And so it begins (19th July)

03 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

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

My first shift as a Clydesider, (the official name for Games volunteers), was the first rehearsal for the opening ceremony at Celtic Park. We were all given 2 tickets to watch one of the rehearsals to use or to give to friends and family. I gave mine to my hosts as I was working at both of the performances.

I must admit initially when I was walking to the train station I felt very conspicuous in my bright red uniform, but that uniform got me free travel throughout the Games so I wasn’t complaining. Once I was on the train though I saw many more Clydesiders and we were linked by a common purpose. Being involved in something like this meant that I was never without someone to talk to, be it another volunteer or a member of the public interested in what I was doing.

clydesider carole

Unfortunately the weather was dreadful, so it was a very soggy walk from the station to Celtic Park. After negotiating security I set off on the mammoth task of locating the rest of the first aid team in an enormous stadium. We did have a tour to orientate us but that just resulted in more confusion about our whereabouts at any given time.

Once all the briefing was done, the first aid equipment bum bags and radios were given out it was time to section off into teams and go to our locations. My team definitely drew the short straw as we were placed outside the arena in a first aid tent so we could attend to the spectators as they arrived and exited the stadium. The rain was relentless until just before the ceremony started, but it made the arena floor very slippery and I was surprised there weren’t any injuries in the cast.

First aid dream team

I had wonderful team mates in Chelsey, Christine and John and we really bonded well out there in the cold and wet.  Our only call that shift was a little old man with cramp in his leg as he was coming out of the stadium.

The extended train times weren’t in operation so once we were released from our post we had to power walk down to the station and got the train with just minutes to spare.

The day was exhausting but hugely enjoyable.

first shift done

My Temporary Abode

02 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

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

The way my shifts were arranged meant I needed to stay in Glasgow for 10 days. The prices for accommodation during the Games period were horrendously expensive so I decided to take advantage of the Homestay scheme whereby volunteers are placed into private homes.

My hosts were Erika and George and they met me at the station and took me to their beautiful home in Motherwell, about 20 minutes outside of Glasgow.

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George is a Scot and Erika comes the German town of Hameln of the Pied piper fame, (we call it Hamelin but that’s not correct). They got involved in the scheme through their church. Their house is just 5 minutes away from Strathclyde Park where the triathlon took place and the day I arrived I took a little walk around the park to work up an appetite for the delicious food that Erika rustled up.

My bedroom was very big and comfortable and I couldn’t have asked for better accommodation or better hosts.

The Journey begins (17th July)

02 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

After months of travelling back and forth to Glasgow the day had finally arrived to set off for my exciting journey of volunteering at the 20th Commonwealth Games. My chariot taking me there was the Megabus Gold from Bristol travelling through the night. I always used Megabus to travel to London on the cheap but had no idea about the overnight service until another volunteer told me about it.

The bus was running late, putting me in a bit of a panic, but eventually I was settled into a seat next to a poet talking very loudly on her phone about the illustrations in her new book. I was just wondering how I would survive a 9 hour trip without killing her when luckily she got off at Cardiff.

We stopped at Cardiff for nearly an hour while most of the seats were cleverly converted into single and bunk beds. One of the drivers said something to me in a very broad Glaswegian accent that I didn’t understand, but he gestured to me to follow him so that I did. My bed was upstairs and very comfortable it was too, I slept surprisingly well except for an attack of leg cramp which was nigh on impossible to walk off on a moving bus converted into beds.

We did get into Glasgow a little later than planned but all in all I was very impressed with the service and raring to go on my big adventure.

 

commonwealth games

Going for gold part 2

02 Apr 2014 Leave a comment

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

At the beginning of March I jetted off again to bonnie Scotland for orientation for volunteering at the Commonwealth Games. I have been accepted into the medical team and will work as a first aider at the opening ceremony and rugby sevens event.

These are the twentieth Commonwealth Games and the third time that they have been hosted by Scotland. I am one of 15,000 volunteers known as Clyde siders.

I was part of the first group of volunteers, there were 4500 of us in the Emirates stadium in the east end of Glasgow, where the badminton will be held. The orientation extravaganza was hosted by sports presenter Hazel Irvine and Capitol Radio’s Des Clarke.  Although it was a very entertaining 3 hour spectacular it didn’t really enlighten us about what to expect in the coming months.

We did however get to see our uniforms, I must admit I have been a bit worried about these since seeing a mustard coloured top in the volunteering centre when I went for my interview.I don’t think a colour that resembles vomit looks good on anyone and would have put a damper on the whole experience for me. So imagine my joy when visions in red and grey were modelled for us and we get quite a lot of kit.

It goes without saying that I am very excited about the whole thing and can’t wait to get up there in the summer and do my thing.

clyde siders uniform

After the orientation event I had quite a bit of time to kill in Glasgow so I made my way via Scotland’s very efficient and cheap rail network into the city centre. As a fan of Charles Rennie Mackintosh I made a bee line for the Willow Tea Rooms for my lunch.

This little gem came about as a result of a collaboration between the Art Nouveau designer and Catherine Cranston, between 1896 and 1917 he designed and restyled all 4 of Catherine’s tearooms in Glasgow. The building was originally a 4 story warehouse and in it’s hey day it had several different dining rooms. Mackintosh designed not only the exterior and interior, but the menus, cutlery and even the waitresses’ uniforms.

Now I’m afraid to say it looks a little tired, they is only one dining room on the first floor and the ground floor is taken up by the gift shop. But the food was very nice and reasonably priced.

willow te room sign

 

I have another role specific training to attend in June and I hope I’ll have more time to wander around and explore this lovely city some more.

 

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