Clyde-Sider Journey - Part Four

Welcome to Part Four of my Clyde-Sider series.

I have written these as I have done the various media days, training days and shifts (or a day or two after), but I am only posting them now that the Games are over due to media rules and me airing on the side of caution - didn't want to get 'sacked' before my role even started (haha)!  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the ups (and downs) of my time volunteering for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games!

Tuesday 8th July 2014 aka DAY ONE!

CGA Assistant Mobile!

I was quite pleased I was on a late shift the first day, as I don't particularly like early mornings, so this was great to get into the swing of things.  I felt proud when I put on my uniform, however, I felt very obvious on my way in to Glasgow as there were not many people on shift this far from the beginning of the Games.  I managed to get to the Village without any problems, phew!  Once inside, I was given my first 'reward & recognition' gift - a bag with a towel in, and a 'thank you' wristband.  I also received my CGA mobile phone, which was a Nokia 109.  We had to set up the phones, which was actually a lot harder than it sounds because the backs were really hard to get off!  Once that was all done, we were ready to begin.  We were shown how to scan accreditations so that we could check people in for their shifts.  Apart from that, nothing much of note happened.  It was a nice easy shift to start off with!


Day Two (9th July) was another fairly slow shift. I helped to sort out lots of placards - 3 lots of 71!  It was quite fun, as I got to know all the flags a bit better.  We were informed that there were some shift cancellations, as there were too many volunteers based in the Service's Centre, for the amount of work there is to do.  I was to be off on the Saturday.

Day Three (11th July)

I had a day off on the 10th which was nice!  It meant I could go to sleep early as shift three was an early shift, meaning I had to get up at 5am.  I was mostly on laminating duties.  I laminated A3 pictures from previous Games to decorate the offices with.  I particularly liked one of the pictures of Tom Daley, and unbeknown to me one of my Clyde-Sider colleagues went and got me a copy printed off and laminated it for me as a memento!  There was more sorting of placards to do today... I found myself getting really good at recognising all the flags.  On my way home, I received a message from John asking if I was free the next day, and if I wanted to go to the Athletics as he had a spare ticket!  Luckily that was my shift that had been cancelled, so I now had plans for my day off, yippeeee!

Day Off - ATHLETICS (12th July, Saturday)
I had an awesome day at the athletics (at Hampden) with fellow GamesMaker, Frontrunner and Clyde-Sider John, and his little brother.  It was crazy seeing Hampden as a fully functioning athletics facility.  It looked so different to how it usually looks, an amazing job by all involved!  I was listening out for all the athletes who were to be taking part in the Commonwealth Games, making a mental note of who to look out for in the Village!  The seats were amazing, and we were not far from the front, right next to the long jump/triple jump.  I was quite tired after a packed 'day off'!  On the way back to Hannah's, I received a phone call from Andrew - one of my line managers in the Service's Centre - who said I was now going to be assigned to a nation, and the nation I have been assigned to is CANADA.

Here are some pictures I took at the Athletics:

- Part One -      - Part Two -      - Part Three -      - Part Four -      - Part Five -      - Part Six -

- Part Seven -      - Part Eight -      - Part Nine -      - Part Ten -