Register Now for Youth Soccer, Baseball


Registration for youth soccer and baseball is currently underway at all City Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities’ community centers.

     Children must be between ages 4 and 15 to register to play co-ed soccer. To play co-ed baseball, girls must be between the ages of 5 and 11 and boys must be between the ages of 5 and 15. Girls, ages 12 to 16, can register to play girls’

Department Offers Lifeguard, Water Safety Instructor Training



 The department will offer a Lifeguard Training course starting April 1. Participants who complete this course will receive an American Red Cross Certificate for Lifeguarding/First Aid/CPR/AED that is good for two years.



     To take this training, you must be at least 15 years old and pass a prerequisite swimming test that includes being able to swim continuously for 300 yards, tread water

Do You Want to Be a Lifeguard?


Are you 18 years old or older, and would you like to work as a lifeguard for the City of Richmond? The Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities operates eight public swimming pools in Richmond and currently is seeking qualified candidates to hire as lifeguards and pool managers.



     Safety is the highest priority at City pools, and all lifeguard candidates must be certified

On Blog Stats

Although it's obviously flattering to know the overall number of people who've bothered to look at this blog (nearly 10,500, as it happens), what's far more interesting, and indeed intriguing, is where these people have logged on from and what they've been looking at. Curiously, according to the latest figures, Recreation Ground is most popular in Latvia (followed by the UK, Germany and USA), while the most popular post seems to be 'Top Five Municipal Fountains (eastern Europe)' from June last year. Techie types will no doubt be delighted to know that 62% of visitors to this page used Internet Explorer to do so.

Destination Management Forum


The first Destination Management Forum (DMF) of 2013 took place on 6 February, bringing together senior executives from England’s Destination Management Organisations in order to share best practice. The forum focused on the need for greater collaboration in order to ensure greater economic viability of events, venues and attractions. 

Presentation slides from the event 
are now available here.


Department Offers Developmental Lacrosse Program for Girls



The department will host a Developmental Lacrosse Program for girls ages 8 to 14 on Sunday, March 24.



     The program will be held at the Blackwell Playground, located at 15th and Maury streets, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The event is sponsored by Nick Costas and the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, and is free to attend.

      For more information, please call

Travel Writing Competition

Rough Guides, in partnership with WorldNomads.com are once again offering the chance to win a scholarship in travel writing. 

This year, it's Beijing, to work with Rough Guides author Martin Zatko on the new edition of the 'Rough Guide to China'. Then it's three days with a freelance journalist to discover Beijing through his local perspective, and to finish off, there will be a magnificent culinary odyssey.
For more information and to enter, please visit the World Nomads site.



Free Eggstravaganza Set for March 23


The Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, in partnership with Radio One, will hold a free “Eggstravaganza” for children 11 and younger on Saturday, March 23. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the department’s Pine Camp Arts and Community Center, located at 4901 Old Brook Road, and feature three egg hunts, each for a different age group. A total of 25,000

English Tourism Week - 16-24 March 2013

 
English Tourism Week 
is a week-long celebration of events showcasing the quality and vibrancy of visitor experiences and the value that tourism brings to the country.  
Find out how to get involved in this year's English Tourism Week, or take a look at what happened in previous years at the 
VisitEngland website.



ITB Berlin Convention 2013

Following this year's ITB Convention in Berlin, a number of presentations have been provided on the ITB website. These cover a variety of tourism and hospitality related subjects, including Business Travel, Social Media and Wellness. Selected videos are also available to watch on the website. Sign up to their newsletter to find out about future events.

Department's City Dance Theatre Wins Regional Awards


City Dance Theatre, the department's youth dance troupe, won an award for every piece they performed in Portsmouth at the DanceAmerica Regional Competition, that was held the weekend of March 1.

