A Grand Depart
“Could we try to make Le Grand Depart of Le Tour de France
‘dementia friendly’?” It’s starting in Leeds and is in Yorkshire for two days.
Got to be worth a try.
Yep, why not? Let’s go for it.
A brief thought and idea shared over a coffee after staging
another memories game with a football league club in 2013. Le Tour was coming
to the heart of Yorkshire in July 2014 and what better sporting event to work
with? Le Tour de France is the World’s largest annual free sporting event. It
is known for attracting relatively large crowds (little did we know!) , so we
hatched a plan to try and make sure everyone could enjoy the spectacle of the
weekend when Le Grand Depart of Le Tour de France came to Yorkshire. A plan was
hatched and emails pinged out to try to enlist support to turn a bit of a pipe
dream into reality.
We outlined three key aims to make Le Grand Depart ‘dementia
friendly’:
To encourage people
living with dementia and memory problems to come and enjoy the once in a
lifetime event
To raise awareness of
dementia and provide suitable information
To capture the
memories of Le Tour de France and of sport from spectators across Yorkshire to
use in our work across the UK
What we and probably 90% of the rest of Yorkshire hadn’t
appreciated was what a huge logistical challenge the counties and councils of
God’s own county faced in planning and delivering such a high profile sporting
event that was to take place across such a huge expanse of countryside and take
in numerous towns and cities along the route.
Fast forward several months and the dream remained just
that, hardly surprising given the huge number of proposals, plans, events,
festivals and organisations getting involved. But then out of the blue came an
invite to meet with organisers of Le Grand Depart from TdFHub2014Ltd. David
Watson, CEO of North Yorkshire Sport had supported our proposal and accompanied
us to discuss our ideas. This was early days but a chance to outline a vision
that could embed Le Tour’s own values of inclusion, community and action. The
meeting went well and now it was a case of waiting for the decision of the
board.
The decision came through out of the blue – Le Grand Depart
and Le Tour are all about communities coming together, about social action and
social cohesion. Our proposal to make Le Grand Depart dementia friendly had
been accepted!
With the jubilation of learning we would be involved in such
a prestigious sporting event came a certain amount of trepidation. With only a
few weeks till the event and with no funding, no equipment and no staff, had we
bitten off more than we could chew?
First to help out were Leeds City Council and North East
Leeds CCG. Leeds was the city hosting the start of Stage 1 of Le Tour de France
2014 and is working toward being an Age Friendly and Dementia Friendly city.
Funding was agreed so we could purchase enough equipment to have a presence at
three ‘spectator hubs’ across the city. A hub being a designated viewing point
for spectators where there were giant TV screens, information stands, community
activities and food and drink available. Space for Sporting Memories Network
gazebos was allocated in Park Square Leeds City Centre, Scott Hall Road playing
fields, Pool in Wharfedale and Otley town centre.
Thanks to the help of TdFHub2014Ltd offers from other hubs
to house Sporting Memories Network gazebos and be dementia friendly began to flood
in. Knaresborough Castle, Keighley, Ilkley, Masham, Leyburn, Ripon and the town
hosting the finish of stage one, Harrogate, all offered space. Having recently
launched a project in partnership with City of York Sport & Active Leisure,
the team at City of York Council offered space at four of their hubs for the
start of Stage Two on the Sunday, including York Racecourse, where the riders
would be signing in for day two and warming up before the stage.
We still faced some real challenges. How could we fund more
hubs, how would they be staffed, where would the equipment, print, volunteers
etc come from in such a short timescale?
We launched a public appeal online for donations and an
appeal for volunteers. Just under £1,000 came in from the public and fifteen
volunteers registered an interest. It was a start!
A meeting to discuss our plans with the Department of Health
in Leeds led to funding for a further two hubs and an offer to help recruit
volunteers from their offices in Quarry House, Leeds. Meanwhile an email to BBC
North led to a partnership with Leeds Trinity University and BBC Radio Leeds
that would lead to nine post grad media students acting as memory makers across
hubs in West Yorkshire, interviewing spectators about their memories of Le Tour
and their favourite sporting memories and some of our volunteers receiving
media training at the BBC!
With less than two weeks to go, the pressure was on as we
placed orders for gazebos, banners, leaflets, storage boxes, mallets, scissors,
voice recorders. One of the biggest challenges was finding tables, chairs and
table cloths to hire as stockists ran out of everything across Yorkshire. At
least we managed to secure a good sized van to hire, and boy would we need it!
