Summer may well and truly be here, but in terms of sporting success it’s safe to say that so far it’s been a bit damp squib.

However, that’s hopefully all set to change with the Commonwealth Games, which are also proving to be a welcome summer shot in the arm for the UK print industry.

While it may not be on the scale of that produced for the London 2012 Olympics, the volume of print being manufactured to adorn the hundreds of cars and coaches to ferry officials and athletes to and from venues and the signage to show them the way, the 1,600 lamppost banners and 12km of bunting to celebrate the event and the tens of thousands of programmes and other guides to aid visitors to the city all represent a timely reminder of the power of print.

The summer also represents a busy time for catalogue and brochure printers, with autumn/winter tomes flying off presses across the land, then there’s the wide-format printers sweating in the heat preparing instore Christmas campaigns – there are only 149 ‘sleeps’ to go after all (for those of you with young kids).

So put aside those thoughts of the summer slowdown, you haven’t got time to worry about it. But if you are lucky enough to find yourself turning lobster pink on an overcrowded beach in the next few weeks, remember you can still do your bit for print.

Buy a book or magazine to relax with and don’t forget to send a postcard to the factory, it might not win you any friends at work, but it will help keep the postcard printers busy over the cold winter months.