Down memory lane

13 Jan 2024 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

While volunteering at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games I decided to stay outside the city at Stourbridge, partly because I knew it would be very busy in Birmingham, but mostly because I love the Black country. My paternal grandparents and my dad came from this beautiful part of the world, we visited every year staying in Halesowen.

It’s not all work when volunteering in the games and there are a few days off. My first outing on an afternoon off was a hike around the Clent hills, as a child I spent a lot of time bombing around the country lanes in granddad’s mini clubman and running around the hills and woods for hours until it got dark.

On another day off I thought I’d try and find the big sandy area in the middle of Kinver woods, we went there a lot when I was little with a picnic and granddad’s calor gas stove to brew tea on. I decided to walk the two hour trail hoping that I would come across the sandy bit as I couldn’t actually remember exactly where it was. I didn’t find it but what I did discover was Kinver edge and the rock houses. These amazing little houses are dug out of the red sandstone and the earliest settlement dates back to 1777. In the 1861 census, eleven families were registered as living there. Managed now by the National Trust, it’s a fascinating step back in time with a lovely tea room for a pit stop with cake.

I stopped off at Kinver on the way back from Iron Bridge, this is a place I’d never been to and was keen to visit after reading about it. The world’s first cast iron bridge was built in 1779 over the river Severn in Shropshire. This amazing structure spans the Ironbridge gorge and looks spectacular from every angle especially from the riverside café with the most lovely tea cosies.

I never tire of the West Midlands, not just because the claim it has my heart with childhood family memories, but also because there are so many fabulous places to discover and learn about in beautiful countryside.

All for a good cause

08 Jan 2024 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

Following the success of my previous medical volunteering adventures at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the London World Athletics Championships, I decided to give it another go. I was very fortunate to have been selected as a first responder team leader for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.

My base for the games was Birmingham University campus as spectator medical cover for squash, not my first choice for sport but we also covered the hockey at times and were able to see the England women’s team win gold. But for me that’s not what it’s all about, as usual I worked with an amazing team and made lots of new friends.

What was great this time, being only 2 hours from home I had visits from two best friends. Jane got a ticket for the gymnastics, I met her after my shift and we had a bit of food together and a catch up before she got her train back to Bristol. And after holidaying up in the north, George stopped off at Birmingham with her family to check out Ozzy the bull and all the other festivities. I met up with them before one of my shifts for a wander around and a bit of people watching. It was lovely to see them and share my commonwealth experience with them.

This time I also managed to get tickets to watch the gymnastics on two days, the ladies all around finals and day two of the apparatus finals. I’m a massive fan of gymnastics and this is the first time I’d actually watched it live. The atmosphere was amazing and the gymnasts were fantastic, it was definitely money very well spent.

I can’t recommend this type of volunteering enough. It’s a fabulous way to make friends, experience international sporting events for free and you get to keep all the kit!

Tracks of Carole’s years: part 5.

01 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

My ninth song choice is Rhythm of my heart by Rod Stewart.

In 2014 I was a volunteer first aider at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. I was lucky enough to have my first 3 shifts as field of play for the rehearsal and the actual opening ceremony. It was a spectacular show and among the many performers was Rod Stewart who brought the crowd to life with this song. It was also the first time I had sung the National Anthem in the presence of the Queen.

I had the most amazing time and met so many fabulous people who I am still friends with. It definitely gave me the large sporting event volunteering bug and in 2017 I was a volunteer nurse at the World Athletic Championships in London.

I have recently had an interview to volunteer in the medical team in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022, I should find out in January the outcome of that one.

My final song is How long will I love you by Ellie Golding.

I absolutely love the film About Time and in the the film the song is actually sung by Jon Boden, Sam Sweeney and Ben Coleman as buskers in the London underground.

For those of you who haven’t seen this amazingly touching film I’ll give you the gist; The main character, Tim, is told by his dad that the men in their family can travel back in time. His advice to him is to use it to go back and re live his day to make it better or more meaningful. Sadly his dad dies, but Tim is still able to go back in time and visit him after his death. But here’s the rub, Tim can’t go back beyond his children’s birth or the child would be different every time he came back. This is ok until his wife wants a third child, Tim knows he won’t be able to keep visiting his dad in the past and there’s a really lovely and tear-jerking scene when he goes back to spend one last walk along the beach with his dad just before his third baby is born.

At the end of the film Tim says that he didn’t use his ability to go back in time much at all, he lived his life as if he had deliberately come back to that day and recommends we do our best to relish this remarkable ride.

Now we don’t have Tim’s super power of time travel so I think it’s a really good idea to make the most of every single moment, every experience big or small, every encounter ….. We don’t get a second chance, we need to appreciate this great gift of life and live it to the full.

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