Q&A Session with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson - Fairer Living Festival 2024

[Music] please welcome to the stage Chief values officer Pete westle fairer future graduates Katherine Smith Josh young Luke Jordan and a keynote speaker baroness Tanny gray Thompson now I need to be reminded I have the clock here which apparently is the important bit remember of time so um a welcome everybody and uh hopefully you enjoyed the AGM um different role now and perhaps a different way of highlighting some of the activities that we've undertaken over the course of the last um 12 months I'm really delighted to be on stage with what I think are four Role Models today um so we got baroness gr Thompson coming call you Tanny so quick Round of Applause for Tanny if we can thank you but another round of applause because we've got um Katherine we've got Josh and we've got Luke from our fairer Futures program so in terms of fair of future programs I know Phils talked about it and we talked about it the AG but just perhaps to remind people so this was a program set up to to help vulnerable people between 18 and 30 in wo particularly but perhaps in The Wider West Midlands and perhaps one of these things and Cheryl's brilliant poem she talked about earlier in the power of cooperation that can spread and be taken up by other retailers other employers to help other young people and one of the ways we think we can spread the news on that the association of convenience stores are doing a big report on Monday that features this program and these three as highlights of what we've done and just because they're staring at me it would be wrong not to also say the work that Ros has done on that and Rachel's done as part of that program so I guess before we go on anything else and Tanny if you're okay with that Luke from your point of view just talk to me about the fairer Futures program yeah so myself Josh and Katherine are just some of the graduates of the fair Futures program um the program is designed for 18 to 30 year olds to you know that are facing some barers um or struggling to get into work in the wle area um it takes place in the Corp your Corp food store in W town I'm sure some of you have been in and seen some of the posters or some some of the great work that happens in the store but it's not just that it's more than that it's some of the great work that happens in the community as well um I think the reason why the program is so special and so different to a lot of the programs I've been on and I'm sure some of youve been on programs or been on courses is you're not just seen as a number you've seen as an actual person and I know that's it should just be the normal that you should be treated as a human being but unfortunately that's not the case um some of the things that are so great about the program is it looks to help you skills in terms of like attention to detail time management communication and confidence not just in work itself but in your day-to-day life and I know whether that's going to shopping or going to the pub with your mates or going to the football with your friends it just it makes you feel like so much more confident in those day-to-day things um I think I know they're not going to want the attention but that's to people like Rachel who's the program manager am is the program assistant manager Helen who's the manager at the York food store who were there day in day out and sign with the colleagues there just like trying to make you feel part of the team and build that confidence up within yourself so that you know what why can't I do this why why not me why not me so that I wouldn't be sitting up here doing this today if it wasn't for the program and how much it's changed my life and I've seen a lot of the journey for people that at the start and you know they're nervous and anxious and a little bit overwhelmed which is understandable and now when you look at them they are genuinely happy people and so it goes to show and it's kind of eye opening what happens when you have people that actually believe in you as a person see you you talk about that confidence and you talk about the fact that people believe in you um it's probably the right time to introduce a lady on the far end of this so let's let's go through this slowly we have uh 15 medals we par Olympic medals we've won six London marathons and we've set 30 World Records a round of applause for did did you never feel you ought to let somebody else have a go just uh bit but but T if I can from a sporting point of view Luc has said about people believing Etc can you talk to me about that how did you get involved in par Olympics um so I was born with spinabifida um I could walk a little bit when I was young but my um muscles and my legs never really developed and then um uh As I Grew From about the age of four my spine started collapsing so my vertebrae severed my spinal cord so um I don't remember much about it I don't remember really walking uh I remember having calipers and crutches um and I kind of laugh about it because um I it took about two years to paralyze me um and if any of you have ever met my mom becoming paralyzed wasn't a reason to miss school uh so um she she was pretty stoppy about things but um there was a lot of discrimination when I was young and when Luke talks about belief they kind of protected me from some of it but they taught me to deal with it and they brought me up to belief that I could do things and being in a chair wasn't a barrier to it um and so early on it was about just being physically active and it was about being strong enough to push my chair and just sort of