9th July 2017

Veronica and I attended the 131st Wenlock Olympian Games, which are held every year in Much Wenlock on the site of the first games founded in 1850 by a local doctor, William Penny Brookes. We were extremely impressed both by the enthusiasm and dedication of the athletes and by the professional management of the event by a team of volunteers, who are keeping alive the founder’s vision. The modern Olympic movement owes its origin to the visit by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to the 41st Wenlock Olympian Games in 1890. We also met volunteers from the St John’s Ambulance who were providing coverage of the event.

We were kindly given a tour of the Much Wenlock Museum, which celebrates the town’s links with the modern Olympic movement, and then went on to the archery competition at Attingham Park, which is described on the next post.