London 2012

Potential spectators are waiting patiently in the wings, bank accounts plugged and tickets flow across the country like confetti. The London Olympics are here! Cherry White Design have devised a short list of interesting facts about what this Olympics means for Britain. So whether you are a looking for ways to promote your business during this time or simply just an interested spectator, read on:

·        26 Olympic sports will be played

·        19 Paralympic sports will be played

·        There will be 60-70 London 2012 sponsors

·        The London economy is projected to grow by $80 billion by 2015

·        The Games are projected to generate 12,000 new jobs in the Olympic Park

·        31 competition venues will be utilised

·        20,000 press/media will be in attendance

·        10km of new roads will be built

·        There will be 500,000 spectators per day

·        9,000 new homes will be built

·        There will be 9.6million tickets for sale – 8million for the Olympics and 1.6million for the Paralympics.

·        Organisers say 75 per cent of all tickets will cost less than £50 and offer free travel on London transport.

·        A sell-out rate of 82 per cent for the Olympic Games and 63 per cent for the Paralympics is estimated.

·        Tickets for the athletics will start at £15 and there will be 20,000 £10 tickets for the Olympic Park to watch

·        The village will be converted into 3,600 apartments, most of them will be affordable housing.

·        After the Games four arenas would be ‘deconstructed’ and relocated to other parts of the UK along with the swimming pools that are used for water polo and the 50m training pools.

·        Charities will be given the sports equipment used in the Games for free.

·        80 per cent of athletes would be within 20 minutes of their events and 97 per cent of athletes within 30 minutes of their events.

·        93 per cent of training venues are to be within 30 minutes of the athletes village.

·        There are 9,000 planned park and ride spaces to be made available at Ebbsfleet where spectators can board a 10-minute javelin service to the Olympic Park. This is the same station where continental spectators travelling by Eurostar will join the javelin to the Olympic Park.

·        It is predicted that on event days 78 per cent of spectators are likely to travel from within London and 22 per cent from the rest of the UK and Europe.

·        It is estimated that over 135,000 hotel rooms will be available within 50km of the Olympic Park.

·        Number of foreign visitors: 350,000 per day

·        Food and Beverage potential: 18 million meals

·        Value of tourism benefit: an additional £2.1 billion

·        Total workforce needed: 200,000

Whilst you are enjoying the olympics, we can take care of all your dry cleaning, washing and ironing.  If only Extreme Ironing was a sport - we would be going for gold!  Whilst you enjoy the olympics, let us take care of all your dry cleaning, washing and ironing - call us today on 01622 870111 or book online http://www.iron-maids.co.uk/book

Holiday Packing

There are those who believe that the simple approach to dressing works equally well on holiday. Pack ten t-shirts in a suitcase, throw in some swimwear and flip-flops and that's about it. But then there are those who believe that you will have a better time on holiday if you feel right. Clearly "feeling right" differs from person to person and holiday destination to destination. That said, there are some guiding principles that can help to up your style ante on this year's summer break. We'll leave it to you to think laterally and adapt to suit.

Don't have a holiday wardrobe - have a holiday style instead. One that means you wear your usual summer clothes but in a crafty holiday-ish way. Not only does this save cash and time spent in badly lit changing rooms, it is the fast track to looking more stylish. This means admitting that the summer dress you bought for a party can easily be your sightseeing dress. A blouse you normally wear with jeans will look good with shorts for an alfresco lunch. This isn't wardrobe downgrading, this is wardrobe multi-tasking. And your holiday snaps will thank you for it.

Beach coverups are for Liz Hurley to design and then tell us about on the pages of an August issue of Vogue. They are completely unnecessary! If you need to cover up on a beach then just get dressed. Pull on your shorts, button up your silk blouse, shove on a sundress – whatever. But don't fiddle about with a useless piece of floral-printed sheer fabric.

The keenest eyes will have already noted that the scruffy top-knot has silently become the hairstyle to have this summer. Its reach has extended out from the standard Hollywood pap shot of celebrity-plus-Starbucks-plus-scruffy-top-knot, to the parks of East London and beyond. Basically, it is a high bun with loose tendrils of hair pulled out to frame the face. It's super easy to do so there is no need for a patronising explanation and it makes for the most perfect holiday hair. Great for the beach, great for a windy ferry crossing and great with a brilliant pair of sunglasses.

