Stingers Day 2009

Read more from the Stingmeister, Ben Smiley, about the success of this year's Junior Supporters Day at Adams Park

On Saturday 22nd August over 250 Stingers joined us at Adams Park to take part in our Annual Stingers Day. This year's event took place before our pre-season friendly fixture against Italian side Benetton Treviso and combined enjoyable activities with the excitement of professional rugby.

The day consisted of lots of activities for all of our junior supporters to take part in and included a Climbing Wall, Inflatable Bungee Run, a Speed Cage, a Skills Tunnel, Mr Tony the Balloon Modeller, Deanna the Magician, face painting, hair spraying and a craft stall for the Stingers to try their hand at. Police Officers from Thames Valley Police also popped along to display one of their Police Cars and hand out crime prevention packs, while the Careers Team and PTIs from RAF Halton supported the event with a Physical Activity Display; that demonstrated how activity can remain energetic, yet not necessary expensive. Squadron Leader Colin Baker also provided a careers stand, where Stingers could win prizes by completing certain challenges. Footage from the RAF Display, and of the whole Stingers Day can be seen on Bucks TV.

Buzz Bars provided samples of their bars as energy sources to both the off-duty London Wasps players and Stingers; with the new Berry Bar proving to be very popular. On top of all of the the activities, Craig Burgess and Russell Bolton were joined by off-duty players to lead tours of the changing rooms and home substitutes bench; as well as sign autographs, pose for photographs and encourage and coach skills at all of the activities.

A raffle was held throughout the event to raise money for the London Wasps Community Foundation with 2 lucky Stingers winning the chance to be our Match Day mascots and a further 20 prizes of Tunnel of Honour places to welcome both teams on to the Adams Park pitch. After the game, all of the Stingers were treated to an opportunity to meet the players who had just beaten Benetton Treviso 38-15.

Stingers Day organiser Ben Smiley told wasps.co.uk, "I would like to thank all of our Stingers and their families for coming to Adams Park on Saturday to take part in the 2009 Stingers Day. It was a brilliant day, made even better by London Wasps' victory over Benetton Treviso. We have held several Stingers Day events and believe that this year's combination of activities and watching London Wasps was ideal."

Upon their return to Prestwood, Nick and his Stinger Son Tim emailed to say, "Just a quick thank you to you and the club for what has been a thoroughly enjoyable day, it started off great with the stadium tour and got better with all the players we met spending time to sign autographs and smile for photo's, all activities were well organised and we were fortunate for Tim to win a place on the pitch through the raffle!"

We would like to extend our gratitude to the London Wasps Supporters Club, David & Alex Walker, Out of Town Action Sports, Global Games, Messy Mayhem, Contraband Events, Ace Face Painting, Buzz Bars, Mr Tony, Royal Air Force, Thames Valley Police and our off-duty players for supporting our Stingers Day and for making the day such a success.

www.wasps.co.uk