Cath Mudford Website

The Closing Ceremony - the experience of a very wet volunteer

I was working a shift in the Athletes' Village on both the night of the opening ceremony dress rehearsal and the opening ceremony itself and as a reward was one of 250 volunteers invited to take part in the closing ceremony. We all had to assemble in the volunteers rest area at the City of Manchester stadium hours before the ceremony started and were issued with wrist passes that we had to wear at all times to show we were entitled to enter the stadium proper. The weather looked a little dodgy but it wasn't raining.

It was all a bit chaotic but eventually we were split up into groups of about 10 and assigned to someone who seemed to know what was going on and were we had to go. Task one was to deliver the balloons and flags of St. George to the audience for the Closing ceremony just before the arrival of the Queen.

The stadium on Closing Ceremony night

We had to lurk at our appointed entrance steps, wait for our cue, avoid being thrown out by the overly brusque security staff and then run up or down the stairs handing out the balloons and flags to the crowd. The reception we got was amazing and people couldn't get enough of the flags or balloons. The stadium looked fantastic. I hadn't been to any of the competitions there so this was my first proper glimpse.

As we were descending from our slot, three levels up in the stadium we spotted the Queen arriving and she ended up entering the stadium for a quick pre ceremony drinks do immediately below us. An open topped car was waiting for her as was her new Bentley, a Jubilee gift from the nation.

As the Queen emerged from the reception, the rain started so the open topped car was whisked away unused and she made her way in to start the formal proceedings whilst we made our way back to the rest area. As we did so the rain got worse and worse.

Hearing the dirge otherwise known as "God save the Queen" sung with a bit of hwyl for once as we made our way round the outside of the stadium made a nice change.

The stadium on Closing Ceremony night

We had to make way for the kids with the paint buckets so didn't get to see what on earth they were going to do with those. I decided to stay in the rain as watch what was going on outside in preparation rather than crowding round a TV in the rest area. The soldiers who paraded round the stadium came passed us and were absolutely soaking wet.

The athletes carrying the flags into the stadium also were sopping wet but two of them, Karen Pickering and Ian Thorpe had dashed to the stadium from the swimming pool so were already damp. The massed brass band were similarly wet through.

As this point discretion was the better part of valour so I retired to the rest area where I met up with some familiar faces from the crew resource centre (CRC) of the Village. We were eventually told to move out to the spot from where we were going to run into the stadium. The volunteers got a great reaction from the crowd. The athletes joined us in the centre of the stadium for the fireworks and the disco music. I phoned home whilst the TV coverage was on and asked Ma & Pa if they could see a particualr scene on the screen. When they said yes, I told them I was absolutely nowhere near there.
I also made the mistake of joing a passing conga line. It was only when it took off at a rate of knots that I remembered that most of the people in the line where Commonwealth Games standard athletes. I lasted about 30 seconds before having to drop off the back knackered.