They often say that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, but that’s what did happen for LPF member Wendy Morrell this year, when she was given the opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch for a second time!
Wendy first carried the Olympic Torch in April 2008 across London Bridge when the Olympic Flame visited London en route to China for the Beijing Games. It was a day of challenges, and many people remember it for the demonstrations that took place, rather than the joy of the Olympic Flame crossing our capital city.
So, when she heard that she’d been successfully nominated for a second time, Wendy was absolutely delighted. She’d also nominated her partner, Karen Ruddlesden and she too was given a place in the relay on the same day as myself, Friday 13th July, in Poole, Dorset.
A lot has happened in Wendy’s life since the last Olympics, not least her wonderful assistance dog, Caesar, from Dogs for the Disabled passed away very suddenly, so she was delighted to get the opportunity to carry the Torch with her new assistance dog, Udo. Karen was also accompanied by her assistance dog Coco, who is from Medical Detection Dogs.
Wendy and Karen weren’t worried about whether their assistance dogs were up to such a busy event as they both accompany them to large sports events quite often.
One of the roles Wendy holds now, which she didn’t have when she last carried the Torch is that she is a Disability Independent Advisor to the Metropolitan Police, so one of her last tasks before the Torch Relay was to brief the Torch Security Team on how best to facilitate disabled torchbearers to get the best out of their day, a task Wendy thinks they did brilliantly well.
Both Karen and Wendy had a fantastic day as Torchbearers and have really appreciated the support they’ve had since, and have attended a number of events at schools and clubs to share their experiences and give others the opportunity to enjoy the torches too. They’ve even had some donations to the charities their assistance dogs came from.
To sum up their experience Wendy said “we both feel very honoured and privileged to have been given such a wonderful opportunity”