Regular deliveries began to arrive, filling up the office
and a garage, with one mammoth delivery of gazebos proving something of a
physical challenge as fifty three heavy boxes were dropped on the pavement
outside! Each piece of equipment needed to be allocated to the correct hub,
each hub required a risk assessment supplying, copies of insurance, method
statements on our planned activities. The ‘to do’ list was now in danger of
becoming the same length as one of the stages of Le Tour!
An appeal for volunteers by the Department of Health had
resulted in more folk coming forward to help out over the weekend along with
staff and volunteers from some branches of Alzheimer’s Society.
Wednesday 2nd
July 2014
Bit by bit (or should that be cog by cog?) things began to
take shape and by Weds 2nd July a route map was in place for the
build-up times and days for each hub, a master list of equipment needed for
each one and almost all the equipment had arrived. Time to set off to put the
first hub up.
What a place to start. Harrogate West Park Stray Fan Park
was expected to see 300,000 visitors and over 2,000 journalists over the
weekend. Housing giant screens, a massive bar and being adjacent to the finish
line of stage one, the scale of Le Grand Depart really struck home when we
queued alongside massive official Tour de France lorries in the North Yorkshire
Spa Town. Our next stop was Ilkley Riverside Gardens which had been set up as a
festival site, a beautiful setting. Getting there proved to be something of a
marathon as a series of last minute roadworks that were either removing traffic
islands, smoothing pot holes or repainting white lines meant a very late finish
to day one of our preparations.
Whilst much of our time was taken up driving and building up
hubs, we continued to try to secure funding to be able to make as many of the
other hubs ‘dementia friendly’, to recruit volunteers, get in touch with those
who had already stepped forward and of course, to balance all this with
providing support to the Sporting Memories projects running across the UK.
Thursday 3rd
July
A very early start and with two volunteers recruited to help
out, the van was loaded up with equipment for another five hubs and it was time
to travel across North and West Yorkshire, taking in the sea of yellow bikes,
bunting and flags decorating the route.
The roads were full of cyclists
experiencing the first two stages and from time to time we happened upon
official team vehicles accompanying Tour de France riders out on training and
reconnaissance runs. The most amazing site was whilst circumnavigating
Harrogate we spotted the whole of Team Lampre-Merida on the southern by-pass
with the unmistakable rainbow jersey of current World Champion Rui Costa in the
middle, flanked and protected from the traffic by his team-mates.
As we zig-zagged our way, the weather was threating to put a
dampener on the celebrations as intermittent showers and an increasing breeze
began to make each stop off more and more challenging, requiring more pegs and
ballast to make sure sporting memories gazebos didn’t sprout wings!
In between hubs, we continued to attempt to secure much needed funds to
cover not only the
basic costs of equipping the extra hubs, but also to be able to offer
volunteers a contribution towards their travel. Whilst monies were
secured that allowed us to equip ten hubs, ultimately we had to make the difficult decision to halve
the hubs we were offered. Volunteers had to
be contacted to explain their expenses could not be covered.
In
between hubs, we continued to attempt to secure much needed funds to
cover not only the
basic costs of equipping the extra hubs, but also to be able to offer
volunteers a contribution towards their travel. Whilst monies were
secured that allowed us to equip ten hubs, ultimately we had to make the
difficult decision to halve
the hubs we were offered. Volunteers had to
be contacted to explain their expenses could not be covered. - See more
at: http://www.sportingmemoriesnetwork.com/tdf2014/#sthash.TOGnTo9t.dpuf
We headed to the Tour Presentation at the magnificent new
Leeds Arena ceremony with somewhat heavy hearts, exhausted by the physical
effort of lugging equipment across parks and fields and the highs and lows of
trying to make this all work.
Le Tour in Leeds –
Team Presentation
The city of Leeds was buzzing! If ever there was an
uplifting event it was this. Some great performances from the likes of Yorkshire’s very own Kimberley Walsh, Alistair
Griffin and Embrace, the presentation of all the teams including World Champion
Rui Costa and reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome made for a
fantastic atmosphere in the arena but the most rousing reception of the night
was for the man who brought Le Tour de France to Yorkshire, Mr Gary Verity.
