Paint Your Own Penguin Competition Winners
The judges were well and truly blown away by the hundreds of fantastic designs entered in the 'Paint Your Own Penguin' competition and, after much deliberation, have whittled it down to the five lucky winners. A life-sized version of their very own Go Penguin design will be winging its way to the budding artists soon. The winners are:
| Ruaridh Divers, 4, caught the judges' eye with this colourful cutie named 'Bernard'. |  |
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| Erin Murphy, 12, really impressed the panel with her 'Pixie Party' – a pixie's perfect toadstool home, complete with a busy bee. |  |
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| 16-year-old Rosie Cull's entry aptly named 'Lennon' proved to the judges that 'all you need is love' with this bright and funky design. |  |
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| 21-year-old Emma Ambrose's 'Peisly the Paisley Penguin' showed that penguins can be chic too with a coat of artistic white swirls. |  |
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| Rosemary Scragg, 67, blew the judges away with her penguin 'Aunt Arctica', wearing a stylish outfit complete with a hat and handbag. |  |
Home Bargains Gets Green Fingered in Woolton
Home Bargains is delighted to be sponsoring Woolton's 2010 entry for the Britain-in-Bloom contest. After scooping gold in the 2008 competition, Woolton is fighting to defend its title, with a little help from Liverpool-based grocer, Home Bargains.
Woolton-in-Bloom's small team of dedicated volunteers work all year round to design, plant and maintain their award-winning garden masterpieces, as well as holding fundraising events.
Home Bargains will be funding all water bills associated with maintaining Woolton's flower beds, as well as supplementing the costs of a number of planters. The donation is expected to exceed £25,000 over a three year period, and will help to ensure Woolton's continuing success in the national competition. You can follow the stages of the competition here on HomeBargains.co.uk.
Home Bargains Picks Up Penguins For Liverpool Schools
Home Bargains has teamed up with Culture Liverpool to bring a colony of 100 fibreglass penguins to schools across the city. As the official sponsor of the Go Penguins schools project, Home Bargains is providing the opportunity for the city's primary and secondary schools to name and decorate their own three foot penguin.
The project aims to deliver important environmental messages to children in a fun and exciting way. The penguins will then go on display around the city centre in a spectacular public art event set to rival last year's popular Go Superlambananas trail.
To raise money for charity Home Bargains is also selling paint your own miniature penguin sets in its stores across the country for £1.99. UK residents are being invited to enter their miniature painted penguins into a competition, with the person behind the most creative design winning their own 3ft fibreglass Go Penguin painted to their own design. View the 'Paint Your Own Go Penguin' gallery here.
Sponsoring Sophie Dickson's Road to the Olympics
Home Bargains is proud to announce its sponsorship of Sophie Dickson, Liverpool's very own Taekwondo gold medallist, who is training for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
The 15-year-old martial arts athlete from Croxteth has been training since the age of six and is part of the Lightning Taekwondo Club.
Sophie has a history of successes, most recently obtaining a gold medal at UTA International Championships in London.
However, a devastating hamstring injury in February this year pulled Sophie out of the Swedish Open Championships - an incident that nearly threatened to destroy her whole career.
Through sheer determination and a wealth of support from family and friends, Sophie has undergone an exceptionally speedy recovery. And with Home Bargains' financial support covering the costs of Sophie's intensive training and tournament fees, the young sports star is now back on track to chase after her Olympic dream. In recent months Home Bargains has covered costs for Sophie to compete in Korea and Iceland.
Follow Sophie's competition successes here on HomeBargains.co.uk...
Liverpool '08 Tapestry
As part of Liverpool's '08 Capital of Culture celebrations Home Bargains, working with the Embroiderers Guild of Merseyside, created a project to capture Liverpool in tapestry; its people, places and passions.
This will be a lasting piece of Liverpool history, capturing the spirit of Liverpool in '08, created by and for the people of Liverpool.
The tapestry is due for completion in Spring 2010, when it will go on public display.
There are several workshops for the Liverpool '08 Tapestry yet to take place in 2009. To get involved visit the Go Create 08 website.
Supporting Enterprise in Schools
TJ Morris is actively involved in supporting enterprise in schools and colleges. As well as financially supporting a number of schools, TJ Morris works closely with schools and colleges to give them practical experience of business. TJ Morris' Operations Director, Joe Morris, sits on the Advisory Board of the University of Liverpool School of Management and the company has also been a leading supporter of the Enterprise Game.
The Enterprise Game
TJ Morris is pleased to be involved in the creation and development of a new game aimed at encouraging enterprise in schools. Developed in conjunction with Halton Borough Council, the game aims to develop entrepreneurial skills. Players run their own business and must use their new skills to try and make their enterprise as successful as possible.
They 'make, sell and deliver' to customers around the board, having to overcome inevitable problems and make decisions about how best to reinvest any profits into the growth of their business. Visit the Enterprise Game website for more information.
Joe Morris talks about the Enterprise Game...
Superlambanana's go on Tour
Home Bargains - proud of its Liverpool heritage - bought 16 Superlambananas in support of the Lord Mayor of Liverpool's Charity Appeal. We're now sending one to each new store opening and also to schools around the Merseyside area. If you're interested in having a Superlambbanana at your school please contact us.
Don't know what a Superlambanana is? Visit: www.gosuperlambananas.co.uk.
Go Create '08 - a Huge Success
As part of Capital of Culture celebrations, Home Bargains conceived and funded a number of projects to actively involve the people of Merseyside in creating art. The competitions were an overwhelming success and we'd like to congratulate all the winners. As well as getting local people actively involved in creating art, the project generated approximately £40,000 for local charities and £40,000 for local artists. For more information regarding the artwork submitted, the winners and the art now for sale please visit the Go Create '08 website.
Reducing Our Energy Consumption by up to 30%
We recognise our responsibility to promote good environmental practice by encouraging innovative solutions. One of the ways we're doing this is by reducing our own energy consumption. By investing heavily in the latest low energy lighting, automatic sensing and A/C controls, we have managed to reduce our electricity consumption by over 30%.
Supporting Great Causes
We actively support a number of charities. Our Charity Christmas Cards, last year raised over £14,000 for Alder Hey hospital.
Adopt a School
Each of our stores can "adopt" a local school. Each week we send, in turn, stock/product samples to each adopted school. The schools use these "goodies" to raise money from their sale.
If you would like to take part in our Adopt a School scheme, please contact your local store. If they have not already adopted a school, they may be happy to adopt yours.