be independent uh sport came a bit later but um a massive turning point in my life was when I was seven and by then I was a full-time wheelchair user and my dad was architect and he showed me this book of buildings from around the world and had the Taj Mahala and the Sydney oper housee and he gave me this really big talk about the world's an amazing place and you need to travel and you need to see everything and you need to learn and to do that you need a really good job and to get a really good job you need a really good education and and I still remember that you that was really huge part of my life and then it was back in 20110 and Dad wasn't well um we knew we didn't have much time left and I wanted to say thank you to him and I was with my sister big sister and I said I'm going to tell him about that she he'll never remember it of course he will it was massive in my life and I said to him that that moment absolutely changed my life and he looked at me and he went I have no idea what you're on about and and so it's interesting so for me it was this massive moment and for him it was just and basically what he said was he'd been chatting to Mom and they just didn't want me living at home forever um because apparently I was a bit annoying and so um yeah so it's interesting so the other way if you told you can't do things even one little thing can just send you off to not believe in so for me that was amazing so yeah started being active played loads of sports um was pretty rubbish at all of it um thought I wanted to play basketball um joined a club and I got selected for the team well only five of us turned up so there wasn't really selection um and we played in mixed teams back then and there was a boy on the other team that kept elbowing me and he really and he just kept doing that to me and pushing me and I just lost my temper with him and I hit him and got sent off quite rightly you know and then my P teacher said go and do wheelchair racing because you can't get close enough to anyone to hit them not I mean really not a compliment at all um but I was like oh okay and but from then that was it I just loved it but didn't win a race for the first five years I competed because the best girl in Britain went to my school it was in my year um but what I learned to do was I I found a club and training partners and coaching is and I just learned to do all the really boring basic stuff which is you know we saying about being disciplined about you know training every day and doing all the the stretching which is really the competing is fun and it's brilliant training is really dull um and so I just learned to do all that from from from a young age and then suddenly at 16 I had a big jump and then got onto the the senior GB team that's PR we come back to that bit if we can but one of the things which has impressed me about you and impressed all of us really you've had two really successful careers so you had one which was Tanny the athletes and then you've had the one which you could arguably claim is even more successful which is Tammy the campaigner Tammy the changer Tammy the reformer um I was I confess I was on the phone to somebody a colleague in the C group uh last night Rebecca burck who's director of community for a co-op group and mentioned about today and Rebecca said she's awesome she's incredible she's surprised Rebecca was CEO of justtin trust a joining trust um and she said she's T is passionate about volunteering whatever you do get Tanny to talk about volunteering so I am talk about volunteering why why are you so passionate about it um because so many people have had an impact on my life because they've been volunteers so um the vast majority of my coaches in my sports career were were volunteers Roy first coach I mean he needed a nigh Hood he coached 40 hormonal teenage girls and you look back he was a police officer he used to go back to work for arrest um and you know there's all these volunteers have helped me um my husband was my coach for a bit of my career he was a volunteer uh he he Volunteers in lots of other things um sport wouldn't happen without volunteers um and actually my daughter is 22 she kayaks I'm going from here to Bradford and Bingley to volunteer at a canoeing event tomorrow um because it's about giving people opportunity so for me Roy was very much if you get something out sport you give something back so he wouldn't let us back on the bus when we'd gone to a competition until we'd gone and thanked all the volunteers and he had eyes in the back of his head because if you missed one he knew about it and so it it just kind of came through there and then you look at um I work with Rebecca on um the Legacy program for the 2012m ypics and Par Olympics so the games makers were amazing in terms of what they did um and you just see so much that you I I can get from volunteering but also what you can kind of give to to others and um I now uh I chair J vber Awards um I never did it um I made my daugh to do it uh when I became chair she said to me do you just want to make thousands of children's lives miserable it's like Millions um but the volunteering is a really big part of that and then you see what the young people get from that and we're just working on a program now to to get the youngsters thinking about not just doing it to get a badge or to get the award but how it can they can do more as they grow up because just it just matters so we um the AGM we've just had we talked about our colleagues now 6,000 colleagues done 21,000 volunteering hours we're a wide range of organizations many of which are here today um and I guess there is a element