Looking for Two People to Hold an Olympic Torch

Tue, 08 May 12 12:20:00

The Olympic flame will visit the Library on Monday 28 May. In celebration of this historic event the Library will welcome the London 2012 flame with a reception of 6 vintage Olympic torches.

The National Library would like to offer the honour of holding two of these torches to people who live in the Aberystwyth area.  The honour will be given to one man and one woman who can write in 12 words why they should be chosen.  People may submit themselves or others and send their twelve words or less to the Communications Unit of the National Library or post@llgc.org.uk by mid day Friday 18 May.

The six vintage torches have been used at previous Olympic Games.  Three of them are on display at the Library’s Olympic ‘Following the Flame’ exhibition.
The torches include those from: Munich 1972, Atlanta 1996 (the torch which Mohammed Ali  used to light the cauldron) and London 1948 (the last time the Games were in London). The Olympic flame is scheduled to arrive at the National Library a little before 9.00am on Monday 28 May. It will be carried up the stairs leading to the grand old main entrance. The six torches will line the stairs in a salute as the flame is carried up the front steps of the National Library to relay with the next Olympic flame holder.

By coincidence, the proportions of the National Library of Wales are the same as the Parthenon in Athens. The effect  the architect, Sydney Kyffin Greenslade aimed at was that the white Portland stone Library building overlooking Aberystwyth would mirror the temple overlooking classical Athens.

The four other torches will be held by a male and female member of staff at the National Library and a male and female student at Coleg Ceredigion. The college was recently awarded the Cultural Olympiad Inspire Mark for its short films, Precious Life, which were produced using film from the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.

During the day, the Library’s Pen Dinas Café will also be open for breakfast and two gallery talks on the current exhibition, Following the Flame, will be given by the exhibition’s curator, Phil Cope, at 10.00am and 2.00pm.

 ‘We would like to share the joy and historic opportunity of the Olympic Flame visiting the National Library with the people of the Aberystwyth area. Holding a torch which has been carried in previous Olympics would be a wonderful bond between the Library, Aberystwyth and history,’ said Andrew Green, Librarian of the National Library of Wales.