Teachers travel up to Scotland to volunteer at Games
A COUPLE of Tytherington teachers travelled to Glasgow to volunteer at the Commonwealth Games.
Dai and Helen Jones, who both work at Tytherington School, spent a fortnight in the city working as stewards and enjoying the games as well.
Dai, 56, is head of RE at the the school, on Manchester Road, and 48-yearold Helen is a teaching assistant.
They both had to undertake a two-year process to find out whether they had been successful in applying to work at the sporting spectacle and actually get to the games.
And after being selected out of 50,000 applicants, Dai was chosen to work at the Barry Buddon shooting centre as a spectator services assistant, while Helen was based at the Scotstoun Stadium, where the table tennis and squash events were held, as a tribune team leader in the press operations team.
Dai said: “It was a glorious event and we had a great time, the atmosphere was fantastic.
“I was showing all the spectators to their seats and giving out information, making sure they all got to where they needed to be. I am Welsh and so was there with a Welsh flag and greeted them in welsh. The stadium was always full and the crowd were great, very chatty. I met so many different people from different countries – altogether me and Helen worked out we spoke to people from more than 40 nations during their time volunteering.
“It was fascinating being so close to the athletes as well.”
The couple, who also went to watch the rugby 7s, athletics and road cycling while in Scotland, were keen to apply to get involved after Helen and their daughter, Amy, both worked at the London Olympics in 2012.
Dai added: “We also went to the Commonwealth Game when they were in Manchester and that spurred Helen to want to help out.
“It was quite a rigorous process all-in-all, we had to fill out forms and then go to an interview in Glasgow, before returning to the city for various training sessions, including in health and safety and safeguarding.
“You have to pay for all the travel and things yourself but that did not put us off, but it was well worth it.
“It was a great start to mine and Helen’s summer holidays from school and a once in a lifetime experience.”