of uh we have a theme about doing good together and it is that theme which sort of underpins everything really um so I've got about 400 questions I wanted to ask tny but I got told very very firmly there are three people here who have spent an awful lot of time and effort coming up with the right questions which hopefully gives you as the audience more information so who are we going to start start with you Luke Y what is one thing that was said to you or a piece of advice that on reflection you she hadn't taken any notice of I hadn't taken any notes of I I should confess we haven't prepared tny for any of these because I felt it would be more interesting frankly oh I have never been asked that before um that is fascinating um I'm going to I'm going to change it around a little bit that that probably makes me a politician for not answering the question really bad my my granddad used to say to me aim high even if hit a cabbage which I have no idea where that came from no one's any idea where it came from but it's about having a goal and a dream and I've made it to be what I want it to be so that's a good bit of advice um oh I tell you what um someone who was a really really really good friend of mine when I had the opportunity to go into the House of Lords and um for me cuz I got to travel and I got to meet lots of disabled people and see you know the stuff they'd gone through in in lots of other countries around the world it kind of made me think okay what am I going to do and this really really good friend of mine said whatever you do don't go into the House of Lords um you'll you'll you'll hate it you'll never do anything it'll be the biggest waste of time ever and to be fair to him when I got through the process because I'm a crossbench independent so it's like an interview process when I got through and then said to him I've gone in he went oh that's amazing that's the absolute right thing for you to do really um but yeah I've never I've never regretted so it's a bit weird and it's a bit strange and we work really odd hours and you can spend it feels like sometimes you're smashing your heads into a brick wall but I've never regretted going to do it and as we said it's a great question but as we said in the introductory remarks T has made such a difference in terms of the inclusivity things you've done whether it be disabled access or whatever else it be welfare reform which is great good so that's a brilliant question stuttering so Catherine no pressure you've talked about the importance of supporting Sports people with their mental health all three of us have recognized that we needed an accepted help to be the best us that we can be what advice would you give to someone who was thinking about reaching out for support just you've got to do it I mean nobody does anything on their own and and again sport has taught me so many lessons so as an athlete the only time I was on my own when so I was me coughing trying to put my hand over her mouth and I hit microphone F I apologize um the only time I was ever on my own was when I was competing and it's kind of funny because you you you look at sports people and it's nice you know if I win a race I'd get the medal and the credit for it but there's a team of people behind the that you need to help and support so I had coaches training Partners um when I went to Sydney which was my fourth games I was the only one from my training group that got selected and you know I was really excited then you see for the other guys they're not going and the next day I get quite emotional about a lot of things the next day in training every single one of them turned up and I was like oh you know they could have gone off on holiday for a couple of months and it's was like what what are you all doing here and they're like we're still here to help and you know because you you need to be better than you are now and it's those kind of moments so I think it's recognizing that nobody does anything on their own and the hardest beit is asking for help that's but again it in in sport because you've got really short window of competition and you've got to be better every year you you get used to asking for help and you get used to asking for feedback and you you get used to sort of saying like can I do this better um and yeah I I think for me that's it it's never easy asking for help even for me now but but that I think that's the hardest bit and then actually I think people do want to help because they want to see people be the best they can be and just come out of the themselves and so yeah just just do it and and maybe spend a bit of time finding the right person but but absolutely because chatting to you guys earlier like you know just talking about the what you've been through um and and the course and and how it helped you it's got to be worth it and every single person in this room could do something to help someone else and sometimes it's not just um people asking for help sometimes it's just spotting when somebody might need help so I think again sportting politics has taught me that as you look at someone and and you kind of try and look at go okay and it's offering in the right way as well but it's it's being able to spot it in others because you'll be able to spot what you went through in other people and then you know maybe give them a bit of help or put them in the right direction or just just be there to say you know are you okay and that's one of the reasons I called all four of you inspirational because you've all taken that step to say okay I could do with some help here some body somewhere can help we work with um grocery Aid who support