Archived Page
This page is no longer maintained.
For up-to-date information please see the
new website
All in the Games
One Magic Moment On 2nd January 2000, Phillip Wells was the first child to be baptised at St Nicolas' Church in the 21st Century. On 10th July this year he became the first and only Taplovian to carry the Olympic torch at Windsor Castle. His parents Donna and Andrew have lived in the Buffins since 1996. Phillip was a pupil at St Nicolas' School before moving on to Desborough Boys' School where he was nominated to be one of two hundred 12-year-old Torchbearers. Under the supervision of none other than HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Lord Sebastian Coe, he had the privilege and responsibility of taking the Olympic flame from 74-year-old Maidenhead netball coach Gina Macgregor MBE on the southern terrace of the Castle and carrying it to the Park Street gates where he passed it to Ian Rostance of Leeds who ran on down the Long Walk. Three We Know No Taplovian competed in the Olympic or Paralympic Games but there are links to three medal-winners. Rob Williams learned to row at Maidenhead Rowing Club and has been made a life member in recognition of his winning a silver in the incredibly exciting Mens' Lightweight Fours at Dorney Lake; South Africa were just 0.27 seconds ahead of Rob and his teammates Peter and Richard Chambers and Chris Bartlett who pipped Denmark by only 0.07 seconds. Australia was fourth 0.83 seconds further behind. David Stanning lived in Taplow for many years and still has many friends here; his niece Heather Stanning won Team GB's first gold of the Games in the Women's Coxless Pairs in partnership with Helen Glover. And Phil Kokk lives in Cedar Chase; his nephew Scott McPhee won a Paralympics cycling gold medal for Australia as Keiron Modra's pilot in the Men's Individual B Pursuit. Six of the Best Most people agree that London 2012 has made Great Britain proud. One of the most memorable features of it all was how the fabulous contributions of thousands of volunteers lifted the spirits. Six Taplovians feel privileged to have done their bit to make the Games special. Five of them helped Eton Dorney earn an incredible 97% approval rating. Jenny Edmonds, Chris Little and Mike Sharp had very different roles as LOCOG Games Makers. Chris had fun being interviewed on Radio 5 Live by Richard Bacon about her task of meeting-and-greeting VIPs arriving at Heathrow. Some may have been driven from there to their destination by Mike in a very swish BMW. He recalls that transporting the ‘Olympic Family’ involved long periods of waiting punctuated by moments of madness when one of them needed to be elsewhere in a hurry. Those VIPs who went to see the rowing, canoeing and kayaking at Dorney Lake – temporarily rebranded as ‘Eton Dorney’ to acknowledge Eton College – might have ridden in Chris’s buggy. And Jenny was ‘on venue’ too – meeting-and-greeting, ticket-checking and generally being a charming Paralympics hostess. Maureen Dennis, Heather Piper and Nigel Smales were among 221 Eton Dorney Ambassadors who spent over 10,000 hours during the Olympics and Paralympics as ‘walking, smiling signposts’. This ‘off venue’ team aged from 16 to 78 was trained and directed by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead on behalf of four local authorities. Maureen, Heather and Nigel each have lots of tales to tell about royalty, celebrities and everyday folk gathered not only during the Games but also as they learned the ropes at various events including the Royal Windsor Horse Show and Diamond Jubilee Pageant, Royal Ascot and the Olympic Torch Parade. And when it came to the big one, it was no easy task to keep up to 30,000 people happy as they were shuttled from one of three railway stations or four park-and-rides to Dorney Lake and back again every day, but their adept sprinkling of ‘fairy dust’ worked its magic. Nigel Smales