Too much luggage, even on the super-deluxe scale, is a bad thing. Consider the picture that Paris Hilton tweeted of her pre-World Cup packing. Genius and iconic yes, but testament to her superior holiday style, not at all. It doesn't suggest that she has a huge holiday reading backlog to get through, it says she's indecisive and not particularly confident in her holiday-styling ability. Ditto Coleen and the clutch of suitcase minders she recently had to employ after her most recent hols. Coleen's cases also highlight another luggage truth: suitcases (barring Vuitton trunks and The Queen's stamped Globe Trotters) are ugly. If you really want your luggage to say you are stylish, then you need an unbranded minimal leather holdall. It suggests that you are pretty loose with the packing, and thus well-travelled and effortlessly chic. Sadly not the most portable option.

Once you've enjoyed your relaxing holiday, don't stress about getting all the holiday washing but let us take care of it.  We will collect at a time convenient to you and have your items returned 48 hours later - you'll feel like you're still on holiday!

Call us on 01622 870111 or book online http://www.iron-maids.co.uk/book

Summer Holiday

Have you booked the time off for your summer holiday?  Are you ready in your mind to take a summer holiday?

It’s July – yes, already!  Summer seems so short because we just love the freedom lighter clothes and shoes seem to give us, and the wonderful evenings watching the sunsets or camping under the big trees, and looking at the millions of stars or walking through the woods where everything is lush and green, or being in or on the water enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon "just cruisin'".  We love the familiar summer music – Beach Boys – amazing how those songs have stuck around, isn’t it?

Are you ready for your holiday?  Have you booked the time?  If not, that’s the first thing to do! Another great thing to have for the summer are checklists. They’re easy to build in Microsoft Word or on an Excel spreadsheet – you can create them, save them in a file, print copies and keep the copies in a binder as a collection of tick boxes when you’re doing all the summer things you’re doing –

Why not title them and put in the name of the activity.  Under that title, horizontally, place the following columns

Items to Pack (list all items you need to take with you)

Number of items

Several Date columns.

As you pack, simply check off what has been put into your suitcase or cooler or bag – whatever container you’re using.  This system will ease the stress of packing for the event.

It’s a good idea to have one check off list for each activity.  Once they’re created, of course, every year all you have to do is reach for your binder and there they are – ready to use!!!

We can help with all your dry cleaning, alterations and laundry needs so add a tick box on for "Call Iron Maids" and let us take care of the rest!  With free collection and delivery, you get a service that fits in around your holidays.  Call us on 01622 870111 or book online http://www.iron-maids.co.uk/book

Wimbledon

For many of us this is the year we have been waiting for and for others it is the year of dread! We are now firmly in the period of huge sporting events, now that the Euro football championships are done and dusted we are in the Wimbledon season and well on our way to the Olympics. So when did the tennis championship start?

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a private club founded in 1868, originally as 'The All England Croquet Club'. Its first ground was situated off

Worple Road

, Wimbledon.^[5]

In 1876, lawn tennis (a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally called 'Sphairistike') was added to the activities of the English Lawn Croquet Club. In the spring of 1877, the club was re-titled 'The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club' and signalled its change of name by instituting the first Lawn Tennis Championship. A new code of laws were drawn up for the event. Todays rules are similar except for details such as the height of the net and posts and the distance of the service line from the net.

The only event held in 1877 was the Gentlemen's Singles, which was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, from a field of 22. About 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final.

The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the principal court was located in the middle with the others arranged around it; hence the title '

Centre Court

', which was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in

Church Road,

although not a true description of its location. However, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the

Centre Court

was once more correctly defined. The opening of the new No. 1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description.

By 1882, activity at the club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word 'croquet' was dropped from the title. However, for sentimental reasons, it was restored in 1899 and since then the title has remained The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

In 1884, the All England Club added Ladies' Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles. Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles were added in 1913. Until 1922, the reigning champion had to play only in the final, against whomever had won through to challenge him/her. As with the other three Grand Slam events, Wimbledon was contested by top-ranked amateur players until the advent of the open era in tennis in 1968. No British man has won the singles event at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936 and no British woman has won the Ladies Singles since Virginia Wade in 1977, although Annabel Croft and Laura Robson won the Girls' Championship in 1984 and 2008, respectively. The Championship was first televised in 1937.

We are experts at keeping sports kits clean and fresh. From cricket whites to football kits - let us save you the hassle so you can sit back and enjoy the summer.  Call 01622 870111 or book online http://www.iron-maids.co.uk/book/