Let the Village Olympics begin!

INSPIRATION . . . Saddleworth’s London 2012 Olympic swimmer Jess Lloyd

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Saddleworth was awash with colour this weekend for the opening ceremony of the Village Olympics.

Young competitors representing the Saddleworth villages cheered as London 2012 Olympic swimmer Jess Lloyd, from Diggle, and Olympic torchbearer Catherine Stott declared the games officially open.

Showing the village competition is to be taken seriously, the Olympic Oath was read out by Abigail Lewis asking those taking part to “play by the rules, win with pride, lose with grace and make friends along the way”.

Nine hundred balloons were then released into the sky.

Competitors will take part in events over two weekends. This weekend’s action began with athletics at Saddleworth School on Saturday, followed by rounders and netball tournaments on Sunday.

Village Olympics committee member Steve Bradley said the opening ceremony had been a resounding success. He said: “It’s been a fantastic day.”








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