{"id":1394,"date":"2012-08-21T07:43:31","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T07:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/2012\/08\/london-2012-olympics-proud-to-have-played-our-role-in-the-greatest-show-on-earth\/"},"modified":"2020-07-16T13:32:06","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T12:32:06","slug":"london-2012-olympics-proud-to-have-played-our-role-in-the-greatest-show-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/?p=1394","title":{"rendered":"London 2012 Olympics: \u201cProud to have played our role in the greatest show on earth.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tejal Shah<\/strong><\/em>
\nNHSF (UK) PR Coordinator<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sisters Heenal and Sonia Raichura made a decision in early 2012 to commit their time and energy towards a spectacle that was going to dazzle the nation; they were one of 15,000 volunteers who helped cement Danny Boyle’s opening and closing ceremonies place in Olympic history.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Heenal, a doctor at The Royal London Hospital, volunteered as an \u201caudience leader\u201d<\/i>. She was responsible for handing out torches and instructing the audience about what they should do in order to enhance the visual effects of both the performances. The 26-year-old from East London said, \u201cIt was described as the greatest show on earth and it really felt like it! It was so nice to hear people talking about it. We knew about the negative reaction when plans of the ceremony were first unveiled, but we were happy about that because we knew everyone was going to be pleasantly surprised.\u201d<\/i> She explained that she applied to be a volunteer because she is a \u201cproud Londoner\u201d<\/i> and wanted to represent the city at its biggest event. \u201cI\u2019m proud of where I come from and I live not too far from the main Olympic stadium. I also enjoy doing different things outside of work, so this was a unique opportunity for me. One thing I really liked was that we were allowed to have family members see our last rehearsal. For them to have access to the stadium and see the hard work we put in was a great surprise.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Sonia described her experience as an \u201camazing rollercoaster\u201d.<\/i> She said, \u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible two weeks and I\u2019m so sad it\u2019s over. When the rings came together during the industrial revolution part of the opening ceremony, it was extremely emotional. It was all our hard work consolidated at one point.\u201d<\/i> Sonia, who works for a reinsurance company, had to sacrifice her weekends and time after work to rehearse for the ceremonies, but explained the enthusiasm of Danny Boyle and the organisers kept her going. \u201cOur rehearsals started in May, once a week, and the nearer we came to the opening ceremony, it was four times a week. But the atmosphere during rehearsals and the people who were teaching us were very motivating. Also the fact that we might be seen on TV or stand next to an athlete \u2013 things like that kept us going.\u201d<\/i> Sonia was marshalling the crowds in the closing ceremony and was dressed in a blue suit with a light bulb on top of a bowler hat. \u201cWe were at the stadium from 11 in the morning \u2013 we were on our feet rehearsing since then. We had to stand for another three hours for the ceremony but it was worth it, 100 per cent. When they extinguished the cauldron I had tears in my eyes, I really didn\u2019t want it to end. At least we have the Paralympics coming up, so we\u2019ve still got something to look forward to.\u201d <\/i>When asked about what she feels the legacy of the Olympics will be, Sonia commented, \u201cThere was an extremely positive reaction from the people, every time I was in the stadium or in the Olympic Park. There was not just a sense of hope, but a sense of pride and confidence which I\u2019ve never felt before. I was born and brought up here, and I\u2019ve never felt such immense self-confidence. I believe the Olympics brought all different cultures together. Sometimes Britain can still seem quite segregated with people from different backgrounds, but the Olympics brought together people from all different races, colour and creed. The Olympics has brought the country together and makes you proud to be British.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\"London<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tejal Shah NHSF (UK) PR Coordinator Sisters Heenal and Sonia Raichura made a decision in early 2012 to commit their time and energy towards a spectacle that was going to dazzle the nation; they were one of 15,000 volunteers who helped cement Danny Boyle’s opening and closing ceremonies place in Olympic history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":3423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}