GLASGOW—November 19, 2009

Celtic player Paddy McCourt and Rangers star Kevin Thomson visited Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft industries (RSBi) recently to meet visually impaired members of staff and help launch a special initiative. This year sees the bi-centenary of the birth of Louis Braille, the Frenchman who invented Braille reading for the blind. To commemorate the event, RSBi has produced two metal plaques that will be fixed to the walls of Celtic Park and Ibrox Park.

Each of the plaques will contain a famous quote from an Old Firm legend and both will be in type and in Braille. Both plaques will be placed at the gates the visually impaired use on match days and they will be able to read them upon entering the park.

“It’s not the creed nor nationality that counts. It’s the man himself,” are the wise words from Jock Stein.

While the Rangers words of wisdom come from John Greig and read: “Life is about learning and experience. If someone sets an example, you should look at that.”

Scottish construction giant City Building’s manufacturing facility at RSBi is one of Europe’s largest supported employment facilities and Scotland’s largest independent employer of visually impaired workers.

George Gaffney, head of manufacturing for RSBi said: “RSBi employs a range of visually impaired people who deliver highly skilled work, creating furniture and other items used by the housing and construction industry.

“We have several football fans amongst our staff and we are delighted to support the launch of such a fantastic initiative, which will enable our workers, and the wider blind and partially sighted community, to visit these grounds and appreciate the history of these clubs.”

Willie Docherty, Managing Director for City Building said: “RSBi and City Building are proud to acknowledge the impact Louis Braille has had on millions of visually impaired individuals around the world, including several of our highly trained staff members. Having well-known personalities like Kevin and Paddy visit our facility really gives our workers a lift and the plaques produced will enable both visually impaired and fully sighted fans of both teams to commemorate this historic occasion.”

Download the Press Release

Media Enquiries
PMPR and McGarvie Morrison Media are our retained agencies and they deal with all enquiries on our behalf.

For any general media enquiries, please contact Russell Kyle at PMPR on +44 (0)141 339 8880, +44 (0)7763 579196 or e-mail rk@pmpr20.fsnet.co.uk

For any enquiries relating to business issues, please contact Lindsay McGarvie at McGarvie Morrison Media on +44 (0)141 221 9041, +44 (0)7836 569988 or e-mail lindsay@mmm.pr

* * * * *

You must have Adobe® Reader® installed on your computer before you can view or print these documents. This software is available free of charge from the Adobe Web site. Use the following link to install Adobe® Reader®.