I'm sure for many people, proposing on a building site to the woman who you want to spend the rest of your life with isn't the most romantic of scenarios or ideal locations! However, for me and now my fiancée, as soon as the idea entered my head, I wanted nothing else.
I have been enthused with the Olympic/Paralympic Games and London 2012 since I went to Athens in 2004 with a group of friends to watch the Olympic Hockey competition, a sport I still play currently. The experience of being in and travelling around a Games Host City was awesome. In fact, having now experienced two Olympic Games, having been fortunate to be at the Beijing 2008 Games last year through my job, I still struggle to find the words to do the experience justice.
Being at Olympic and Paralympic venues, watching many of the best athletes in the world, and seeing sport at its highest level is truly an amazing and totally inspiring experience. Given the genuine British love of and passion for sport, I have no doubt that in three years time, London 2012 will be the best Games ever.
My fiancée Rachel Walker has experienced the Olympic Games from the other side of the stadium, as she is an international athlete that has represented England and Great Britain at women’s hockey, participating in every major competition and tournament available and gaining more than 140 caps.
This and the fact that my job involves maxmising the opportunities presented by the London 2012 Games across the areas of sport, business, culture, tourism, education and pre-Games training camps for organisations in Coventry and Warwickshire, means that we both have a passion for sport and a love for the Olympic movement.
For a while now we've spoken about how our future wedding could have a subtle Olympic theme, and therefore having the opportunity to start the celebrations at the Olympic Park with a proposal seemed too good to miss.
When it comes to things like this, everyone wants to do something different, something unique and I guess you could say that this certainly achieved that and was a first. Searching for inspiration, I didn't want to do something obvious like go away for the weekend, plan a 'special' holiday, or use Christmas Day, as nice as these things are. Then one day in the car, it came to me...use the Open House weekend to propose at the Olympic Park!
Fortunately, the Open House weekend provided the perfect cover for me to make my proposal, and so two weeks ago I contacted the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) press office and embarrassingly informed them of my intentions. Feeling like a cross between Surprise Surprise and Jim'll Fix It, I tentatively waited to see if they would entertain my idea and make my proposal happen and thankfully, they did and were absolutely brilliant.
Having bought the ring and gained the permission of her parents, after a little deliberation and some creative thinking we concocted a plan that was put into action and executed superbly.
We arrived for our Open House tour, watched a great DVD of London 2012's progress over the past four years and explored all the information about the progress and difference London 2012 will make and the legacy it will leave behind to local communities. Fortunately my colleague from work and his girlfriend came with us, so between us and the London 2012 team, we began our tour of the Park and after two weeks of worrying, I could finally relax and enjoy the moment. Thankfully, Rachel did not have a clue what was about to happen next.
We pulled up at the main site headquarters and went up to a viewing platform from where the Park and the emerging venues can be seen in all their glory. Then, when the moment came, I revealed the ring, got down on one knee and said the words.
Her reaction was wonderful, as she screamed, I cried and then to my relief she said yes! And there it was, the moment I'd spent weeks planning, worrying something might go wrong or that she would find out. It was brilliant, remarkable, incredible and we were both very happy as everyone then arrived to join in the congratulations.
The bus we were meant to be on even gave us a toot on the horn as the other tours continued on the park which was a nice touch also. Photos were taken and then we finished the tour and went for some celebratory drinks, informing parents and friends as we got the train back home.
Thank you so much to everyone at the ODA and London 2012 who made this possible. You were all amazing and everything went to plan wonderfully, brilliant – thank you so much.
