Olympic Torch - Bedford

July 8th, 2012 at 09.32

On Sunday 8th July the Olympic Torch will be coming to Bedford Borough providing a fantastic opportunity to be involved in this amazing event.

As part of the Olympic Celebrations the eyes of the world will be upon us and we want to make sure everyone has a good time. In order for the torch to pass through smoothly roads will be closed along the route as it journeys through the borough.

The following details provide a guide showing the roads that will close and times for the closures. We plan to reopen roads as soon as possible once the torch has passed by.

Side roads will be closed by the Police outriders as the torch passes.

Roads experiencing temporary closures on 8th July are:

• Goldington Road
• Barkers Lane
• Newnham Avenue (part)
• Longholme Way
• The Embankment
• High Street (south)
• St Mary's Street
• Cauldwell Street
• St John's Street
• Ampthill Road (Britannia Road to Rope Walk roundabout)
• London Road
• Harrowden Road
• High Road, Cotton End

Closure Timings

The Embankment, High Street (south) & St. Mary's Street will be closed from 6.00am onwards

Goldington Road will be closed from approx. 8.30am onwards

The rest of the roads will be closed approx. 30 minutes before the Olympic Torch is due to reach that particular point on the relay route.

Spectators will be able to see the Torch Relay carried by inspiring Torch Bearers

At other times the torch will be in convoy mode. When it is in Convoy Mode you won’t be able to see the Olympic Flame as this is when it’s travelling by vehicle between the various communities it is visiting.

Large crowds are expected to see the Torch pass by. Please make sure children are looked after by a responsible adult at all times. Parking may be restricted along the Torch route, so if you decide to drive, leave plenty of time and park in official parking areas.

Before the torch itself passes through there will be a parade of vehicles from the presenting partners. This will include a promotional show on Russell Park at 9.45am.

Advice for Drivers

The town bridge and part of the High Street will close at 6am to allow for the route to be safely prepared. All other roads on the relay route and associated side roads are expected to close at 8.30/9am, subject to the timings for the early sponsors convoy.

Roads will reopen as soon as possible once the torch convoy has passed, with the exception of The Embankment, which will reopen later.

Plan ahead. The torch passes through the borough on Sunday morning so there will be increased traffic from spectators coming to watch the relay. Roads that have not been closed are still likely to be busy particularly around the torch route.

Car parks at Lurke Street, River Street and Allhallows will be open from 7am to 6pm on Sunday 8th July. Please visit www.bedford.gov.uk for pricing guidelines, times and other information with regard to car parking and Park & Ride bank holiday operational times. There is disabled parking in all town centre car parks.

