Let the Games begin!

                                                       Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The big day has finally arrived! At 9pm tonight the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games will begin and Her Majesty the Queen will officially open the 30th modern Olympiad. The flame, which began its journey in Athens, followed by a mammoth torch relay around the UK, will finally reach its destination and ignite the cauldron at the Olympic stadium...but who will be the lucky final torch bearer? This is just one of the many closely guarded secrets that will finally be unveiled tonight! One person who has been fortunate enough to attend a sneak preview of tonight's opening ceremony is Swansea Met's Andrew Campbell, Programme Director for Leisure, Tourism, Events and Sport Management. He had this to say about the impact of the 2012 Games and their legacy for the UK:

“As 4 billion people will be watching the opening Ceremony on Friday, the Games can rightly claim to be “the Greatest Show on Earth”. In tourism terms visitor numbers coming to London will increase by 13% over the next two weeks – but transport infrastructure will be stretched to  cope with 500,000 spectators and 80,000 members of the “Olympic Family” travelling daily to specific events. Investment controversies aside ie  is the cost of staging the Olympics, at £13 billion, justified? London and the rest of the UK will benefit significantly from the global exposure...so tourism benefits will be long term."

If you're interested to find out more about the Olympics why not take a look at our library website for lots of useful links and specialist databases such at Sport Discus...in the meantime, enjoy the show tonight! Good luck to all our Olympians! 

The torch is coming!!

Image: Freedigitalphotos.net

                                             

The Olympic torch is arriving in Swansea this weekend! It will set off from Cardiff early on Saturday morning and arrive at Swansea's Castle Square by 6pm in the evening. There will be a brief pause and photo opportunity and then it will continue on its way to Singleton Park where a special evening of celebration will take place.

There will be lots of things going on in and around the city centre all day on Saturday in the build up to the arrival of the torch, including street entertainers, stilt walkers, dance acts and various bands.

It should be a great day and a fantastic opportunity for everyone to participate in a little bit of Olympic history! I'll be there...will you?

Congratulations to Swansea's Wembley Winners!

Whether you're a sports fan or not, if you live in Swansea you couldn't have escaped the football frenzy of the last 24 hours! With a nailbiting 4-2 victory over Reading at Wembley yesterday Swansea City Football Club finally acheived their hard earned promotion to the Premier League. As fans prepare to welcome the team home with a victory parade through the city tonight, why not keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in the local news via our Newsbank database, which includes Welsh regional publications such as the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail.

Congratulations to the Swans from all at Swansea Met Libraries!


Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Calling all sports fans!

Were you doing a victory dance or crying into your beer after watching Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Newcastle this week? Whatever your reaction, as a keen sports fan you’ll always want to be kept up-to-date with the latest news and information about your favourite team or sport...and your library can help!

· Why not try Sport Discus, one of our full-text Journal databases?
· Look for all the latest regional, national and international sporting news on Newsbank.
· Visit one of our recommended websites, such as London 2012 or the Department for Culture Media & Sport.
· Browse our extensive collection of sport related e-books.

All this information and much more is available online now via the library website (www.smu.ac.uk/library).