The fair took place on Saturday 6 February at the Queensmere Shopping Centre in Slough. The five man team, selling their branded t-shirts and sweatshirts, worked on a roster and the boys selected to speak to the judges at midday were Scott Bunce and Frank Gibson, Year 12 students at Claires Court. The three judges, who included the Manager of M&S in Slough, a senior executive from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Manager of Hinds Jewellers in Slough, were impressed by the boys’ knowledge and selling technique and one of the judges in particular, awarded them ten out of ten on several of the ten different YE judging criteria.

Despite a very good showing – and sales of several shirts – the team were up against some tough competition and just failed to make the top three teams on the day. This was the second of three trade fairs, the first having been in Maidenhead in January, and the boys have some great ideas for improving their showing at the final trade fair at Windsor’s King Edward Court on 5 March. The culmination of this year’s competition will be the YE SWiM Area Final at the O2 Head Office in Slough on Tuesday 22 March and the boys are determined to keep up the Claires Court tradition of always winning at least one cup.