Village Olympics celebrates 40 action-packed years

Unassuming David Needham stood in quiet reflection at the exciting razzmatazz launch of the weekend's Saddleworth Village Olympics.

The games were celebrating their 40th anniversary and it is all down to Mr Needham’s original vision when he was chair of Saddleworth Parish Council.

He said: "It happened to be an International Youth Year so the choice of my charity wasn’t difficult and I decided to raise funds for the youth of Saddleworth.

“But I also wanted them to be actively involved in my year of office and originally planned a beach party on Churchill playing fields, which fortunately fell through.

“Looking for an alternative, one of my councillor colleagues suggested a sports day, which really didn’t grab my imagination.

"On the way home that evening I remembered that as a boy I competed for my school in a cross country race at Much Wenlock, in Shropshire.

“Much Wenlock is said to be the birth place of the modern Olympics," he explained.

“The idea of a Saddleworth Youth Olympics fitted my criteria perfectly.

”Once the announcement had been made, local clubs offered to help organise the various events and a steering committee was set up with representatives from each village.

"We held the first Saddleworth Olympics in September of that year.

“The games were an overwhelming success with around 1,200 children taking part,” he recalled.

“And that was that - or so I thought.

“It was supposed to have been for one year only - yet here we are 40 years later…”

And the shy man from Austerlands added: "I’d like to thank the organizers for carrying on what  has become a well-loved Saddleworth tradition.”

The games were officially opened by former Leeds Rhino’s, England International and Great  Britain Rugby League legend Kevin Sinfield CBE. 

Kevin told the huge audience he’d taken part in the games 35 years ago when he was a youngster, which will hopefully inspire this year’s competitors to follow in his footsteps and have an amazing sporting career.

He thanked all parents for supporting their children and highlighted without the fantastic volunteers, children wouldn’t get a change at sport and noted “the no one else quite does it like Saddleworth.”

The games central organising committee thanked Kevin and David for taking the time to help open the games. 

They also thanked Saddleworth School’s head of PE, Jenny Charlesworth, and all her sports leaders for assisting with running the athletics event - without them that wouldn’t happen. 

Special mentions went to Julie Roberts, team Dobcross, Scott Chapman, team Diggle, and Gareth Cornell, team Greenfield, for all their hard work over the summer in ensuring all preparationss and athletics could go ahead.

Saddleworth Village Games industrious chairman, Stephen Hewitt, said: “When we started to plan the 40th year anniversary celebrations I couldn’t have imaged it’d go so well, and it’d look so great.

“I’d like to thank all central committee members for their help throughout the summer in planning, but the whole games.

"Special thanks go to all the coaches and administrators’ staff in each village in helping getting their village and children ready for the games.

“We’ve had a great opening weekend with athletics, tug of war, netball and tag rugby and we can’t wait for the rest of the sports to continue over the next few weeks.

"Competitors will get their medals and can celebrate their successes at their teams own celebration evening that take place throughout October.

Speaking  earlier, Kevin said: "It fascinates me the great events that take place in Saddleworth - and what a great one this is for children and the villages.

“It’s great, there are so many volunteers who help the children to play sport. It’s fantastic.

"It also provides opportunities for children to try other kinds of sports to come and compete and see what it’s like to win and also to understand what it’s like to lose.

“It’s important you get both of those in.

"Sport gives you some wonderful lessons.”

And Mr Hewitt declared: ”I do not think the founding members in 1985 thought we would be here in 2025.

“But we are not just here - we are bigger and better every year.

"The number of events have grown and continue to grow. It’s a real wow factor.

“When we started to plan the 40th year anniversary celebrations I couldn’t have imaged it’d go so well, and it’d look so great.

"I’d like to thank all central committee members for their help not just on Saturday, but throughout the summer in planning not just Saturday, but the whole games. 

“Without them, this event wouldn’t happen.

"Special thanks also go to all the coaches and administrators’ staff in each village to in helping getting their village and children ready for the games."

He added: "We had a great opening weekend with athletics, tug of war, netball and tag rugby and we can’t wait for the rest of the sports to continue over the next few weeks.

"Competitors will get their medals and can celebrate their successes at their teams own celebration evening that take place throughout October.

“I’d like to wish everyone taking part the best of the luck for the rest of the games and lets ensure our 40th year continues in great fashion as it’s started.”

And Councillor Helen Bishop, the current chair of Saddleworth Parish Council, said as a youngster she won a gold medal in the games competing in rounders for Greenfield.

She added: “Today’s games is a massive credit to all the volunteers, the parents and all the volunteers.

"It’s a huge amount of work and a big commitment.”

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