The Masterplan - Update 4

In November 2011, my wife Laura and I decided that in 2013 we would leave the UK to travel and get involved in development projects overseas. We have read many inspirational blogs from people who have traded the rat race to do similar things but many started to write from the moment they left. I wanted to blog about the whole journey from conception through planning and into the actual adventure.

Previous updates
http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/masterplan-update-3.html 
http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/masterplan-update-2.html
http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2011_11_01_archive.html

On Laura's dad's boat on her birthday - August 2012

I turned 39 last Sunday which means there is now less than a year until Laura and I plan to head overseas for some adventures. The last few weeks have been very significant for us and we have begun to take some important steps toward our goal of leaving the UK in August 2013.

In amongst my Olympic opening and closing rehearsals and performances, we had a meeting in London with the CEO and Academy manager of The Craig Bellamy Foundation in Sierra Leone about us doing some voluntary work (which could eventually lead to paid work) for them.
This project appeals to us in many ways. For Laura it is the opportunity of working for an NGO in media and communications on the ground and for me it the opportunity of really making a difference in community development and education. 
The project itself is making great strides in communities in Sierra Leone. The foundation has set up football leagues in the country and points are not just awarded for winning games, they are also awarded for school attendance and community projects completed.

The fact we had a big meeting planned caused us to have some frank conversations and has really challenged us to start taking real decisive action - to walk the walk as well as talking the talk. Questions that have cropped up have included:

• Is this what we really want?
• Are we going to be able to handle living in a country like Sierra Leone?
• (to both questions above) Are we sure?

The last and most significant question has been:

• Is it God's will or are we just being selfish?

While we were mulling over questions 1-3 over a weekend in July, a trip to our church helped us find some of the answers we were looking for and whether our plans were selfish or from God. The sermon was actually entitled "Get out the Boat" and was about Jesus instructing Paul to get of the boat in the middle of the sea and put his trust in him. The boat provided comfort and safety that we currently enjoy but Laura and I have long felt the desire to help the poor using our skills and we feel that it is now time to do this. We actually started to laugh with each other as the sermon progressed. It's special when God speaks straight to you.    

I understand that many of you reading might find all of this a bit difficult to understand/believe but our faith is the rock on which we live. We are not 'nutters' nor are we 'religious' - we actually agree with many arguments that organised religion can be used for bad as well as good. What we simply try and do is live like Jesus every day (we fail daily, but we try) which is about helping people and trying to live a selfless life free of greed. 
With this encouragement, the answers to the first two questions were clearer. Yes this is definitely what we want, the opportunities that this project offer both of us are immense. Secondly we hope that we will be able to live in a place like Sierra Leone although we recognise it wouldn't necessarily be easy.

Today we received a positive e-mail and it looks like we will be working with them starting next year! The plan will be for Laura and I to do 6 months initially then return to the UK so that I can earn some money in my really busy period and hopefully go back after then. It might be possible for Laura to work for them in the UK. We are very excited.

Two weeks ago we put our house on the market and were delighted to hear that it might have actually gone up in price since we bought it. This would provide us with a bit more financial security.

In the coming month we have a couple of holidays to look forward to, starting with South Africa and Laura's photographic safari prize and then a family holiday to Turkey. 

Thanks for reading and taking an interest!

Steve 

My Story: London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony

The Rehearsals

After the euphoria of the opening ceremony, including the immensely positive press coverage from all over the world, the following Wednesday us 'Pandemonium Drummers/Marshals' found ourselves back at possibly the world's least inspirational location - the vast expanse of concrete owned by Ford adjacent to the A13.
I say 'us' but actually I wasn't there, the late nights/long days/emotional investment meant that I got myself a bad cold and felt rotten. I wasn't the only one however and word on the street was that only 560ish of the 965 drummers had returned which sparked a bit of panic from the organisers . Many were ill but some had to return to work and understandably took the opportunity of a non-compulsory rehearsal to earn some money. Approximately 100 dropped out though which was a big disappointment, especially as the agreement we all signed up to was to be part of both ceremonies. Facebook messages that night spoke of new bib numbers, a lack of enthusiasm, massive puddles and the need for Wellingtons for the next practice. 

The next practice was lightbulb hat Saturday which many of us were lucky (unlucky?) enough to wear for the practice. I had to get my new bib number which meant meeting some lovely new people and I saw the new 'Union Flag' stage and learned my new position. Not too bad either, I was on the main ramp running from the centre stage to the royal box. The puddles were actually like lakes in some places but all in all it was another pretty standard practice, a lot of hanging around, eating sandwiches and Pringles and having a laugh with our new friends. Facebook was again full of comments about lacking enthusiasm while others tried to gee everyone up.

The rehearsal on Monday 6th August started to get people a little more excited. As I walked in there was a 'buzz' that One Direction (?!!! me neither) were 'in da house' but more exciting was that the Spice Girls were flying around on the top of London Taxis. I saw them. I was a little excited. This changed to very excited when one of the boys told us that Madness were on the other side of the tent. "This is more like it" I thought to myself. And they were. And they were on the back of a truck. And they drove right past us as we waved and cheered them on. Suggs waved back. See below.

      

Any excitement disappeared however with the realisation that this was a full dress rehearsal and I would have to wear the shiny boots, socks, sock suspenders, shorts, tee shirt, ill fitting jacket and hat. I put it on. Oh dear I thought. I resigned myself to the fact that there were another 800 souls dressed like me and hey even Madness liked it - evidenced by their laughs and the fact they were taking photos. We started to see more of the closing ceremony including the 'block dancers' and the flag bearers and even The Pet Shop Boys! Things were looking up.
The final dress rehearsal took place on Thursday 9th August but I had tickets to see the athletics so knew that I wouldn't hang around for long after checking in. There was even more of a buzz with many of the 'stars' on site, a quick scan of the order of the day told us Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor), Jessie J, Ed Sheeran, Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), The Spice Girls and George Michael would be doing their thang on the stage. I managed to get onto the field of play near the stage and shamelessly asked Mike Rutherford (Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics) for a picture. He obliged. What a great guy, and he even smelled nice too. Not long after I headed off to the stadium to watch Usain Bolt become a legend and David Rudisha break the world record for the 800m. (See blog http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2012_08_01_archive.html )
When I enquired as to what I missed the answer was "only the Kaiser Chiefs, Eric Idle and David Beckham".

