Page 58 - br-june-2021

June 2021

I awoke early and took our usual cup of tea back to bed. Diana was as excited
as I was and really looking forward to my “moment to shine!” when the telephone
rang. It was Samantha saying our Evie who had been poorly overnight was in
hospital and they wouldn’t be able to make the long trip down the M5 to be with
us. Evie was to recover from her chest infection over the next few days but we
were very sad for them not be there with us.
Diana and I have been married 47 years and she has always been a great
support to me in my swimming activities whether it has been my long distance
swimming, my involvement with Bere Regis Swimming Club, East Dorset Open
Water Club or the period when I was heavily involved in water polo in the county.
She has been a real brick over the years and I am sorry to say that I don’t tell her
often enough.
The forecast was horrendous but what do these weathermen know? Well yes
quite a lot really! During the early morning the clear blue sky turned into a misty
grey. The bank of heavy rain rapidly approached from the west and the first
drops fell at around 11 am. This would get steadily heavier as the day progressed.
as the heavens opened its floodgates.
We set off for Bridport and travelled along the A35 through Winterborne Abbas.
The road had just been reopened after a three day closure through flooding. With
all this additional rain it would be soon closed again causing traffic chaos through
a lot of West Dorset.
Diana dropped me off at the St Mary’s School collection point where I was to be
met and briefed on the day’s events. Britney and Henry introduced themselves to
the eight torchbearers who were to run through Burton Bradstock, Abbotsbury
and Portesham. These were truly inspiring people who had done a lot of work in
their local communities. I was to share the Abbotsbury leg with young Fabian (15)
who was nominated by his brother for being on the local youth club committee
and his love of boxing and football. Also Margaret who had done a lot of
fundraising for cancer research in her local community.

We were there for over an
hour, a time to chat and tell

each other a little about
ourselves. Everyone had a
different tale to tell and it was
clear that all of us led full and
interesting lives. Britney called
us together for the briefing
and we were each asked to
tell our story. This ranged from
working for charities to having
an active involvement in
grass roots sport.

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