A great night was had by all, with guest speaker Barry Norman entertaining the audience with numerous stories of A list celebrities, including Mel Gibson, Richard Burton and Bob Hoskins.

“Barry Norman is a living legend and I could have listened to him for hours. Congratulations to all those that won and to everyone else, keep trying, never give up, eye of the tiger.”

– Lee

Unfortunately for ourselves, we were unsuccessful in winning however we’d like to congratulate both Olivers Dental Studio and Deborah Batey of Little Learners as well as all the other successful companies and individuals.

Although we didn’t win, we’ll still keep smiling.

We’ve been short-listed for Marketing Campaign of the Year for the work we did on the successful World Cup Host City Bid for Sunderland Council and Accounts Manager Ang McGwin is short-listed for Employee of the Year.

“We’re so excited that Lee has even bought a suit and Grabbins may even try and wear a purple tie with matching trainers……with a suit, it’s like Hollywood at Rufus HQ. I’ve even heard rumours that Chris and Richard have joined forces to create a drum roll which will haunt your soul for eternity.”

– Ian

The winners will be announced at tonight’s ceremony at the Stadium of Light…we’ll let you know how we got on tomorrow!!

Fingers crossed.

At the beginning of the year Sunderland were put forward as nominated candidate host city, along with Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Plymouth, Nottingham, London, Manchester, Newcastle/Gateshead and Milton Keynes.

Now it’s England’s turn for our support. Back England’s bid to become the host city of the 2018 World Cup by following this link and clicking back the bid.

The win at the Portfolio Awards has capped of an amazing year, from being unhappy in a minority partnership, to setting up two businesses and winning entrepreneur of the year just reiterates my theory of if you really want something and remove the barriers, anything is possible

David Lynch

We’d like to thank Wood Holmes and David Spencer for enjoying the evening with us.

The website includes a City Guide (using integrated Google Maps), downloads for PC’s and Mac’s, latest news, mini games and an iPhone application. We also developed a set of lovely graphics and icons which can be seen via the Welcome to Sunderland Flickr page.

Visit the Welcome to Sunderland website at www.welcometosunderland.co.uk.

It really was a fantastic event organised by Sunderland City Council. The event attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators to Sunderland’s stunning coastline which is now the biggest free airshow in Europe. A big ‘Thank You’ goes to the council for kindly supplying two tables and inviting Rufus and family members to attend Sunday’s show.

We were asked by Sunderland AFC and Sunderland City Council to produce a brand for the campaign, ranging from the logo design, website design, pop up stands, pull up displays, stationery, t-shirts, flags, banners and other materials, in order for Sunderland to have a solid base for the bid to be launched.

A successful bid would mean qualifying matches during the World Cup finals would be played at the Stadium of Light. However, Sunderland is keen to embrace the whole of North East England in its proposal, ensuring that as many places and people as possible across the region benefit from playing a part in the biggest sporting event in the world.

By logging on to www.sunderland2018bid.com and selecting ‘Sunderland’ as preferred host city, members of the public can show The FA that they want Sunderland to host matches in the World Cup in 2018. A ‘Back the Bid’ book will also be available to be signed in key locations around Sunderland, including the City Library, Civic Centre and the Stadium of Light.

Promotional activities will be taking place across the city in the coming months to support the bid, kicking off with school pupils in Sunderland submitting letters and pictures to show The FA what hosting World Cup matches would mean to them.

While strong public support alone won’t secure Sunderland’s host city status, it will be taken into consideration by The FA. In addition, successful host cities need to be able to satisfy an extensive range of requirements set by FIFA and the FA, including:

• A stadium which can hold a minimum of 40,000 people
• Hotel accommodation for teams, officials and fans in the region
• Fan parks for supporters
• Good travel links with the rest of the country
• Training facilities and potential base camps for national teams

An outline bid for Host City status must be submitted by July 8 and FA officials will visit the city on July 14. The final bid must be submitted to The FA by November 6, 2009. In total fifteen cities are competing to be host cities for England’s World Cup 2018 bid.

So come on, let’s show the country how proud we are of our city and log your votes at www.sunderland2018bid.com.

Ha ‘way the Lads!

It did not stop us making masks of his face though, in a weird Coronation Street moment and here are a few of us with them on!

Smashing Magazine informs other web designers and developers of the most up to date trends and techniques.

The desktop design was created by our Graeme (8ft Ninja) Metcalf. It’s a vibrant illustration of the Quayside at Sunderland, showing tags of where we live, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, the Wearmouth Bridge and the University of Sunderland.

To view it and review it on the Smashing Magazine website, click the link: Smashing Magazine – June 2009 Desktops.

It appears about half way down the page and is titled ‘Sunderland Quayside’.

or just download it direct from our Free Stuff section.

A special thank you goes to Colin Ranson – Sunderland Council, Rob Burton – Sunderland University, Stuart Smith – Wood Holmes and Ian, Elaine, Gareth and Ninja Graeme for all coming and making it a cracking night.

It was great to see young Graeme win the star prize of the night, a large red triffid which he took home for his mam - Ian

Have a look yourself at the snazzy pics.