A standing ovation from the huge crowd was followed by an
inspirational speech by the CEO of Welcome to Yorkshire. Gary Verity outlined
the many challenges that had been faced by the Yorkshire bid and team to bring
Le Grand Depart to God’s Own County. “Never
give up and never take no for an answer”
It was then left to Christian Prudhomme to speak on behalf
of Le Tour de France who demonstrated a great understanding of the pride the
county felt in hosting such a remarkable event.
Just what was needed to keep our spirits up.
A brilliant event that reminded us why we wanted to make Le
Grand Depart dementia friendly. We couldn’t stop now!
Friday 4th
July
After a very, very late night the alarm went off after a
couple of hours to remind us that this was the Eve of Tour. A couple of hours catching up on emails and
finalising guidance for volunteers before packing the van as the sun rose with
the last of the hubs. Heading to Leeds on the A61 from Harrogate, we pass Harewood
House, a truly grand official HQ for Le Grand Depart, that would host the
official start of racing tomorrow, after the parade out of Leeds City Centre
had been waved off by The Lord Mayor of Leeds.
Something of a disaster to start the day, we got to the
first hub on the list only to find yesterday’s breeze has turned into a full on
gale at the top of Scott Hall Road in Leeds. Any attempt to put a gazebo up
would have been futile and likely resulted in sporting memories being
advertised by an air borne group of volunteers that would have landed somewhere
near Scarborough….thankfully hub number two was far more sheltered, nestling in
the basin that is the city centre. We drive out past Leeds Town Hall, the
fascia of which is bedecked in Le Tour de France logos.
A trip west to Heaton Park in Keighley now, through a few
blustery showers we arrived at the venue as a big fun fair was setting up at
the opposite end to the giant screen that was being pieced together. The guy in
charge of security (a Lancastrian who’d been allowed a temporary work permit
across t’border) told us it had been reported that over 10,000 travel passes to
Keighley for the weekend had been purchased. The volunteers for Keighley were making early starts from Lancashire or cycling several miles to get to the hub, sounded like they were in for a busy one!
After Keighley (and a fine bacon buttie from the lay-by just
out of Ilkley) we headed to Pool in Wharfedale, which was another picturesque
venue, with the hub situated at the local cricket club right by the route of Le
Tour. Pool was the first village the riders would pass through at full speed.
Across to York to drop off equipment for the two hubs we
would have for the start of stage two on Sunday then back to Knaresborough
Castle to set up the final Sporting Memories Grand Depart gazebo at 4pm.
A marathon set up was almost complete, volunteers were
briefed and it was simply a case of cross fingers that the weather would come
good. Load up the van with the last hub that was to be put up in the early
hours of Saturday morning, pack two bikes, wet weather gear and we are ready.
6pm Friday 4th
July
Panic stations. Invite received to attend the official Eve
of Tour dinner! Emails are flying in from volunteers still wanting to help out
and an email from the press team at 10 Downing Street appears, more on that tomorrow
morning!
Shaving foam, razor, shower, shirt, cuff-links, waist-coat,
tie. Re-tie tie. Re-tie tie again. Can’t remember last time I wore a tie, but
now remember how bad I am at tying a tie that isn’t either the stubby one I
wore at school if I ever bother turning up for, or creating some kind of
thin knot that results in most of the material ending up somewhere near my
knees. I find some happy compromise and cover up the rest of the material with
my waist coat. Quick polish of the Dr Martins and head down the A1 to Leeds.
Park up in the Woodhouse Lane Car Park and the rain is
tipping down. No overcoat (it’s July!) and no brollie (optimistic) means
turning up at the Leeds Arena looking a tad drowned rat like. Most of the
World’s press had decided to head indoors given the downpour (sensible).
Once I get inside, past the impressive military band and
grab an orange juice I move into a busy reception area. A TV screen is showing
a World Cup quarter final, I’d totally forgotten the World Cup was even on!
Time to head to our tables. 850 guests in the arena and I’m
somewhat overawed to find I’m on the Lord Mayor’s table. The man who is
starting Le Tour de France in Leeds tomorrow! Also on the table is the
inspirational Mike Tomlinson, who speaks so passionately about the charity he
runs that was established in his wife Jane’s memory. As well as sharing some
incredible stories of Jane’s determination and drive, Mike also shared a
personal memory of Le Tour about the time they both travelled to France to be
guests at the start of a stage, that coincided with the announcement of where
the 2012 Olympics would be taking place.
