Neath Rugby PRIMESTART 2006 Calendar Winners Announced!
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 Cavorting carrots, try-scoring tomatoes and squeaky clean scrum halves are among the colourful stars of the 2006 Neath Rugby PRIMESTART Calendar, illustrated by some of Neath Port Talbot’s top primary school talent.
The calendar, which goes on sale this Saturday for £6, has been produced to raise funds for Neath Rugby’s landmark community initiative PRIMESTART, which promotes healthy eating and physical activity in primary school age children. The three-year programme will eventually be rolled out to 63 schools.
PRIMESTART has already been introduced into 14 schools, 12 of whom took part in a competition to illustrate the calendar. To qualify for one of the 15 fabulous prizes, each budding artist had to draw a picture that reflected the four PRIMESTART principles of healthy eating, activity, the importance of hydration and good hygiene habits.
“All the entries we received were excellent and Neath Rugby would like to thank all the children who sent us their wonderful pictures. It was very hard to choose the 15 winners and 144 runners-up and I want to congratulate every child who entered – you all did a fantastic job,” said Neath Rugby Business Development Manager Deenna Barton. The runners-up will receive free children’s tickets to the upcoming home games in December.
Each page of the calendar features the winners’ pictures and smaller pictures from the runners-up. The 15 winners were: Front cover - Merlin Howarth, 9, of Gnoll Primary School, Catrin Brock, 11, of Alderman Davies Church in Wales Primary School and Thomas Harris, 10, of Clun Primary school; January - Samuel Morgan, 10, of Alderman Davies Church in Wales Primary School; February - Beth Levi Jenkins, 10, of Clun Primary School; March – Cerys Jenkins, 10, of Crynallt Junior School; April – Grace Barnes, 10, of Cilffriw Primary School; May - Sonia Hussain, 9, of Coedffranc Junior School; June – Jessica Howells, 11, of Catwg Primary School; July – Jessica Kate Williams, 9, of Gnoll Primary School; August – Abby Louise Huckridge, 10, of Bryncoch Church in Wales Primary School; September – Alys Hibbard, 10, of Blaenhonddan Primary School; October – Bethan Newton, 10, of Waunceirch Primary School; November – Rebecca Pike, 11, of Tonnau Community Primary School; and December – Sarah Davies, 11, of Mynachlog Nedd Junior School.
On Saturday in a special presentation ceremony at the Gnoll, each of the 15 winners will have their winning artwork returned to them, framed and signed by the entire Welsh All Blacks squad, a copy of the calendar, also signed by the squad, a child’s Neath Rugby Home Jersey and two adult and two child tickets to the Welsh All Backs vs Bedwas at the Gnoll on December 10.
PRIMESTART was launched on October 3. Over the next three years, each participating school will receive four, one-hour sessions that build on the schools’ existing physical education programme and ‘Healthy Schools’ initiative. These sessions will incorporate professional rugby coaching from Neath Rugby, the assistance of a guest chef and support from a community school nurse. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of physical activity, healthy eating, hydration and personal hygiene to overall well being, and will be further reinforced by special ‘festival’ days at the Gnoll, competitions and other initiatives, such as a PRIMESTART recipe book.
“We – Neath Rugby - wanted to get more young people of all abilities involved in rugby, and to strengthen the club’s links with local schools. PRIMESTART carries a message of well being through rugby, good nutrition and other healthy habits,” Mrs Barton said.
Neath Rugby would like to thank the supporters of the 2006 PRIMESTART Calendar: Harcourt Litho Colour Printers Ltd, Welsh Rugby Union, Sportmatch Cymru, EH Sports Consultancy, Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, David Orrells Chartering and Down to Business.
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