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Wolseley to Support British Gymnastics

15 May 2007

Wolseley UK has announced details of an exciting partnership with British Gymnastics, as part of the FTSE- British Olympic Association initiative.

Part of the British Olympic Association’s contribution to achieve its goal of fourth place in the London 2012 Olympic Games medal table, this initiative partners a FTSE 100 company with an individual National Governing Body (NGB) of an Olympic Sport to provide the NGB with skills and knowledge to enable it to develop into a truly world class organisation.

It is expected that this will become a long term partnership, but there will be an initial focus on agreed and specific projects including - executive level consultation, strategic marketing guidance, commercial proposition development, customer research and targeted marketing activities. In particular Wolseley will help British Gymnastics to research in detail what services its 150,000 members most value, and to develop an exciting customer proposition to meet their demands. Another area in which British Gymnastics will benefit from Wolseley’s expertise is in negotiating competitive deals for purchasing a range of goods and services, such as flights and hotel accommodation.

Alan Sommerville, British Gymnastics CEO (left) is pictured with Wolseley UK's Marketing Director Angela Rushforth and Andrew Cushing, Head of Marketing Development, Sector Sales.

Alan Sommerville, commented: "British Gymnastics is delighted to be able to take advantage of the unique opportunities presented by the FTSE - BOA initiative. The ability to link into the vast resources and experiences of such a prestigious International Corporate Organisation will be an immense benefit to us as a rapidly modernising Governing Body. In particular, initial discussions with Wolseley UK have identified a number of projects relating to the development of customer/member satisfaction and corporate governance development. I look forward to working up these ideas further and to working with Wolseley in a mutually beneficial relationship."

In a related initiative, Wolseley is working with British Gymnastics and other interested parties grouped under the banner of Lilleshall Sporting Futures, to secure the future of the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall in Shropshire. Lilleshall is a flagship residential training centre, and centre of excellence for many of the UK's top sportsmen and women.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to support British Gymnastics.” said Nigel Sibley, managing director, Wolseley UK. “Gymnastics is a popular sport in the UK, especially with the young, and its participants reflect the broad social mix. We are committed to playing our part in increasing participation in the sport at all levels, and, we hope, helping British Gymnastics to achieve ever greater competitive success.”

“Wolseley is excited by the partnership and the opportunity to support a major British sporting body in the build-up to the Olympics in Beijing, London and beyond. A cross section of Wolseley people will benefit from their involvement, and it will raise the profile of gymnastics within our 15,000 employees in the UK. The partnership with British Gymnastics will form an integral part of our future Corporate Responsibility programme.”

ENDS

For enquiries, please contact:
Ian Oliver, External Communications Manager – Wolseley UK - Tel: 01926 705698 or 07841 010708, email: ian.oliver@wolseley.co.uk

Vera Atkinson, British Gymnastics – Tel: 01952 822338 or email: vera.a@british-gymnastics.org

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