The Day

Sunday 12th August was special for me for two reasons, the closing ceremony and my 39th birthday. Our call time was early at 10.30am especially for a 9.00pm show but we were informed that we would be doing a run through in the early afternoon. We were also in a new holding area which meant an approximate mile walk to the stadium. Thankfully we were not required to wear costume for the run through but we spent a few more hours hanging around the stadium. 

In Position

Finally, it was time to get back, get changed and start the walk back again to the stadium. The sight of over 800 of us was too much for the drivers on the A12 who hooted and waved as we walked over the bridge. That was cool.   

   

These lucky girls had to hold my hand all night

Natalie and I ready to go

In the Vom. It's showtime.

George Michael

Spice Girls

Fatboy Slim

Monty Python's Eric Idle

Over to You Rio

The End

Blinked and you would have missed me but here are two pics taken from the television footage.

With Joseph Sullivan - Team NZ

I really enjoyed the closing ceremony and found it to be a wonderfully surreal experience particularly watching people like George Michael, Take That and Pele walking straight past me. It was totally different from the opening ceremony and a perfect way to spend my birthday. Although we didn't have the world's most excitable athletes in our 'pen', those I spoke to were lovely and I ended up getting a couple of gifts from them - team pins. The most poignant part for me was the extinguishing of the flame, a flame I watched ignite on that magical opening ceremony. It made me feel that this was my Olympics and that I had a part to play in it. At the end I hunted down a few medallists for some pics and then it was the walk back to get stuff and head to the pub.

I left the pub just before 6am, as the sun was rising and returned home at 7.30am. 

That saw the end of an amazing chapter in my life. 

And was totally, totally brilliant. 





     

Destination London - Watching History Being Made LIVE

With a few days of the 2012 London Olympic Games still to go, I think it would be fair to say that London has delivered a brilliant games for athletes, officials, volunteers and spectators. I write this blogpost as a spectator rather than one of the volunteers (many of you may have read that I performed/marshalled in opening ceremony and will be an athlete marshal in the closing ceremony).

Wem-ber-ley

My first event as a spectator was on the first Tuesday of the games at Wembley Stadium to watch Team GB Ladies take on the mighty Brazil. These tickets were not hard to come by and there were still a few remaining on the day of the game. The crowd of over 70,000 represented the largest crowd ever for a ladies football match in UK and I was proud to be there. 
The atmosphere was brilliant and was my first experience of this new wave of national pride that has swept Great Britain during the Olympics (although arguably it started with the jubilee earlier in 2012). 
Great Britain ladies delivered too, beating the much-fancied Brazilians 1-0 and even had the luxury of being able to miss a penalty. 
After the game, the organisation of getting people out and onto trains couldn't have been more efficient and confirmed to me what many people have said about the excellent organisation of the games. This has been aided in no small way by the thousands of 'games makers' - volunteers who have given their time to make these Olympics very special. 
  

The teams line up

Me and my mate Sam

On the Wednesday of the second week of the games (8th Aug) I decided to utilise my performers pass and get into the park to sample the atmosphere and watch some of the events on the giant screens. The pass itself is one of the big perks of being in the closing ceremony as it is not possible to get into the park without a ticket for an event.

As welI as meeting up with my mate Matt, a few more of my ceremonies colleagues came down - we tried to use our passes to sneak into the stadium but had no joy. Instead we got a great place in the park and watched some athletics and hockey.

With Natalie, a fellow group 49 drummer.

I had been looking forward to Thursday 9th August for over a year since I found out that I had managed to get tickets for the 200m men's final in the ticket ballot. I applied for the 200m rather than the 100m as there are more finals on the same night with the 200m, where as the schedule for the 100m contains more heats. The main draw of course was Usain Bolt, the fastest human to have ever walked the planet but something else became my highlight of the evening...

My sister was the lucky recipient of my second ticket, kindly offered by my wife who knew that Debbie would probably enjoy it more (like me, Debbie is a big athletics fan). Although I had been in the park many times, it was nice to see it through Debbie's eyes.

With my sister Debbie

Having spent many hours in the stadium rehearsing for the opening ceremony with different stages and features in place, it was strange to see it as it was intended...as an athletics stadium. That said, it is a fine 80,000 capacity stadium and we had great seats in the upper tier opposite the finishing line. 

My highlights in order:   

1. The sheer noise generated by the partisan GB crowd when any Team GB athlete was introduced. Add lots of flags being waved equals hairs standing up on the back of your neck and a great feeling of national pride. With the Olympics very unlikely to return to GB in my lifetime, it was a unique experience. 

2. We witnessed a world record! Kenya's David Rudisha set a new world record in the 800m. It looked fast, the split time was 49 secs and I remember shouting wooooooooooooo when I saw he'd broken it. What a thing to see! 

 3. Usain Bolt creates history by becoming the only man to defend both 100m and 200m Olympic titles. I can now say I saw Usain Bolt run live and that I saw a 19.32 200m. He is a phenomenon.

The Pretender - could he do it?

  
So that's the story of my Olympic spectator experience - well done London, I'm proud to be British.

Inspire a generation? I think you did.


Next up... being part of Sunday's closing ceremony!