Britain's Ocean City

THE visit of Sky’s cameras to Home Park on Saturday will showcase, not only Plymouth Argyle, but Britain’s Ocean City.

The team behind the Britain’s Ocean City branding include Plymouth designer Amy Stock, a good friend of the Pilgrims who has been responsible for, among other things, the club’s Join the Club initiative and the recently launched PL2 Crew.

She has produced a brand identity – which can be seen on advertising hoardings at Home Park – that will have a genuine global resonance for the worldwide viewers of Saturday’s match, when fellow port city Portsmouth are the visitors.

‘Britain’s Ocean City’ reflects Plymouth’s history of global seafaring and its role as a centre for marine industries, the Royal Navy, excellence in marine industry and sciences, and an annual events calendar that includes the British Fireworks, the Ocean City Festival, and some of the world’s great yachting events.

Plymouth is a truly global city defined by the ocean. Its proud history – social, cultural, economic and military – has been played out upon a marine and maritime stage. It is where Sir Francis Drake finished his game of bowls before defeating the Spanish Armada; where the Mayflower Pilgrims set sail to found modern America; and where Captain Cook and Charles Darwin began their explorations of unmapped territories, species, and evolutionary progress.

Among its many players have been Sir Joshua Reynolds, who emerged from its bustling docks to become one of the founding fathers of the Royal Academy; Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the intrepid polar explorer whose fate inspired a nation; Nancy Astor, elected by the people of Plymouth as Britain’s first female MP; and her great friend and political rival, Michael Foot, the former Argyle director.

Visit Britain's Ocean City on Twitter @britainsocean.