Today’s speaker was Gerry Beamond, My Olympic Experience.
Before Gerry started his talk he commented on the size of his audience, he normally speaks to groups of 15 to 20 and was delighted to have an audience of 48.
Gerry was picked as a torch bearer for the 2012 London Olympics, he brought the torch along and was wearing the white outfit that all the torch bearers wore. The torch was in Yorkshire for 7 days and Gerry carried it in Halifax from the Piece Hall. He also gave us the timeline on how and when the Modern Olympics came about and the ethos for it, Higher, faster, stronger is the motto.
William Penny Brookes founded the Wenlock Olympian Games in 1850 which inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin to start the Modern Olympics in 1896.
He gave us an interesting and amusing talk about his claim to fame as a torch bearer and also gave an insight into the Olympic movement and finished with a 5 minute news clip of the torch relay in Yorkshire.