Meet Your Torchbearers

	Name: Anne Godwin Hometown: Bedford Age: 52 Nomination: I give hope to others and friends/family that I am fighting the effects of this disease and walk thro the streets in highly decorated bras!I took up power walking four years after being diagnosed with MS. Despite the challenges this brings I have walked 422 miles from Edinburgh to London and completed eight power walk marathons raising thousands of pounds for breast cancer research charity Walk the Walk. I hope to keep walking and showing others coming to terms with an MS diagnosis that it is possible to still do new and exciting things. Even though it make take us more of an effort to do these things it also means the sense of achievement is even greater when we get there
	Name: Carol Boston Hometown: Cambridge Age: 50 Nomination: Carol has been an inspiration to the team in how she has pulled this event together taking it from the ideas phase to delivery through her own personal drive and commitment. Her desire to make it a Group wide event rather than just a UK PB initiative has increased the scope for fund raising but also the complexity and logistics, making the scale of the organisation considerably more onerous. Carol has been passionate in her desire to deliver on the £50k target for Save the Children. Whilst many would have given up she has through her personal commitment made sure that the event achieved suitable critical mass to deliver the goal and she has kept momentum going through networking with her colleagues and developing a strong communication support process to keep participants motivated to complete their training and hit their fund raising targets.
	Name: Christine Greaves Hometown: Bedford Age: 64 Nomination: Christine Greaves is my mother. She is a quiet, hard-working person that goes largely un-noticed by the many people she helps. Christine worked for 29 years as a 'sister' (nurse) for The Leonard Chesire Foundation - a national charity assisiting people with physical disabilities. Alongside the compulsary elements of the job role she regularly helped out in her own time with day trips, holidays for the clients and fund raising for the home in which she worked. A few years ago, at the ripe young age of 59, Christine completed the London marathon - raising around £1500 for The Leonard Chesire Foundation (she had not worked for them for quite some time but she wanted to help). Taking it a little more extreme some would say, at 60 years old, she then sky-dived from 14000 feet - again raising another £1500 for Leonard Chesire
	Name: David Shepherd Hometown: St Neots Age: 19 Nomination: I am nominating my son, David Shepherd, as not only has he given up many hours of his time as a volunteer but he has been committed to becoming both a good sportsman and also a highly respected, international line judge in the badminton world. He has tirelessly worked as a volunteer for Badminton England and the National Line Judges Association even though he has only just turned 18. He inspires juniors to give up their time to act as young officials and he gives up his time to support them at national events and he is highly respected by Badminton England because of this. His rise to the top in line judging has inspired all of us because, after only starting this aspect of his career 14 months ago (and line judging at the NIA, All England tournament at the age of 16) he has now been selected to line judge at the Olympics. To add to that, David took his UKCC Level 1 coaching certificate when he was just 16 and has been assisting us coach juniors in badminton since then
	Name: David Tarrant Hometown: Bedford Age: 42 Nomination: Passionate about participating in sport and in cultivating/nurturing youth talent being involved in managing and coaching youth footballI have been involved for many years with youth sport through coaching football. I believe in leading through example with the sports activities I participate in (football running cycling triathlon Tang Soo do) and through the manner/behaviour in which this is done.This year the response to our football trial was so great I created an additional team so that we could have more children playing in organised football. Additionally I have organised trips to watch local teams and football tours. The tour gives the children the chance to travelplay teams from other areas and have fun with their peers. My dream would be that the children will continue to enjoy sport remain passionate about it and continue sporting activities for life.
	Name: Emma Ngwena Hometown: Southampton Age: 16 Nomination:  About a year ago during his GCSEs, Emmanuel decided to participate in a World Challenge Tour to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. In the build up to the ""epic trip"", he had to be resourceful and raise some funds for the trip doing paper rounds, car washes, gardening and participating in a Sponsored Challenge Marathon. Although the highlight of the trip was the Mt Kilimanjaro climb (a challenge in itself), a significant amount of time was dedicated to service and charity. The group had raised funds for and whilst in Tanzania, actually built a classroom block for a village primary school.
	Name: Iva Barr Hometown: Bedford Age: 84 Nomination: Iva joined Bedford harriers in her sixties, ran the first ever London marathon in a pair of plimsolls bought from BHS. At the age of 84 is still competing and enjoying her running. During her time at the club she has inspired and offered support to hundreds of younger runners and is still coach of a small group. In addition,she has raised thousands for charity; her latest event being 5 marathons over 5 days to raise money for 'Help For Heroes.
