Civic Reception to Honour Reading's Olympic and Paralympic Heroes

News Article

20/11/2012

The Ballot has now closed

Reading’s Olympic and Paralympic heroes will be honoured at a special civic reception next month hosted by the Mayor Cllr Jenny Rynn.

Team GB stars lined up so far, for the event at The Hilton Hotel, include silver medal rower Zac Purchase and fellow rowers Sam Townsend, Natasha Page and Charles Cousins, diver Chris Mears, and synchro swimmers Katie Clarke and Katie Skelton. Paralympics GB swimmers Graham Edmunds and Anthony Stephens will also joining the Mayor and invited guests.

And, thanks to support from Deloitte and The Hilton Hotel, the reception is also being opened up to members of the public and it’s hoped many of those attending will be children, keen to aspire to sporting success in the future.

Families and people keen to join the celebrations are being asked to forward their names and contact details on a special ballot form, to the Mayor’s Secretary by Friday 30 November. The ballot will be drawn on 3 December, and 100 lucky winners will then be invited to the Reception which is on December 9th from 2.30pm.

Cllr Rynn said: “The London 2012 Games were a fantastic success and we were very lucky to have Reading so well represented – be it people who live, work or train here in their chosen sport.

“I think it’s only right and proper their achievements are formally recognised and praised. I also think it’s important that as many local people as possible have the opportunity to meet their local sports stars to chat about their achievements. It would be great to think that we could use the event to inspire and nurture Olympians and Paralympians of the future,” she added.