Commonwealth Day & the Queen's Baton Relay

Yesterday was Commonwealth Day and 500 Commonwealth flags were raised in towns across the UK. Our Town Crier set the occasion off with three very load 'Oh Yeah' followed by the Major's address and a letter from Her Majesty the Queen.

At 10am, in unison with the other 500 towns, our Commonwealth flag was raised above the Town Hall. It looked bright blue and yellow looked beautiful against the white town hall tower and sunny sky.

The Queen's Baton bearers were announced yesterday in line with Commonwealth Day and after weeks of keeping the secret all was revealed. Our daughter Philippa has been selected to be one of the Queen's Baton Bearers for the Commonwealth Games 2014 when the baton travels through Wales. Like the Olympic torch the baton has been passed from one runner to the next but the Baton is being passed all around the Commonwealth which includes all these countries.

Africa	Asia	Caribbean & Americas
Botswana	Bangladesh	Antigua & Barbuda
Cameroon	Brunei	Bahamas
Ghana	Darussalam	The Barbados
Kenya	India	Belize
Lesotho	Malaysia	Canada
Malawi	Maldives	Dominica
Mauritius	Pakistan	Grenada
Mozambique	Singapore	Guyana
Namibia	Sri Lanka	Jamaica
Nigeria		St Kitts & Nevis
Rwanda		St Lucia
Seychelles		St Vincent & The Grenadines
Sierra Leone		Trinidad & Tobago
South Africa
Swaziland
Uganda
United Republic of Tanzania
Zambia
Pacific Australia	Europe
Fiji	Cyprus
Kiribati	Malta
Nauru	United Kingdom
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu

Grenada was the Baton's host yesterday - it is causing much excitement where ever it travels. Here are some of the photos from the Queen's Baton Relay you can follow on Twitter too.

Philippa is a student at the University of South Wales. She is a very busy girl who does so much volunteering, as her Baton Bearer story shows:

Philippa Hearnden, Sports Management student and dedicated volunteer from Pontypridd

A University of South Wales student, Philippa currently splits her time between her Sports Management degree and being a Platinum Ambassador for Sport RCT. Leading a team of gold ambassadors in the area, Philippa has been recognised for her hard work by being one of just five YAs from Wales to attend the Youth Trust Young Ambassador Celebration Day at Wembley Stadium. She also won the 2013 Young Volunteer of the Year award at the RCT Sports Awards.

The stories of all the Baton Bearers carrying the Queen's Baton through Wales can be found here http://teamwales.co.uk/read-the-stories-of-wales-baton-bearers/

Yesterday was a very busy day for Philippa; she had an early morning to BBC Radio Wales

 to talk live on air about being chosen, the relay and the Commonwealth Games. She was also

 part of the organising team for the national Sport Your Trainers Day where hundreds of Welsh youngsters laced up their sports shoes alongside the nation's top athletes. 

Thanks to a competition organised by Sport Wales, a number of schools across the country were joined by a Team Wales Commonwealth hopeful, as part of the national celebration day.
 

Beth and Philippa in their
Queen's Baton outfits

Philippa and Beth with Steve Richards, Sara Head Paralympic Bronze Table Tennis player,
 Michaela Breeze Welsh Weightlifting captain and Kyra Jones commonwealth netballer.

The Baton arrives in Wales at the end of May and I'm sure Philippa will be busy between now and then, planning and helping with many of the activities planned. We're so proud of her and everyone involved in local and national events for Glasgow 2014.