generally speaking the retail industry but any of our colleagues and that's the sort of help and Welfare support is outwear for anybody which is hugely important that's a great question so Josh question so you've had uh many achievements and been given lots of medals but what is the one thing you are most proud of of achieving and why um one thing uh in my sporting career it was my final games where my strongest event was the 800 meters where I've been and beaten for 12 years and I completely screwed up at the final and no one else to blame totally me and I remember coming off the track and our team manager's job was based on gold medals and I didn't win a gold medal and he didn't speak to me uh says quite a lot about him uh and I was in a real mess and um did the I thought I'd let my whole family down and the team and everything and you do the BBC interview which is when you win it's great when you don't win it's really miserable and that was horrible and then I remember leaving the stadium and every British supporter who walk past me said to me that was rubbish you go yeah I know I was there yeah yeah oh you wouldn't have done that right and you don't I mean you know had all these people who'd never run an 800 meter in their life going I wouldn't have done that oh and you have to you know you go all right okay and you listen and I remember going to where all my friends and family sitting they're all crying thinking they could have stayed at home and saved a fortune um and um the only person who wasn't crying was my daughter who was two and I remember saying to her did you watch mommy's RAC and she like that wasn't not interested um and then I remember going back to the village and if you do well you kind of get ignored by the team because everyone's doing their own thing but because I'd known a lot of people in different sports for a long time just had all these people just coming up giving me a hug going you're right go no I'm still not miserable but it's sport you know no one dies and it's you know it's sport um but I remember sitting down with a team manager later that night and him saying the games are going to be a complete disaster for you thanks for having confidence in me um and he's like we'll fly you home we'll say you're injured we'll just make up a reason we'll just get you out of here and I was just like n I'm staying and I spoke to my couple of my training Partners who were on the team and my coach and it was like however bad this is I need to stay and um I told him I was stay in and then a few other people tried to persuade me to leave and it's like no no I'm staying um and I stayed uh and I won my next two races um so there's a bit like you know um yeah but it's the team around and and sometimes what might look like the easy way out is not the easy way out and um it just taught me a load about who my friends are um who supports me who are the people who care about me um so I think yeah winning the hundred which was as always was always my weakest event winning that and then going back to my friends and family and um Caris came toddling towards me and and that's why smiling talking to your daughter earlier and she was like Mommy Mommy I love you you're amazing baby uh and then she looked at my friend who was looking after and basically said I was nice do I get an ice cream right but I still remember the gr so yeah I think for that because it would have been easy just to walk away and um not and sometimes you just got to do stuff that's that's hard and you're back again to that support network around you and I know that um we've got Helen's a s manager in W wood where these guys come we got people like Simon Harland is in the audience we've got a load of people who work together hopefully to give that sort of blanket for these when are going through that but this is what you three are now giving to everybody else and the celebration we did of the first year anniversary Etc you3 are now providing that support for others which I think is brilliant but people will see what you've done and maybe thinking oh I can't do it you know so and and then looking at what you've done go oh actually no I can do it and and I can make it work and I can commit and don't ever underestimate the power that you have and you know your family and everyone will be telling moms or dads here someone filming hello um uh you don't underestimate the power that that has cuz the stories will just keep spreading and spreading about what you've done I'm back to my 15 medals Med medals medals the uh the six um London marathons the 30 world records and so right we now got Tanny talking about a failure she had which I think in the balance of things um in terms of the uh the switch I suppose the the going back to his point about really successful athlete and then you become this campaigner what drove you what what made made you that I want to be a cross Branch I want to sit in a house with Lords um so a lot of it comes back to mom and dads again that dead said you know if you have a platform use it positively and there's lots of people out there who don't have a voice and I don't speak like for people but for me it's about trying to amplify other voices and that's what I can do now so I can talk about my own lived experience um and there's been lots of different bits of discrimination that I still get so I'm treated three really distinct way one is an ex-athlete quite nice one is a parliamentarian People Like Us or don't like us depending what we do uh and then the Third Way is a disable woman and that's where I experience all my discrimination where you know I've been told like people like you