It’s the end of a busy week but just before I return home to Cornwall I would like to thank those of you who attended the AGM on Wednesday and those who sent in their proxy votes. It was good for the management team to be able to present some of the work that we have been doing this year and also to outline what next is planned. The Annual Report and Accounts for the year are on the website which includes my detailed report of the year. I have also uploaded the AGM presentation here if you want to take a look. I know that everyone enjoyed hearing from Paul Shaw who updated us all on the GB squad and gave us a bit of an insight into Rio which is now only 7 weeks away. Last night I attended the C4 launch of their Paralympics coverage – the trailer they have created is pretty amazing and we now have it up on the website. I am sure many of you will have already seen it on social media and tonight it will be screened for the first time on C4. Look out for some faces you will know – with Jamie Stead particularly prominent! Today C4 also revealed their Paralympic presenters and its great to see that Steve Brown is among them so congratulations to him. There were lots of GBWR friends and partners at last night’s event and it was especially good to see Martin Colclough from Help for Heroes who we work so closely with and Martin Bayfield who presented BT WWRC15 for ITV and has showcased wheelchair rugby on BT Sport. The Paralympics GB Team launch is on Saturday night in London so best wishes to the team who we are sure will have a great evening.
Jim Roberts with Martin Bayfield at the launch event for Channel 4’s Paralympic Games coverage
Next Friday, the team will be together again this time at the Olympic Stadium where they will be presented with their international caps. These will be given to the athletes by the first Patron of GBWR – he will be announced in the media at the same time but those of you who attended the AGM will already know who he is. It is a very exciting appointment and he will bring a huge amount – in size and reputation! – to our sport …..watch this space!
Now that we have more of the details of the Sport England investment process we will be working over the summer to get our investment bid together. You will probably all get approached at some point to be asked a series of questions the answers of which will really help us to shape our bid. It is important that we take your views into consideration as we put our case together so please do help us by answering the questions as fully as you can.
That’s it for now, enjoy your weekend!
David Pond
