Our BWC Commonwealth Volunteers share their Games experience
This weekend marks one month since the Commonwealth Games opened in spectacular fashion at the Alexandra Stadium in Birmingham. In the weeks that followed we’ve all had the opportunity to reflect on how brilliantly our city came together to make the Games one of the best there has ever been. The Games were a fantastic showcase for the city highlighting the diversity, innovation and creativity that Birmingham has in abundance, making us all proud Brummies (even if many of us at BWC are not from Birmingham at all).
Away from the sporting action, one aspect of the Games that really stood out was the army of 14,000 volunteers across the city, making their mark in orange and blue, offering high-fives and advice to visitors and locals alike, ensuring the Games all went according to plan. Among them were a number of our colleagues from our Trust, some of whom we spoke to shortly after the closing ceremony to hear their stories and first-hand experience of the Games.
“When I saw the advertisement on social media looking for volunteers back in mid-2021, I knew that I wanted to take part in this mega event,” said Vidyasagar Meesala, Highly-Specialised Cardiac Physiologist in our Heart Investigation Unit. “I felt like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I wanted to work the whole games but as I work four days at the Children’s Hospital each week, I volunteered for the Games on the weekends.”
Charlotte Shaw, Senior STICK Technician, explains how she got involved. She said: “I missed the general volunteering deadline, so I decided to go to the auditions to be a volunteer performer as I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. In mid-April, I received an email to say I had been selected to perform at the Alexander Stadium in front of 30,000 spectators and a global TV audience of up to a billion!”
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the ‘Friendly Games’, has been underpinned by the core values of humanity, equality and destiny since its beginnings in 1930. This year marked the first time the West Midlands has played host to the event, following London in 1934 and Manchester in 2002. Visiting 21 locations across the region, the Games provided a great opportunity for all of us to feel that we were part of this epic sporting occasion.
Darren Martin-Lamb, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Manager, said: “I spent the Games volunteering with the Protocol Team, who were focused on the visits and experiences of VIPs and dignitaries, which meant we were often in some privileged positions. This included time mixing with the athletes in the athletes’ village and joining a tour hosting the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Nations, Her Excellency Patricia Scotland. With my BWC EDI head on, I was able to talk to her about inclusivity at the Games, something that was very high on the agenda this year, and take her to Pride House, the LGBTQ+ safe space for athletes.”
The Birmingham Games were very proud to deliver the biggest integrated para-sports programme of any Commonwealth Games so far and, for the first time in global multi-sport event history, more medals were awarded to women than men with the medals themselves designed to be more inclusive and accessible with an adjustable ribbon to suit all body shapes and sizes. In total there were 136 women’s events compared to 134 for men.
Carla Lloyd, Graft Injury Group Project Manager, volunteered at The Vale, the principal athletes’ village for the Games and was involved with making sure athletes boarded the right buses to get to their venues for practice and competition. She said: “They have all been so lovely. I’ve met competitors from the home nations as well as St. Helena, Vanuatu, Gibraltar, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the men’s hockey teams from England, India, New Zealand and Australia. 
Everyone has enjoyed their time in Birmingham and despite all the challenges of the past few years, the Games have gone well.”
With so many athletes representing the different nations from across the Commonwealth, many were keen to connect with others and the social side to the Games was a huge part of the experience. Darren Martin-Lamb added: “Athletes were given pin badges unique to their country and these were swapped and given to other athletes and volunteers who wore the badges on their lanyards. I added the NHS rainbow badge and the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity pins to my lanyard which proved to be a nice conversation starter with people.”
Linda Buckley, Screening Midwife, said: “I don’t think I’ve danced as much in my entire life while waving a mascot Perry foam hand. All my fellow volunteers have been so friendly and we all helped each other along, especially at that point in the day when we were flagging.”
Attendance of the closing ceremony by the athletes was at their own discretion but judging by the numbers that did attend, they obviously had an enjoyable time and wanted to show their appreciation to the spectators and to those watching at home. Adrian Crucean, Speciality Doctor in Congenital Heart Surgery volunteered as an athlete host for the team from Eswatini. He said: “The closing ceremony was 
an amazing experience. The athletes had a wonderful time in Birmingham and this is why they returned in such a great number for the ceremony on the final night.”
Charlotte Shaw sums up her experience of volunteering at the Games. She added: “The sheer sense of pride I had for being part of representing Birmingham at its absolute best still lives on despite the end of the Games in Brum. I am so proud and overwhelmed with how special the whole experience was.”
Thank you to all our BWC Commonwealth Games volunteers for sharing their experiences and for helping make the Games so unforgettable.