Olympic volunteer questions missing invite to council thank you reception (From Enfield Independent)

Olympic volunteer questions missing invite to Enfield Borough Council thank you reception

12:33pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News By Hermione Wright

An Olympic volunteer is questioning why she was not invited to a thank you reception organised by Enfield Borough Council.

Juliet Barnett, of Lonsdale Drive in Oakwood, read about the special event for Enfield’s Olympic games makers in last week’s Enfield Independent.

More than 200 volunteers attended the two-hour evening reception in Forty Hall last month but Ms Barnett is at a loss to understand why she was not invited.

The 51-year-old said: “Being a games maker was absolutely brilliant, I just knew when we got the Olympics that I wanted to be a part of it in some way.

“The application for volunteering was two and a half years ago so it has been quite a long process but I felt proud to be a part of it and I met great people from all walks of life.”

However, she said: “I haven’t heard anything from the council, I wondered where they got their list of people from.

“It would have been nice to meet other Games Makers as we all fed off each other’s enthusiasm, it would have been interesting to go.”

Ms Barnett, who is an accountant, volunteered for ten shifts at the Olympic Park in Stratford. Each shift started at 6.30am and lasted eight to nine hours.

The evening of food and was hosted by the Mayor of Enfield, Councillor Kate Anolue, and marked Enfield’s contribution to the Olympics and sport in the borough.

A statement from the council said: "LOCOG advised us they sent an e-mail to all the games makers on our behalf who were involved in the Enfield area inviting them to the mayor's reception.

“We were not able to receive the names ourselves because it was against data protection, therefore we have had to rely on the filtering of names through the LOCOG team.”

The statement said there is an opportunity for volunteers who were not invited to the reception to sign up to the council-run 100 Hours of Volunteering Awards Scheme in recognition of their work.

People who have volunteered for 100 hours or more in Enfield will be invited to a reception in recognition of their hard work in their community.