displayed in shop windows from Queens Road to The Old Steine.  These larger than life rosettes feature oval centres (of course, because the world's not round, it's oval!), and 300 metres of ribbon to be pleated. Our first batch of red, white and blue are done, with two more colour combinations to come. 

Rosettes ready for the celebrations

They also feature a reminder of The Costume Games - the carnival that will accompany the Tournament weekend in Brighton & Hove, your chance to join in the dressing up!