To mark the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, we are once again asking Buckinghamshire’s communities to join us and our partners in celebrating the county’s unique and proud Paralympic heritage.
Our collaborative approach aims to bring like-minded partners, organisations, and communities together to recognise Buckinghamshire as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement. A series of activities and exhibitions themed around our shared advocacy of diversity, inclusivity and accessibility will take place throughout the summer as Together We Celebrate.
Activities include:
the launch of Buckinghamshire Archives’ Paralympic collection.
inviting families to see the creative artwork produced by local pupils supported by Rachel Gadsden, visual and performance artist and Dave Steele, The Blind Poet.
Project partners include those who hold Paralympic collections: Buckinghamshire Archives, and National Paralympic Heritage Trust. And those who will host objects, displays and events for our exhibition; including but not limited to Discover Bucks Museum and Aylesbury Waterside Theatre.
Did you know?
The Paralympic movement began in 1948 at Stoke Mandeville hospital, thanks to the hard work and dedication of Dr Ludwig Guttmann. This is such an important story for our county, yet we often find that although it is well-known in Stoke Mandeville where it all started, and internationally, it is not well-known across wider parts of Buckinghamshire. With our cultural partners we can celebrate and share the story with people across the whole county and beyond.
Take a look at the timeline below to learn more about Buckinghamshire’s proud Paralympic heritage.
Following the end of World War II, Dr. Guttmann was asked by the British government to set up a spinal injuries centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in order to care for and assist those who had been injured during the war. As part of his treatment for the injured veterans, Guttmann promoted different methods of rehabilitation, including sport.
On 29 July 1948, Dr. Guttmann organised an archery demonstration to coincide with the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games. 16 injured servicemen and women from both Stoke Mandeville and the Star and Garter Home for Injured War Veterans in Surrey competed against each other for a Challenge Shield. Following the success of the event, Guttmann decided to make an annual spectacle of the ‘Grand Festival of Paraplegic Sport’ which soon became known as the Stoke Mandeville Games. Guttmann’s creation of the Stoke Mandeville Games was the moment that the Paralympic Movement was born.
Throughout the 1950s, the success of the Stoke Mandeville Games expanded to include more sports and evolved to accommodate athletes from countries all over the world. By 1957, all five continents were represented at the Games. In 1960, para-athletes from all five continents were competing at the International Stoke Mandeville Games which was hosted in Rome, at the Olympic venues immediately after the Olympic Games. These are now regarded as the first ‘Paralympic Games’.
In 2012, the Paralympic Games returned home to the United Kingdom. Stoke Mandeville’s status as the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement is internationally recognised as it plays a central role in delivering the London 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay. The London Games were the largest Paralympic Games to date. 4,302 athletes from 164 countries competed in 503 events in 20 sports.
The eyes of the world were on Stoke Mandeville as the first-ever Paralympic Heritage Flame was lit in a spectacular ceremony celebrating the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. Stoke Mandeville became the first place in history to be involved in the Paralympic Torch Relay outside of the Games’ hosting country. Gold medal winning British wheelchair racing athlete Hannah Cockcroft MBE generated the first ever Heritage Flame. This was done from a position inside an extraordinarily beautiful artwork - an Armillary Sphere created by internationally acclaimed theatre designer Jon Bausor, referencing the Greek God Hephaestus, who was himself disabled and credited with inventing the first wheelchair. The honour of taking the Heritage Flame to light the Paralympic Torch and Cauldron was bestowed on Caz Walton OBE, who competed in her first Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. She went on to compete in eight Paralympic Games and still works in the movement for both British Disability Fencing Association and the British Paralympic Association.
Stoke Mandeville Stadium played host to another spectacular ceremony lighting the Paralympic Heritage Flame. Former wheelchair racer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE and skier Kelly Gallagher MBE took centre stage at the glittering event, part of the build up to the Rio Paralympic Games. Professional dancers and performers were joined by volunteers, to tell the story of The Seeds of Diversity - the growth of the Paralympic Games from its origins at the first Stoke Mandeville Games to the worldwide sporting phenomenon it is recognised as today.
In a ceremony which sparked the flame of the Paralympic Torch and ignited the ‘Spirit of Endeavour’ of all potential future Paralympians, Stoke Mandeville welcomed ParalympicsGB athletes Ali Jawad and Sophie Christiansen CBE. The wintery weather conditions didn’t prevent the Torch Bearers from taking to the stage to light the third Heritage Flame for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games.
The lighting of the official Paralympic Heritage Cauldron, designed by local students and specially commissioned by local outdoors arts company Festive Road, sparked the beginning of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Torch Relay. The ceremony involved drumming from Taiko Meantime, music from Sandy Nuttgens, films, and a short display by ParaCheer, the first integrated team of disabled and non-disabled cheerleading athletes; and a spectacular, colourful, and noisy, finale! The event also recognised the launch of #Wethe15, a campaign that aims to transform the lives of the 1.2 billion people globally who have a disability. The cauldron has been designed by local students and built by artist Clive Doherty, of Festive Road based here in Buckinghamshire. The cauldron will be kept here and displayed to visitors of the Stoke Mandeville Stadium.
An inspiring ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium saw the Paralympic Heritage cauldron ignited by Paralympian Wheelchair Curlers and official Torch Bearers, Angie Malone MBE and Aileen Neilson (escorted by cadets from RAF Halton). Before the lighting of the cauldron, guests were treated to demonstrations and performances by Step Change Studio dancers and Stoke Mandeville Maulers Wheelchair Rugby Team. Speeches were also given by The Countess Howe, HM Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Anna Scott-Marshall – Director of Communications at the British Paralympic Association and the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Zheng Zeguang.
WheelPower, the International Paralympic Committee and ParalympicGB will continue to celebrate Stoke Mandeville as the birthplace of the Paralympic sport. In the same way the Olympic Flame is kindled in Olympia, Greece, the plan is for the Paralympic Flame to be created in Stoke Mandeville, marking the start of each Paralympic Torch Relay from the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games onwards.
