As well as dressing Arthur Williams & Ade Adepitan for the Paralympics we also had one of our own staff members helping out with the smooth running of the games! Read his account of the experience below!

I work in the Bradford store 044, and just came back from volunteering at the Paralympic Games.

It was such an amazing, unforgettable experience, one that will remain with me forever.

Many thanks must go to my store manager, Hanif Khan and the rest of the team, who have supported me whenever I’ve needed time off to attend volunteer training sessions. I really couldn’t have done it without his and their help.

I loved walking through the sun soaked Olympic park every day, helping groups of families take that special photo with them altogether, as well as getting a few of the park myself, and feeling the whole atmosphere.

The park itself was huge, and it took half an hour to get from the Stratford Gate entrance, to my venue of Eton Manor, which was hosting the Wheelchair Tennis. It wasn’t the first time that I had been there, I had helped on the test event held during a cold and wet May this year, and the difference in the weather was commented on by everyone else who had been there for the test event. The phrase “Umbrella’s aren’t just for rain” was widely used, as were the umbrellas that were provided for us as part of our uniform, to get some shade while on duty.

I met Paralympics GB’s Peter Norfolk and the rest of the team on the practice courts on the 1st day, and got to see some fantastic, gripping Tennis.

Highlight of my week in terms of volunteer duty came on the second day of play (Sunday), monitoring the crowds on centre court. This was great, as I got to watch GB’s Marc McCarroll and his doubles partner Gordon Reid comfortably dispatch their Canadian opponents 6-3, 6-1, despite some vocal Canadian support. Then, just as the sun was going down, and most of the crowds had gone home, was the last match of the day, an epic 3 set thriller between USA and Brazil in the men’s doubles, first it looked like being an easy win for the Americans, taking the first set 6-1, but the boys from Brazil were not finished, taking the second set 6-3. The third set then produced a moment of unplanned genius when it was punctuated by a floodlight failure, and was suddenly accompanied by the song “I’ve got the power”, playing over the tannoy systems, the remaining crowd responding with huge cheers and claps, at the irony of the music. Tired and exhausted, Brazil finally took this roller coaster third set 7-6, with the very last tie-break point of the match. With no TV crews set up until the next day that memory will only be with those of us who were there.

A small farewell gathering was held on the penultimate night, a chance to swap phone numbers and email addresses with friends we’d made, and get a picture with the Paralympic relay torch, that had been brought over for the occasion.

On the last day I managed to grab a moment with Netherland’s Marjolein Buis, one of the Ladies Doubles gold medallists, and touch the gold medal she won with Esther Vergeer only hours earlier.

We finished the last night forming a long chain of volunteers waiting the to “High-5” people as they were leaving the venue, wishing them a safe journey home and thanking them for coming.

Moments like these are rare in life, and I’m glad I have been able to be part of such a successful and memorable Paralympic Games.

Here’s to 2014 and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow