OLYMPIC ODYSSEY


I2 CLACTON DRIVER ON STARTING BLOCKS FOR GAMES


An Olympic volun- teer’s excitement is building after he went through the final preparations for the Games. Walton taxi driver Stu- art Rogerson, 54, signed up to help out at the sporting extrav- aganza more than two years ago. But he said it is finally starting to feel real after picking up his uniform for the event. Stuart told the Clacton


I2


Gazette: “The jubilee weekend was fantas- tic, but now that’s out of the way it feels like I can finally concentrate on the Olympics. “I picked up my uni- form from a base near West Ham. There were hundreds of other vol- unteers there and long queues as everyone went into the fitting rooms and got the right sizes. “I’ve done all


the preparation and the


training and now I’ve got the uniform it all feels very real and it’s full steam ahead. It’s very exciting.” Stuart is one of 70,000 volunteers. He will be helping Olympic athletes and officials on and off coaches as they arrive at events. Stuart added: “It will be something special to be a part of a real once- in-a- l i fet ime experience.”


STOKE YOUNGSTERS MISS TORCH DUE TO TAXI MIX-UP


Ten schoolchildren were left crestfallen after they missed out on taking part in an Olympic


parade


because the minibus due to drop them off at the event was 90 min- utes late. The


nine-year-olds


from Oakhill Primary, in Stoke-on-Trent, had been picked to repre- sent


the nation of


Japan at a recent sporting gala and had spent weeks prepar- ing for their role. Around 1,000 other young people, from schools and colleges across the city, waved flags and wore cos- tumes as the parade weaved from Stafford- shire University,


in


Stoke, to Hanley Park. They then joined dancers and musi- cians for a carnival welcoming the Olym- pic torch relay to the park. But while other chil- dren enjoyed the fun, Oakhills’ young am- bassadors were stuck at their Rookery Lane school because of a taxi mix-up. Stoke-on-Trent-based


PAGE 34


Z Cars has apologised and offered to take pupils on a trip to the zoo as a consolation. The firm’s minibus had been booked to arrive at school at 12.30pm, ready to drop off chil- dren at the university campus


for


Olympic registration at 1pm. School


secretary


Karen Wetton told the Stoke Sentinel: “The driver initially turned up at around 11.15am. He had apparently got mixed up and was due to be at another school at that time. We asked him to return after he’d done that run. “We kept waiting and made five phone calls to ask where he was. They said he was on his way. He eventually turned up just minutes before 2pm.” By then, the parade was setting off and it was too late. School staff had been unable to take pupils in their own cars as- they were not covered by business insur- ance. Amelia Mason, aged


nine, from Oakhill, was in tears over missing the parade. “Our school was sup- posed


to be their


representing Japan and we had designed a big flag for it It was a once-in-a-lifetime op- portunity because the Olympic torch may never be here again.” The pupils had been picked as a reward for good behaviour. Nine-year-old Sophie Swann, from Oakhill, said: “All the other schools were there, representing different countries, except our school. We were all really upset.” Some pupils got to see the Olympic torch later that evening as they had family tickets for the park celebra- tions. David Shaw, transport manager for Z Cars, said: “The driver has now been interviewed and is going to go through disciplinary channels. “As for the children, all we can do as a com- pany is apologise. We know we can’t bring the torch back.”


PHTM JULY 2012


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