Local Businesses Get Olympic Message

Published on 6 December 2007

Act Quickly and Get Yourself Ready

Para Olympic 800 Meters Champion Danny Crates motivated local business people to reap the benefits of London 2012 with an inspirational account of his journey from crash survivor to Olympic glory. Danny was joined by Essex County Councillor Stephen Castle and Business Link Manager Terry Burgess at the event organised with Epping Forest District Council at Woolston Hall, Chigwell on Thursday 6 December 2007.

Introductions were made by Councillor Mrs Diana Collins, Leader of Epping Forest District Council. Stephen Castle set out the business and cultural potential for Epping Forest which stands at the gateway to Stratford and between the Mountain Bike and Canoeing venues in Brentwood and Hertfordshire. He illustrated the long term commercial benefits by showing how New Zealand had benefited from the Sydney Games to the tune of £500 million and how Australian contractors with the know-how of their own Olympics have picked up £2 billion worth of Contracts associated with Beijing.

Terry Burgess provided the details, explaining how contracts for 2012 development are being let and how to get work. The 2012 Games are planned to be the Greenest ever. The intention is to encourage sustainability and the smallest carbon footprint possible. Stephen Castle explained how the local economy could benefit not just from contracts directly associated with the games. He talked about the cultural activities, tourism and planned long-term legacy.

There was a general warning against business complacency. The Cultural Olympiad will begin less than a year from now as the Beijing Olympics close. The message was ‘act quickly and get yourself ready’ for the business and cultural opportunities to follow.

For anyone who thinks their business has nothing to do with the coming Games, Terry Burgess spoke not only of the large and obvious contract work such as construction, engineering, hotels, transport and the spin-off for tourism and leisure. He said that one of the most recent contracts had been let for the production of lapel badges. Young people training today for 2012 need sponsorship. Companies will be able to involve their staff too in volunteer programmes designed to aid personal as well as business development. All the basic information local business needs can be found on a range of websites.

While Terry Burgess and Stephen Castle set out the business and cultural themes, Danny Crates showed how important the arrival of the Olympics will be to people at a personal level. After a personal tragedy in which he lost his arm, he described how he rebuilt his life and was inspired to strive for Olympic glory. From a return to playing rugby, training to become a scuba diving instructor and a surreal job swimming as a one-armed diver with sharks in a sea-life centre, he described his disappointment in not winning the 400 meter Gold in Sydney.

In fact he came third but where most people saw Bronze as a fantastic result, he used it as the driving force to achieve his real ambition. Switching to 800 meters, he achieved not only the Gold Medal in Athens but then went on to become World Champion two years later.

Danny is now training hard for Beijing. He does not know if London 2012 will be too late for him but he understands the profound impact of the Olympic and Para-Olympic Games on his life.

Councillor Di Collins of Epping Forest District Council said: “I want to thank Stephen Castle and Terry Burgess for two extremely valuable talks on how local business can benefit fro London 2012. I also want to say a special thank you to Danny Crates. By anyone’s standards, he is an exceptional young man and his talk was truly inspiring. It was an absolute privilege to meet him and I am sure he will travel to Beijing with the support of the whole Country behind him.

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