Lucky volunteers win Olympic tickets in council draw

Sixteen people who volunteer for council services will be part of sporting history when they take their seats at the 2012 Games at Eton Dorney - and two more will in the audience for the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympic Stadium in London.

They are the winners of the Royal Borough's free Big Society draw for Olympic tickets, open to everyone who volunteers for council services such as libraries, the Windsor & Royal Borough Museum, Adopt-a-Street, Care Bank and schools.

The council had 42 tickets available and decided the best way of using them was to pay tribute to its great and increasing band of volunteers.

More than 200 entered the draw and the winning names were drawn by the Mayor, Cllr Colin Rayner.

Cllr Simon Dudley, cabinet lead for the 2012 Games, congratulated the winners and said: "As a vanguard authority for the Big Society we value volunteers as an essential part of making our services truly local and relevant to the people who use them. And what better way of saying thank you than making the borough's allocation of Olympic tickets available to volunteers through the free draw.

"I hope all the winners will enjoy their Olympic experience in the knowledge that their win is the council's way of awarding a gold medal to them as representatives of all those who volunteer in our community."

Winner of two tickets to the opening ceremony is Jackie Kitchen, of Maidenhead, who is a governor at All Saints' Primary School. She said: "I just couldn't believe it when I heard from the council I had won. We are a family of sports lovers and it is just thrilling to be part of such a spectacular event."

Off to the closing ceremony will be Jonathan Grant, also of Maidenhead, who is a member of the Adopt-a-Street scheme.

Winners of the tickets to rowing and canoe events at Eton Dorney (and the services where they volunteer) are:

Two tickets:
Samuel Cannon (libraries), Eton Wick
Margaret Irons (container library), Maidenhead
Sonia Robinson (school governor), Windsor
Laurence Benbow (Duke of Edinburgh Award at Old Windsor Library), Old Windsor
Andrew Seymour (Adopt-a-Street), Windsor
Laura Armitage (school governor), Windsor
Iain Oldcorn (Adopt-a-Street), Ascot
Emma Shepherd (school governor), Maidenhead
Claire Cornish (Adopt-a-Street), Windsor
Jo Greengrass (compost awareness campaigns), Maidenhead
Phillip Neal (Adopt-a-Street), Maidenhead
Susan Leighs (school governor), Cookham
Katherine Allen (school governor), Eton
Lisa Bull (school governor), Maidenhead
Laurence Armstrong (school governor), Maidenhead
Sue Hailes (Care Bank), Maidenhead.

Three tickets:
Jean Todd (Adopt-a-Street and Care Bank), Windsor.
Sally Deal (school governor), Maidenhead.

All ticket winners have been notified and many have already collected their tickets.

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