shouldn't be allowed to have children um so what Welsh people uh oh you mean I do use humor because I've got a bit of a furry temper um and so you know it's about trying to change things so um I I live in the northeast of England I work in London I spend a lot of time on trains um trains Were Meant to Be stepf Free by January the 1st 2020 it's the government's figures say it's now going to be hundred years before I can get on a train on my own um I'm probably not going to live that long um so there's that urgency to try and change things and so there's loads of different ways you can you know you can do it in the chamber you can do it in meetings outside you can do it through I post quite a lot on social media um you know I was getting off the train last night in wol and like three people on the train were like oh you got R because they'd seen either me or other people posting about it so there's loads of different ways that you can affect change um and you've got to use them all so I think it was that it was like I just don't want a younger generation coming through fighting for some of the stuff that I did um and you know there is still discrimination out there for disabled people and and for lots of people and it's just trying to make it just a a bit better and say you've certainly done that in sport um whether it be will T whatever there is a role model where people would say yes it is possible to do x y and Zed but increasingly you're doing that in a wider sense as well which I guess is what obviously Rosie Rachel and these three are helping to do as well so Luke we got another question for Tanny you've spoken openly about you know the challenges growing up with a disability and through your determination you've kind of broke any barriers and you've won gold medals and you've got various great honors do you ever sit back and think hey did I become this person all the time yeah like how me from you know Cardiff end up sitting in the House of Lords you know I never thought it would happen in a million million I always kind of wanted to be an athlete and then wasn't sure I was going to make it and then some of it is about having just a bit of nerve to put yourself forward um so no I did and I remember the first day I went into the House of Lords oh my goodness I mean it's this this building which is incredible there's been a building on that site in London since 1079 and you've got all this history and you know um William Wallace was hung drawn and courted there and then just the history of what's happened in the building and I remember going through the door thinking who on who on Earth thought I could do this you know it's terrifying and I remember there's a chat there to meet me and he he he was sort of being allocated to kind of look after me and um first thing he said to me is oh don't worry you'll be fine um it's just like boarding school and I and this is the first thing he said to me I'm went I didn't go to boarding school and he went oh didn't you which day school did you go to and I um I went to a comprehensive in South Wales and he looked at me went good god did you really yeah and he went oh okay and then he he took me he took me around the building saying this is Tanny she went to a comprehensive and I'm like and I remember ringing in that night and just going oh and he went you got to go back tomorrow and well I'm going to go back tomorrow and I went anyway he was there to meet me again and he went oh I'm really sorry so he'd gone to a board in school and he was trying to make me feel really welcome and inclusive and trying to be nice to me and he was a big Athletics fan and he just panicked when he saw me and he just said the first thing that came into his head and then when then he said the second thing that came into his head and and then he went I'm really sorry I'm it's like no no and so you know anyone can make make mistakes but um you know we all do but um I I just remember thinking this and then the first like your maiden speech is terrified so I used to throw up before every single race I did nerves and fear of winning fear of failing of really complicated stuff luckily I don't do that in politics but I remember my maiden speech and he on the Olympics and Par Olympics so it's stuff I know but just being terrified and then you get all these handwritten notes saying it's best Maiden speech I'd ever heard and it was brilliant and what a wonderful contribution I was going to make and you go oh I can do it and then when you're there a bit longer you find that's what you do to all people when they do their Maiden Speech cuz it's terrify it and then the first amendment I did you know I had actually had government peers so I was Voting against the government on welfare reform benefits and I had someone from the government rewrite my amendment to make it better to give me a better chance of winning and then he said to me about I'm not going to vote with you because you're an idiot okay um so so it's amazing that you I think sport teaches you to chunk it all down so yeah um I do constantly think who thought I could do this I don't know anyone who doesn't think that I don't know any Olympian that doesn't think that I don't know anyone who's successful in business that at different points of their life think I can't do it everyone does it's just sometimes we're really good at hiding out there's nothing wrong with Comprehensive just we're clear cath Catherine have you got a question for tmy you come across very confident in all the roles you perform I was very anxious I'd lost my confidence and I avoided anything new yeah so I started before I started the fa pre program that's how I was yeah but since F futes program or found me again yeah do you still get anxious doing new things and how do you deal with that anxiety oh yeah I do um what I find really hard to so I I quite like speaking on stage this is lovely the bit that I really find difficult is when you walk through the door when there's a SE of people and I don't know anybody and I'm very lucky if I get to do this I know there's someone there who's going to kind of find me and but talking to people I don't know I mean if it's someone I know I Asma says I talk to Ador if I thought it should answer um but people I don't know and I get really nervous if you go into like an event where you know like a networking event I I really don't like it but what I've done over the years is I kind of make myself go for five minutes then 10 minutes then caught for an hour and then a bit longer and I still get really nervous doing that because I think oh no one's going to talk to me and I don't know what to talk about and I'm going to be sitting in the corner on my own and and yeah it's it's stuff like that that I still find really difficult to do um but I kind of play games with myself to make myself do do a little bit of the time and it's never as bad as you think it is um and so yeah there's stuff that I I still get nervous at and actually I I do a little bit in my racing chair not very much uh I still get nervous before I compete like we we we have a discussion in my family I don't compete anymore I participate which means I'm like a long way at the back um and yeah I still get nervous for that and I'm like what have I got to be nervous about in sport there's no expectation on me no one's expecting me to do anything but I still I get butterflies on the start line and that's that's really bit DED but it's that pressure you put yourself under I suppose which is something we all do everybody does and it's just leading how to deal with that and it goes back again to a support network you've got whatever whatever R may be so I probably final question we're open up to the audience so Josh have you got a question for Tammy so what is the one piece of advice that you would give to a younger you or a younger generation oh to a younger me probably don't have some of the arguments that I've had in sport but that I I I own it all I do what I used to get really upset about so when I was competing well then um I quite often would become the athletes rep because sport sometimes they they can find reasons to not select you if they don't like you and if you're winning medals they have to select you so that's why I always used to be athletes rep because I could kind of go and talk to athletes and then I could kind of put the view across of what the athletes are thinking so you're not expecting young athletes to just stand up to some people in the system and so um there's there's a couple of people when I've seen younger athletes being treated badly that I've gone in and and had a row and I probably should have stopped and thought is there a different way to find a solution but then I own all those arguments that I had because there younger athletes being treated not very well I think I've just become better at dealing with that as I've I've got older um I think so um to young people [Music] um it's like find people around you that you like and and care about you you and sometimes that takes a really long time and sometimes it's quite hard to to find those people um I think I I found them in sport in in life now it's it's it's hard to to do it in in that way but find people who who'll be honest with you um and I had that through my coaching groups that they' they'd be quite upfront if I did a good race or a bad race m mom and dad as well so much of it comes back to my parents mom at the end of a race wanted to know if I'd won dad wanted to know if I competed well and they're two really different things and what you aiming for is to win and compete well and that doesn't happen like huge number of times in in in your career so I'd say you just find find some people and you know have trust them and Trust the dink s around you and it's like don't don't be afraid to try that's the other thing you know if I'd listened to there were lots of people who told me I shouldn't be an athlete and I shouldn't do this and I shouldn't do that and I shouldn't and it it comes back to the people around who said you know give give it a go cuz what's what's the worst that's going to happen so in sport you don't win in politics as you think it's going to be when you put yourself in my case on the starting line you'll put yourself in the chamber it is having that confidence to say okay if I fail I fail so what you come through the other side and so that's okay that's another tick in the Box I've done that and I've built up which again is three of you have done on stage I just remember to say something really really quickly was that um week week before the Paralympics um games opening uh ceremony in London 2012 I got asked did I want to be in the opening ceremony and I was like yeah I'll do anything like at that point you're not playing Coy was like and they said we want to put you on a wire and float you a bit above the track okay and I was so excited to be in the opening ceremony and they took me to a warehouse in the East End of London and put me actually about this high on a wire and I was like Bo because then the race on the wi you're moving and um I don't like heights and I don't like driving over tall Bridges and stuff like that I'm really not keen on Heights and the only question I asked before I signed the contract was is