I’d grabbed some of our memory cards on the way out of the
door and am so glad I did. On arrival at the table I soon spotted City of Leeds
Council CEO Tom Riordan on the next table. Tom has been a terrific supporter of
sporting memories from day one and had kindly invited me along to the evening’s
proceedings. I showed Tom the cards and he immediately hatched a plan. On his
table were CEO’s of councils the route passed through. He would set them a task
of getting at least one VIP guest to write down a short favourite sporting
memory to support people living with dementia.
Some wonderful memories were duly delivered by the CEOs.
Members of the cast of Emmerdale, MP’s, local leaders and sports stars had
shared memories. Dr John Sentamu, Stuart Lancaster, and a special memory shared
by two times Tour de France winner Bernard Thevenet.
Then the next memory card arrived, completed by six times Olympic
Gold Medal winner Sir Chris Hoy – a Rugby memory of Scotland’s Grand Slam in
1990!
The night was rounded off with a memory shared by a legend
of Le Tour, five times winner Bernard Hinault.
After a fantastic night and many wonderful conversations
with potential supporters of the network, we finally made it back home at 1AM
Saturday 5th
July Le Grand Depart!
3:30AM alarm. It is absolutely tipping down with rain as we
set off for the market town of Otley to put up the last of the Leeds City
Council sporting memories Gazebos. The planned road closures force the early
start, despite it still being pitch black and decidedly soggy, when we reach
the town centre there is already lots of activity at the farmers’ market stalls
and the smell of sizzling sausages was already beginning to fill the air. Once all
the roads had been closed we set up the Gazebo, along with info on local
dementia services and a life size cut out of the star of the dementia friend’s TV
campaign- Gina.
As we finished putting the final touches to the Gazebo, the
rain abated and the first of the spectators began arriving on bikes or on foot.
Time to tackle a personal challenge.
Gary Verity had stated he wanted the main legacy of Le Grand
Depart to be getting more people cycling. Well due to the road closures, two
people would be getting back on bikes for the first time in many years. Two
volunteers were looking after the Otley hub, so now we had the challenge of
getting to Pool in Wharfedale and Ilkley. Pool being a couple of miles East of
Otley, Ilkley being eight miles West. I drew the short straw and set off into a
head wind with a heavy backpack full of information leaflets. Even at 5:30AM
there were fans at key points on the road between Otley and Ilkley. Despite my
distinct lack of fitness, it was a fantastic feeling to cycle on the actual
route Le Tour would be whizzing along in just a few hours time. The crowds were
already getting into the spirit and at each roundabout there were people
clapping and cheering every cyclist who passed by with encouraging shouts of
Allez Allez!
Entering the outskirts of Ilkley (uphill and into the wind)
gave me plenty of time to take in the sights of all the flags, bunting, banners
and scaffolding put up in front gardens ready for folk to get the best possible
view of the World’s greatest cyclists passing through the town.
Of course with the event being free, no one really knew what
size crowds to expect.
7AM and all is well. Coffee and bacon buttie purchased at
Ilkley Riverside Gardens festival site. Now time to check on all the other
hubs. One minor disaster with a Gazebo at Scott Hall Road meant we were one hub
down, but everything else was in place, with volunteers arriving and all
systems ready to go.
9AM – A tweet from the Prime Minister launches our work on
making Le Grand Depart dementia friendly
10AM – Just an hour before the race would be starting in
Leeds City Centre. No sign of anyone other than stall holders in Ilkley.
11:30AM still all quiet, with just a few folk trickling
through the festival site, it is something of a ghost town. Was this going to
be a waste of time and energy?
Noon – A text received from the Pool in Wharfedale hub that
simply says ‘Wow’
1PM we can hear a helicopter approaching and distant cheers
from the town centre above us, more helicopters appear in the sky, rotor blades
clattering as a TV chopper circled the park and the town. Clearly Le Tour was
passing through, but then what? Would we see any spectators begin to appear?
Wow. Would we?
A small trickle of fans began to head down the hill from the
town, the trickle then began to grow, and grow, and grow. Thousands descended
on a sunny Riverside Gardens. Time to start work!
Digital voice recorder at the ready, information on dementia
and dementia friends to hand out, the Spot La Boule comp and memory cards.
