Retired South Cerney headteacher does his bit at the Olympics (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Graham James spent two weeks working at Eton Dorney, the venue for the rowing and canoe events during the games.

12:00pm Sunday 19th August 2012 in News By Ian Craig

A RETIRED headteacher from South Cerney was on hand at the Olympics making sure spectators got to their seats in time to see the action.

Graham James spent two weeks working at Eton Dorney, the venue for the rowing and canoe events during the games.

Graham, 74, was tasked with driving spectators from the car park to the event site, and met a lot of interesting characters during the time.

“There were people from all over the world – on one day I had someone who was in the 1948 Olympics and the next day people who were in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952,” he said.

“It was such a great experience – everyone was very friendly.

“The people were very appreciative of the support we were giving them, particularly the elderly.”

Graham said that, after applying online to be a Games Maker, he was invited for an interview at the Excel Centre in London and, once he was successful, for training in Hackney.

“I’ve always been interested in the Olympics so when the chance came up to volunteer I decided to give it a shot.

“I was very lucky – my son has a friend who lives in Windsor so I was able to stay with him, but I still had to get up at 4am some mornings.”

Although Graham was busy ferrying people around when the events were going on, he still got to experience the atmosphere of world-class Olympic events.

“You could hear the roar as the rowers went past,” he said.

“It was an exciting and exhilarating experience – the chance to do something like this will never come up again in my lifetime.”