Maybe We'll Turn Back the Hands of Time...

In 1990, I had just walked out of another job. It was a temporary job so I wasn't particularly bothered, and my temping skills were such that I could pretty much jump between contracts at will.

The phone rang and I heard my agent say "I've what could be a very interesting job for you, but it's "different". The tone was intriguing. I asked her to go on. An organization needed someone to re input data which had been lost, and it had to be done "quickly and efficiently", and I needed to be able to work with "different" people.

I said yes, and headed for the office. The office was the Head Quarters of the Special Olympics 1990 which were being held in Glasgow. These games were the equivalent of the Olympics but for people with intellectual disabilities.

The office was manned by a mix of able bodied, physically disabled, and intellectually disabled people. Their problem lay in that in trying to include people of all abilities, someone, after 4 weeks of input, had clicked a button and deleted everything.

For an event of this size it could have meant disaster. I quickly got set in about my task, and input athlete after athlete, carer after carer, VIP after VIP, Press after Press. It took two weeks of 10 hours days but eventually I got caught up and everyone back in.

The spirit of the office was such, that not only did I do my paid work, but I volunteered as well, and volunteered my boyfriend too. We had the most beautiful turquoise blue shell suits to wear (I'm being sarcastic, they were atrocious). And we all laughed heartily when a shed load turned up at "The Barras" a week before the opening ceremony.

As the week of the games dawned, we moved from our offices in the City Centre out to the "Accreditation Centre" in the SECC - we were in charge of issuing accreditation passes to the athletes as they arrived, and what a joy that was.

I still remember the tears from the Latvian delegation when they realised they had passes with "Latvia" on them, they had been expecting them to be "Russia", because they had had so much trouble getting the appropriate visas. They didn't care if they actually partook of the games -they were just so excited to have their passes.

Or the President Elect of San Marino who took such delight in telling us of her little country and inviting us over to stay with her any time we wanted. The delight and the joy of the competitors who accepted their accreditation passes with the joy of receiving a medal.

On the night of the Opening Ceremony, we all took our place in the Official Stadium (Parkhead)... and cheered and shouted as the athletes were led in by stars - Arnold Schwarzenegger, - His wife Maria Shriver, was a patron of the games which had been established by her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith, Wet Wet Wet, Roxette.... Fame from another era.....

We watched the torch being brought in to the stadium and then Robert, who had worked in the office with us, suddenly appeared, took the torch, and ran towards the lamp, stopped and waved to us and then lit the lamp. It was a brilliant moment.

The fortnight passed in a whirlwind of events, posting scores, helping people find their way around, cheering at medal ceremonies, and getting hugs every single day; or the day a team of volunteers from Barlinnie coming to "assist", who all absconded on their first lunch break! yay!!

Maybe they aren't as high profile as the Paralympics, or the Olympics, but heavens it was a rewarding experience and for everyone who took part, and everyone who spoke the words of their oath "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let be brave in the attempt", they were all so very, very brave.