this how high I'm going to be and they went oh about that High I mean seriously and um loads of social media and I was did all these interviews go I'm so excited I'm going to be in the opening ceremony uh and then they took me to the main stadium and put me 60 MERS in the air honestly um I said some very bad words really bad words really bad um and I came down and they were like do you want to go up again like no I don't and they were like no anyway um it was it the most horrific thing I've ever done in my life I was so scared I didn't eat all day I threw up before I went up I threw up when I came down but um I'm glad I did it because that's probably the most scary thing I've ever done in my life and I think if I can do that there is not enough money in the world to ever do it again but if I think you can do that you you can do lots of stuff I'm delighted you said that so T's forgotten contract she signed she will be AB sailing from the top of the stadium in approximately half an hour's time for charity um I there are so many things thank you eight or four of you but particularly in terms of that t there is so many things you could explore and go aim high even if it's a cabage is is one of ones um but there are loads of people in the audience who I'm sure have questions as well um for Tanny so any questions in the audience uh mark down this front now hang on we need paddles and everything else don't we so mark in the front first and foremost thanks hi Tanny um so I was at London Marathon um watching not participating this year and the energy at that event is phenomenal as a spectator so I sit there and or stand there and watch and I think I hope the athletes just feel this energy and the question is do you and do you also feel the energy when you're doing the track events at you know the Olympics and the other the other games oh yeah absolutely you do and um London marathon is like no other marathon in the world I think I've done about 70 marathons around the world um and just for the the noise the crowd people the whole way it's amazing and it's really weird um especially on like Marathon you can actually hear people shouting your name um and it's it's quite nice because I've got an unusual name so that's good um and yeah you absolutely feel it what's it's different in a stadium so we also had demonstration races at the Olympics so I competed in Sydney the same night Kathy Freeman won a gold medal and that like 110,000 people and that is unbelievable because you're on the start line where you go out so first of all you come from under the stand which is quite quiet and you come out and there's all you can almost feel the noise and then you have about 10 minutes to do your final warm-ups and they call you to the start line and it's amazing then you just switch off you almost don't um don't hear anything um and then the race happens and I you you kind of remember the race but you don't you you hear it and you I remember the the the camera flashes going off as you go around the stadium and you're thinking it's the whole stadium and then I watch the race back afterwards and actually it's just when you're in front of people and it's almost like the camera flashes went around the stadium as well so yeah you absolutely feel it um and it it is just incredible and you know as a British athlete there's you know there's quite often a lot of British people there but Athletics crowd are generally like really supportive of anybody who who wins so you know getting to do something like a lap of Honor in that is is just it's quite hard to describe and then what you don't see you kind of if you've won a medal you come off the track and you get your bag and you get a bottle of water you get a banana and they Chuck you in a room for a bit um and then you wait for the medal ceremony which is really boring because what you want to do is go and see your coaches and everything else and then that bit where you come out for the medal ceremony again it's this just like huge moment um and there is nothing you know just better than seeing the the Union Jack go up and sing the national and I'm really bad singer I I sing so badly Out Of Tune um but then you know you have that moment you get your medal in a box and then you Cee for the bus the same as everyone else and you ceue for your food and you ceue for everything and you're just back into the village so you have these like emotional moments which um uh you know are really really special and there is nothing that in my life now that that tops that think it's different but um and I think as a young athlete always knew you've got to make the most so that's the reason we trained twice a day six days a week 50 weeks the year my wedding the birth of my daughter everything was based around the competition schedule you kind of do that because you've only got those few chances to to do it so it it is it is pretty cool and then when I did my um you swear an oath of Allegiance when you first go into the Lords it was really funny they said to me right as you leave be prepared head there will be a huge cheer and it's like right okay I know what it's like to have a huge cheer and then you leave and everyone just goes yeah here was that it oh oh right yeah no so for that house that is quite emotional for the house Lords but oh yeah it's it's it's it's it's pretty cool feeling and then now I commentate um it's quite different so the London Marathon I have to be up earlier to commentate on the London Marathon than when I did it and I have to have my hair done and makeup on uh which I never had to do competing uh so so it's it's amazing actually now commentating