Initially it proved tricky to engage folk, who were mostly focused on getting
to the food and drink stands, but once fed and watered, many were happy to
chat, share memories and learn more about Sporting Memories and dementia. Kids
in particular loved entering the Spot La Boule comp, with Dads generally
assigned by families to be the one who added a memory on the back of the card.
The atmosphere in the park was wonderful, a true festival
spirit, the sun shone and thousands of families sat on the grass watching the
race unfold on the giant screens.
4pm
Time to cycle back to Otley to take down the Gazebo before
the roads re-opened. Thankfully the wind had not switched so it was a tail wind
for the cycle back!
8pm
Back to base and time to prepare for day two. Then we sit
down to watch the news and see the incredible crowds that had lined the route.
Emails and messages from volunteers confirmed just how busy hubs had been, with
Leeds, Otley, Ilkley, Pool and Harrogate West Park Stray Fan Park packed all
day
Sunday 6th
July Stage Two
4:30AM Into the van once more and an early journey to York
Racecourse for the start of Stage two. City of York Council Sport and Active
Leisure team had offered us space for Gazebos on the Knavesmire and just up the
road at Rowntree Park. We could have had two more hubs in York but just couldn’t
make the finances stretch that far.
As our team of volunteers set up at the Racecourse, to
prepare for the 30,000 fans who had secured free entry tickets, I was back on
my bike pedalling to Rowntree Park, along the route of Stage Two! Some hardy
spectators were already getting their spots to see the riders set off. Gazebos
up, sun shining and now time to wait to see if day two would be as busy. It is
quiet at the park but it is definitely noisier at the Racecourse as our
volunteers find themselves being entertained by a live set from The Stranglers
at 9AM!
As the park was not directly on the route I walked five
minutes towards the city centre and found a great spot on a bridge over the
River Ouse to watch the Peleton pass by. The crowds were gigantic and the
atmosphere built up and up as each support vehicle passed through ahead of the
race.
It really was ‘a hairs on the back of the neck moment’
seeing Le Tour pass by at such close quarters.
Time to head back to Rowntree Park as fans began to flock to
the food stands. A quick check of the
phone and I can see volunteers in Knaresborough and Keighley are all ready for
busy days. Photos from the racecourse show a busy time was had there too.
Once again volunteers are helping out at each Gazebo and
this allows me to head off into the City Centre for a quick interview live on
BBC Radio York to talk about what we have been trying to do during Le Grand
Depart.
After a magical afternoon in the sunshine talking with many
wonderful people it was time to take the Gazebos down in York and head across
to Knaresborough Castle to do the same.
10PM – we catch up on the highlights of Le Tour after
unpacking the van, ready for another marathon day ahead taking down all the
hubs.
The second stage of the Tour de France finished in Sheffield
with 2.5m people having lined the route around Yorkshire over two days.
Vive Le Tour, Vive Yorkshire!
Time for a cool beer.
Monday 7th
July 2014
Still on a high, we scoot round the hubs, packing away the
gazebos, collecting the digital recorders, completed Spot Le Boule cards and
collecting the occasional souvenir along the way. The final Gazebo to come down
was the first we put up, Harrogate West Park Stray.
What a journey.
Our sincere thanks to all those who volunteered, who covered their own travel expenses and who gave up their weekends to help make Le Grand Depart Dementia Friendly. We'd also like to thank those who stepped forward to volunteer but were unable to get to the hubs due to lack of funding or due to road closures.
Thank you to Leeds City Council, North East Leeds CCG, Public Health England and the Department of Health for helping to make ten spectator hubs of the World's largest annual sporting event dementia friendly.
Tuesday 8th
July 2014
The following day we started three days at the Great
Yorkshire Show, interviewing hundreds more and talking mental health and memory
problems. THE most memorable moment was a mum who helped her two young children
to enter Spot La Boule and to write a little memory each. They had all watched
Le Grand Depart of Le Tour and had had a magical time. She then asked if either
knew what dementia was and began to explain to the little boy and girl just why
grandma can’t always remember..….
Friday morning I had a chat with a local reporter on our current work in chairing a new task group on the role of sport in dementia friendly communities. Interview concluded and as we begin to wrap up, the question is posed if there is any specific local news to add to the story. "Well we've a lot of new star supporters on board since we last met, including Brian Johnson from AC/DC"