     The troupe performed 12 pieces, and of these, ten received first place trophies and two received second place trophies. This more than qualifies the company of young dancers, who range in age from

UCB Travel & Tourism Society Launch


Organizations Wanted to Give Away Free Summer Meals


The Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities is looking for organizations to help provide free meals for children during the summer. Any group, organization or church that offers summer programs for youth age 17 or younger can participate in the department's Summer Meals for Kids program and receive free meals for the children in their program for any length of time between June

New Summer Camp for Teens Offered


The department is offering a new summer camp for teenagers ages 12 and 13 this year. The camp will be held Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., June 24 through August 23. Registration is $300 and includes breakfast and lunch each day.

     The camp program is designed especially for teens to help them discover the world, experience new things, and make new friends. It will include

Register Now for Summer Camp


Now is the time to register your child for summer camp with the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities. The department’s summer camp for children ages 5 – 11 will be held at 16 community centers around the city from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday starting June 24 and continuing through August 23.  Each day the children will be provided with breakfast and lunch

Department Celebrates Young Artists


The Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will celebrate Youth Art Month in March with an exhibit at its Pine Camp Cultural Arts and Community Center featuring the artwork of nine Richmond children.      

      The exhibit, titled “Little Mermaids,” opens on March 15 with a public reception for the artists from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and will be on display through April 19. The

Two Rivers Press reading at Oxford Brookes

I'm reading alongside fellow Two Rivers Press poets Kate Behrens and Peter Robinson at Oxford Brookes on Tuesday 19 March, 6pm. The full details are available by clicking here
ABTA has issued a manifesto urging the government to support all three sectors of the industry – domestic, outbound and inbound – in order to maximise its benefit to the UK economy. Valuing the UK's Tourism Mix, presented to parliament last week, outlines four policy priorities:
        • Strategic infrastructure support; 
        • Creating a more competitive product; 
        • Good regulation for confident customers and businesses; 
        • Promoting the industry as a key employer.
The paper states new airline connections with the emerging BRIC markets should be encouraged, but warns healthy inbound and outbound markets are required to justify new routes.

The document also puts forward suggestions for new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick, reduced departure taxes, shorter queues at border control, support for SMEs, marketing the UK abroad, and investing in training and skills.


Leisure Opportunities

Tourism news in brief...

Twenty seaside towns around the UK are to receive a cash boost for projects that bring new leisure and business opportunities to coastal communities. The money will support projects such as rejuvenating old heritage and leisure facilities, schemes to provide skills training and advice to help businesses embrace digital technology. 

Britain has been named as one of the most sought after destinations for international shoppers, with figures showing last year’s 18m visitors spent £4.5bn on retail therapy during their stay. 


Arts Council England and VisitEngland have joined forces in order to boost cultural tourism across the country. A figure of  £3m in Arts Council Lottery funding is to be invested in supporting destinations that have “real potential to grow”. There will be a number of coordinated events to encourage the development of arts and cultural experiences and targeted holiday packages for visitors; these will include cultural aspects as well as more traditional accommodation and transport elements.

Community Centers Closed, Programs Cancelled


The department has closed all of its Community Centers for the remainder of the day, cancelled all department youth basketball games scheduled for today, as well as cancelled all classes and programs at Pine Camp Cultural Arts and Community Center for the remainder of the day.

                                          
Travel and hotel website lastminute.com has joined forces with VisitEngland to promote last minute short stays across the country. A two-week campaign will target commuters in London and Birmingham, with advertising on the Tube and at key rail hubs promoting 11 easily accessible destinations across England. A 24-hour sale on 7 March will include reduced hotel rates and promotions on shopping breaks, weekends of culture and coastal getaways.  
Story from Leisure Opportunities.com.


The ASEAN Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2012

The 2012 edition of the Asean Competitiveness Report for tourism, published by the World Economic Forum, is available online here.

It provides economic profiles of 139 countries, allowing cross-country analysis on how attractive a country is in terms of potential for development in travel and tourism, for making well-informed business decisions.