One Year On ... Rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games

One year ago tonight I was lucky enough to attend the first public rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and blogged about it here.  I saved the surprise and only posted photos after the ceremony had been broadcast.

I remember it like it was just last month, a sunny Monday with an endless blue sky and leaving work early to head off to the Olympic Park at Stratford. I remember the happy crowds, everyone excited at being able to go into the Olympic Park for a look round and then go into the Stadium to take our seats. Many of the audience were friends or relatives of the thousands of volunteer performers or, like me, one of the other Olympic volunteers. I was a London Ambassador and proudly wore my Ambassadorial trilby to the event.

The rain we'd had earlier in the month, followed by glorious sunshine, made sure that the grass was green and the flowers all in bloom. The whole place was new and sparkling and mighty impressive.

And then I was inside the Olympic Stadium. I never thought I'd be able to say that. I remember David Hemery in Mexico and Mary Peters in Munich, Seb Coe and Steve Ovett in Moscow, Sally Gunnell in Barcelona and, of course, Kelly Holmes in Athens. The Olympics was something I watched on TV, not attended. But there I was, in the Olympic Stadium in London.

I remember thinking back to Beijing and wondering how we could possibly compete with the cast of thousands involved in that Opening Ceremony. Would ours be embarrassing? All I'd seen about the ceremony was the pastoral scene at the start and that's what was going on as we gradually took our seats, looking across the stadium at a leisurely game of cricket, the May poles and milkmaids with pales. Then Danny Boyle asked us to #SaveTheSecret and it all started...

The pastoral landscape changed as the hoards emerged from under the World Tree and marched down to roll back the grass and destroy the houses as the industrial revolution took over and we saw chimneys spring up out of nowhere and the Olympic Rings were forged and raised up high. We had the homage to the National Health Service, we saw Lord Voldemort defeated by dozens of flying Mary Poppins, we saw our musical legacy from the Beates through the Sex Pistols to The Prodigy. I *loved* seeing the words 'Pretty Vacant' spelled out in the crowds on the other side of the Stadium from me. And we were introduced to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Internet. And so much more.

That was all one year ago tonight as the sun set in east London and I was in the sparkling new Olympic Stadium.  The Olympics would start four days later. I watched the Opening Ceremony on telly and then watched the Olympics as often as I could. I did my shifts as a London Ambassador on the sunny Southbank. And then I went back to the Olympic Park and the Olympic Stadium to see the Olympics! I saw David Rushida break the world record for the 800m and win Gold and I saw Usain Bolt win the 200m and another Gold to add to his collection.

I went to the Olympics, y'know, and, in my own small way, was part of them. I will never forget. London was pretty in the sunshine with Olympic banners flying in the breeze and was one of the most friendly places in the world for a few short weeks. I remember the pink signs on the Tube, Boris's announcements on the buses, the excitement mounting and the sighs of relief when we won our first Gold Medal courtesy of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, followed by Bradley Wiggins.

I'm going back to the Olympic Park on Sunday for the Anniversary Games and the Open East Festival. I know it'll have changed by now but in my mind's eye it will be the same. The Greatest Show on Earth will just be starting again...

Do you remember the London 2012 Olympics?