	Name: Jennifer Cook Hometown: Milton Keynes Age: 58 Nomination: Jennifer has worked at Bradwell High Street store in Milton Keynes for many years. In addition to her work at the store Jennifer is very active in the local community. Every Christmas she arranges a Santa post box in the store.
	Name: Julie Rogers Hometown: Bedford Age: 13 Nomination:  I believe my sister deserves the honour to carry the Olympic Flame because in my heart and in the heart of many others, she is our Hero. Born with a fibia and tibular missing, she had to go for a through knee operation at the early age of two and since then she has been growing with the fact that she, unlike other children, needs a prosthetic leg. Thankfully, she turned what would be seen as a weakness into her strength. Ironically, she had gained a passion for sports; the one thing we thought she couldn't possibly excel in. But in 2010 Julie had become the youngest member to have joined the Great Britain sitting volleyball team and later received the Bedford Local Sport Council Disability Sport Award.
	Name: Katie Campling Hometown: St Neots Age: 30 Nomination: Katie began her career as a journalist with a regional newspaper. There she worked closely with an inspirational young man named Adrian, who was suffering from Leukaemia. During his illness, Adrian decided that he wanted to campaign for education for young people about the huge importance of blood, organ and blood stem cell donation. To do this, he enlisted his good friend Katie to help him. Adrian sadly died in October 2008 but before he passed away, Katie and Adrian brought his ""Sign up for Sudders"" campaign to Downing Street, inspiring the government to provide funding to build awareness amongst young people of the value of donation. Following on from a successful pilot period, Katie was instrumental in establishing the Register and Be a Lifesaver project, now run by the charity Anthony Nolan. Through this project, over 40,000 young people have received a presentation about the importance of donation and many have gone on to give blood
	Name: Mary Ackland-Snow Hometown: Binfield Age: 36 Nomination: I was diagnosed with Crohns disease and spent 2 months in hospital in 2000, I realised the most important thing in life is family and health, as I was not blessed with the best of health I was inspired by professional sportsman (particularly Nick Faldo/Tiger Woods) to make sure I kept healthy. I took up running even though I was not particularly fast or athletic and suffered with Asthma. To keep motivated with training I compete in running races from 5km to Marathon and also just completed my first triathlon raising over £5k in the process. I enjoy being part of a team and my being fitter allows me to perform in team sport above my skill level because of never give up trying and leading by example
	Name: Rich Aston Hometown: Milton Keynes Age: 45 Nomination: I have been actively involved in a range of sports since a very early age. I have always been a strong supporter of the Olympics having competed in the 800m at the British Olympic trials for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and having travelled to Athens to watch the 2004 games.In more recent times I have been actively involved in cycling, running, duathlon and triathlon events representing Great Britain (veterans) at both the 2010 European Triathlon Championships and the 2010 World Duathlon Championships.
	Name: Susan Robinson Hometown: Newport Pagnell Age: 45 Nomination: I have run a successful Brownie pack in Newport Pagnell my home town for 27 years and in that time seen many girls age 7-10 grow in confidence while having fun. We have meetings each week for 1 hour and half in which time we learn craft skills team building skills though play and general activities, we also go out on trips and sleepovers trips include London and various other places. Last year in October 2010 the girls had a change to learn boating skills. I am Brown Owl so have responsibility for the safe running of all activities and to make sure that the activities are organised attend training for myself and keep all records for the unit up to date as well. The girls have also been gardening and planting trees for the community and have a Christmas stall at the town fair each year and also carnival floats.
	Name: Suzi Martin Hometown: Bedfordshire Age: 17 Nomination: My daughter, Suzanne, is an active member of Explorer Scouts and walked 30km last year (with 3 others) to raise £450 for Keech Cottage Hospice and 50km this year (with the same team) to raise a further £1000 for Keech, despite having had tendon lengthening surgery about a year ago. She is also trying to raise funds for a charity expedition she is going on (with Scouts from other parts of the UK) to Botswana next Summer to assist local scouts there with a building project - she will be doing a sponsored 50 mile walk in October to raise funds. She is an inspirational young person with drive and enthusiasm; she motivates and organises others and has an incredibly strong sense of community. She plans to study medicine, assuming she gets the grades!
	Name: Tasha Floyd Hometown: Peterborough Age: 21 Nomination: Natasha is a true inspiration to all who meet her. At 16yrs old in 2007 she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour which left her blind. Now in 2011 she is not only still here, but has embraced her disability, learning to cope with all the daily challenges life throws at her. Not only did she cope with the harsh treatment needed but she never stopped smiling and making those around her smile. Her attitude is amazing she became the inaugural National visually impaired Boccia champion in March 2011. She has driven a car and plans to run the London Marathon in 2013. In 2008 Tasha completed 100 miles in 7hrs on her exercise bike raising £4700 for CLIC Sgt, Help for Heroes and a local cerebral palsy child.

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