Monday Sport Blast From The Past
Gordon Llewellyn is a name you have probably never heard off but he played a pivotal role in the birth of the Special Olympics movement in New Zealand.
In 1983, he and three other Hutt athletes – Colin Bailey, Peter Spijkerman and Brent Busby – made history when they attended the Summer Special Olympics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The trip was organised by Grant Quinn, who later said Gordon Llewellyn proved the perfect poster boy for the Special Olympics movement in New Zealand.
Llewellyn was a larger than life character with a bold personality and a fascination with the TV character Magnum PI.
Years later Quinn recalled the flight over and an announcement that came over the intercom.
"This is your captain speaking … I have a very special passenger with me in the cockpit. His name is Gordon Llewellyn from New Zealand."
Llewellyn quickly took over the microphone and proceeded to entertain the whole plane.
"Next minute Gordon was asking, or should I say demanding, that everybody on board give the team a rousing three cheers to wish the team a successful time in Baton Rouge," recalled Quinn.
The team performed well at the Olympics and athletes returned home heroes, proudly wearing their medals for weeks to make sure nobody missed their success.
Llewellyn died in August 2014 and Quinn gave the eulogy. He told mourners that Llewellyn and the other three Hutt swimmers had changed the public's perception of the intellectually disabled.
They had helped win mainstream acceptance and played a key role in promoting an organisation that now had more than 7000 active members.
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we are having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
Share your question below now ⬇️
Jet Sprints at Tauwharenikau Racecourse this Sunday
Bring your family, bring a blanket and a picnic and be entertained by one of the fastest machines on the planet reaching speeds of 140km in under 2 seconds.
This Sunday, December 1st 2024 from 11am. Buy your tickets and see full event details below.
Calling All Puzzle Masters! Can You Solve This?
When John was six years old he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height.
Ten years later at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher the nail was.
If the tree grew by five centimetres each year, how much higher would the nail be?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
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