I Am Team GB 27th August 2016

Well what a different weekend that was.  Taking off my wedding hat for a couple of days, I was asked to provide a PA system and to DJ at the I Am Team GB event which took place last Saturday.  My location for the day was none other than the set of ITV’s Coronation Street, and I found myself at 8:30am setting up in one of the front gardens on the set (for fans of the show, it was number 8 – David Platt’s house).

The event was part of “The nation’s biggest ever sports day” sponsored by ITV and The National Lottery and allowed groups of people to come and have a go at Badminton and Table Tennis, as well as tackle a climbing wall – all on the famous cobbles (covered in Astroturf for the day) of Coronation Street.

Coronation Street plus Rio Olympics Medal Winners

Several members of the cast joined in the fun.  Daniel Brockelbank (who plays Billy Mayhew), Dolly-Rose Campbell (Donna Winter), Richard Hawley (Johnny Connor), Marc Anwar (Sharif Nazir), Rhea Bailey (Caz Hammond) and Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster) all took part in making the day an amazing, one-of-a-kind event.  There were also several Team GB athletes to meet – freshly back from their time at the Rio Olympics, amongst them Bianca Walkden – Women’s Taekwondo bronze medallist and Elinor Barker – joint world-record holder and gold medallist in the Team Pursuit Cycling.  (Did you know, ALL of our cyclists on Team GB came back from Rio with at least one medal each? Way to go Team GB).

I think the funniest moment of the day was when the commentator for the day (Joe Fisher – @TheManOnTheMic) decided to interview Michael Le Vell – at the TOP of the climbing wall.  Michael must’ve been waiting for a good few minutes while Joe worked out what to do with the cordless-mic whilst he climbed.  Watching Joe then drag himself up the wall, determined to get the interview, made me chuckle.  He did make it up there though – well done Joe!

Coronation Street Conga

During the final session of the day, I played a few rapid-fire requests from people taking part in the sessions and we created the first ever “Coronation Street Conga” (#CorrieConga) with athletes, event staff and the public all joining in and dancing around the street.  The weather pretty much held out for us as well, with just one short shower in the afternoon, but that didn’t put a damper on the fun and I really hope to be invited back in the future.