The first FESPA Golf Challenge, on September 12-13 saw a strong group of golfers drawn from the FESPA family gather in glorious sunshine on the shores of Lake Balaton in Hungary to compete for the President's Cup and plethora of other prizes on offer. The tournament – brainchild of FESPA President Gyorgy Kovacs – enjoyed a good response from the invitees with printers and suppliers joined by FESPA board members and staff to share the delights of a remarkable golf course.

The beauty of Lake Balaton and the surrounding hills made the perfect backdrop for what all competitors agreed was one of the hardest golf courses they'd ever played – the Royal Balaton Golf and Yacht Club. The stern test of this 6,200m course featured tight fairways bordered by unforgiving rough, punctuated by water of some description on almost every one of the front nine's parkland layout, with the water being replaced by cunningly placed bunkers and narrow tree-lined fairways on the woodland back nine. The course was in magnificent condition throughout – a true credit to the club – especially the greens which were fast and true, featuring many subtle breaks ready to catch out the unwary putt.

The tournament, held on the eve of the FESPA General Assembly in Budapest, saw competitors from 14 countries enjoy a Texas scramble format on the opening day in glorious sunshine and temperatures around the 30 C mark. After the light-hearted start on day one the golfers were joined by partners and friends for a traditional Hungarian dinner at the Malom Csarda restaurant, after which all retired to rest up for the main event on day two – an individual Stableford competition to decide whose name would appear first on the President's Cup.

All the players enjoyed the chance to network with their peers from various regions of the world, and they were all united in pitting their varied golf skills against a truly challenging test of golf. With impressive trophies on offer and significant prizes – including a HONMA putter – on offer, thanks to the generosity of the tournament sponsor HONMA, not to mention the honour of winning, players were keen to take the title.

The winners and runners up are listed below, and congratulations go to James Ford, FESPA's exhibition manager for Europe and Asia, for winning not only the President's Cup, but also the Texas Scramble (with partner Robert Geller), and a long drive challenge.

As he received the President's Cup from Gyorgy Kovacs, James commented: "On behalf of all the players I'd like to thank Gyorgy for conceiving the tournament, all at the Royal Balaton Golf and Yacht Club for an excellent golfing experience in every aspect, and Hanwha Golf for their generous support of the tournament."

 

Results:

President's Cup:

Winner: James Ford, England

Senior Winner: Georg Stadler Germany
Ladies Winner: Julia Rakacs, Hungary

 

Texas Scramble:

 

Winners: James Ford (England) and Robert Geller (Hungary)

 

Full photos of the winners, the course and more can be found here: http://bit.ly/qHnfQ4

Trondheim was the location for the 50th anniversary of Norske Spesialtrykkeres Forening last weekend. About 70 people gathered for this celebration held at the Rica Nidelven Hotel on the waterfront close to the harbour. The weather was glorious, the Norwegian hospitality fantastic and the event truly memorable.

An exciting and informative three day event, showcasing the latest developments in the world of screenprinting by two of the biggest names in the sector and supported by many other major suppliers of ancillary equipment and consumables.

Taking place from 4th - 6th October, presentations and demonstrations will illustrate technological advances in all areas of the screenprinting process, including halftoning technology, computer to screen systems, precision and high speed cylinder printing, efficient and economical drying systems, special effect inks, stencil advances, new substrates and screen mesh developments.

FESPA’s Slovakian (Sietotlacovy zvaz SR) and Czech (Sitotiskovy svaz CR) member associations will join together from 14th – 15th October 2011 in Piešťany, Slovakia, to deliver their 7th FESPA supported seminar, ‘Bill 7’. This annual seminar attracts screen and digital printers from across Eastern Europe to discover the latest industry trends and insights applicable to their business.  Supported by FESPA as part of its Reinvestment Programme, Bill 7 is also open to students from the region by invitation.

Your Invitation

Prism are the UK trade association and member of FESPA, the highly successful global events and exhibition organisation, together representing the wide format print sector encompassing in-store POS, outdoor graphics, signage, textile and industrial printing.

In today’s challenging economy we recognise the importance of promoting efficient working practices throughout the supply chain incorporating material suppliers, print service providers, print management companies and their respective customers. Ultimately we wish to aid in the development of a profitable and sustainable industry to benefit all key stakeholders. To this end we extend a warm invitation to join us at one of our regular Think Tank industry events, the aim of which is to develop a definitive “code of best practice” by recommending how all parties should work together. In advance of the meeting we will send through a suggested draft “code of best practice” to all attendees to aid in the debate.

This prestigious event will take place in the sumptuous surroundings of The Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly commencing at 2.00  pm on Tuesday 6th September. After the conclusion of the afternoon session there will be a champagne reception, followed by a private dinner giving all delegates the chance to network with their industry peers.

We hope you are able to join us for what should be a thought provoking and industry defining event.

All discussions will be under Chatham House rules i.e. nothing is attributable.

At the last meeting new and profitable alliances were forged. All those who attended said they would definitely attend again.  Don't miss this opportunity.

    •    prism members £195.00 (+ VAT)
    •    Non Members £375.00 (+ VAT)

(Non-members can only attend one event)
Places are limited to 20 for this event so please RSVP to Carol Swift on 01226 321202 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The first FESPA Nordic Congress took place in Gothenburg on 7th and 8th April at the Gothia Towers hotel and 68 people were in attendance.
So the programme was devised to maximise opportunities to network with a mix of speakers to deliver topics on innovation, sustainability, business topics, future trends in printing, with a case study by a Swedish award winning textile printer as well as content from Volvo trucks explaining what they seek from their printers. Finally we ended with a presentation from our corporate sponsor HP. To round it all up we held a panel question and answer session.

To read more about the event, check out the report here

A successful textile event organised by FESPA's Chinese Association CSGIA was held in December in Guangzhou alongside the CSGIA exhibition.

Last Friday, (19th November) my colleagues and I from FESPA Corporate (Nigel, Chris R. and Richard – a new member of the team), hosted the very first European Congress in Brussels. It would seem from feedback of delegates that the Congress was a great success with 95% saying that they thought it represented great value and 98% saying that they would come to another event.

I had the pleasure of recently attending a FESPA link event in Marseilles involving GPSF from France and Sietotlacovy zvaz SR from Slovakia.
The purpose of the visit was primarily educational (with two excellent factory visits having been organised), exchanging of ideas and working methods, networking opportunities with some socialising and sightseeing thrown in for good measure. In total 18 members from Slovakia made the trip and were welcomed by our French GPSF colleagues.

Glorious weather welcomed the 68 people who gathered in the spa town of Piestany in Slovakia on 8th and 9th October to attend the 6th International seminar organised by Slovak Screen and Digital printing association.