because there's you know Paul rff Steve Crown myself all X athletes all done the marathon uh and we we still get a huge Buzz out of being there I would to commentate this year the way we get on the course we come around the final Bend and um sorry it sounds like I'm named up was CH Paul rff and I was saying do you miss that bit coming round the bend and we both like yeah we do we just don't want to do the other 26 miles so it's like I don't miss it that much to do it again so yeah it's still fun to be part of it I love the qualification from Mark I was watching the marathon as opposed to being in the marathon it's quite useful um over at number two thank you it's Chris sorry Chris thank you Chris Hall a reom midcounties member and I actually did the London marathon in four hours um oh for the round of applause then in Aid of Northwest cancer research better thank you um but but question you're a fantastic sportswoman uh which we all completely admire here we are as as Keen Cooperators so there's that you have to be incredibly competitive we want everything to be in some senses to be cooperative but we recognize that in your sport and team sports and everything you also have to collaborate and cooperate and we recognize that we all be it that we're Cooperators that we have to compete yeah so there is a bit of both but in the House of Lords and your current role to what extent can you CU we want to sell to you the idea co-ops and cooporation education for young people we want to get the Cooperative message across to what do you to what extent do you think you can help us and would you accept and recognize that cooperatives cooperation is something we should be taking to young young children at school yeah absolutely um I I I think actually education for Young People needs to be changed you know we're still operating on a Model that is quite oldfashioned and you know some of it is um you know about pushing for grades which if you're the kid that gets 13 a Stars that's lovely but that is not real for the vast majority of kids and um you know I'd I'd change quite a lot about the school day I'd make uh encourage young people to be physically active every day not necessarily play sport but be active because if you're physically active it's good for your mental health and well-being it's Healthy Mind Body Spirit um there's there's lots of things that that I'd um quite like to to do um and and I couldn't have done anything in either my sports career or in my political career without quite a lot of cooperation because um you know now I've got a group of disability rights campaigners who are on the outside of parliament who when I'm speaking will watch every single minute of a debate um and you know it's a bit like a cauldron as well you know especially when really big legislation you know you might be in the chamber for nine or 10 hours it's actually quite hard to concentrate for that length of time there's loads going on there's people saying things and you know I've got this group of people who will send me an email or post me something or say no actually this is what you need to ask or no that's not right this is right and and so that they are all volunteers um so I get to do the bit so it's remarkably like sport I get to the bit to do because I've got this massive group of people behind me and there was a question the other day in the chamber on transport and uh the question I was going to ask I sent it to a a friend colleague on the outside and he was like no no this is a better question to ask so you know I asked it it actually was a really good question but I also really important I made sure that he had the credit for you know for for him doing that so the cooperation is really important and you've got to work together you know and and that's quite hard because everyone's quite a different personality um and and learning to work together is not always easy some people do it really naturally same as the kid that gets 1 a stars and then some need to be taught those things so I'd um if if I could have uh any ministerial job which I can't cuz I'm a crossbencher um it would be education because there's so many things that you can do through through education through changing the school day um and and doing it differently and preparing young people for life not for certain exams um and yeah that's we'll I think there's there's lots that we can do to to try and change that cuz the has changed a lot you know trying to explain to my daughter like even dialup internet you know uh and I do remember when she was about six she said to me in the second world war were mobile phones just really big I remember when I wasn't in the second world war but you know so you know for for younger you know it the the world is changing it's such an exhilarating daunting and amazing uh Pace we've the education system's got to keep up with that there a really good report which Co-op party did about steps to success which features Co-op child care which we've got it features Co-op group academies and so on and so forth we'll send you a copy because there's a lot of that about this development aspect which will tie in I I am massively conscious of time and also questions we any other questions from the audience Helen get a microphone down to Helen at the front please let's just say chela is really important that's so um thanks p and thanks Tanny um we urge our members to make one change in their lives to um improve sustainability in society and I just wondered if you had could urge people to make one change in their life to improve inclusion what would that be oh I think it's just it's think about others just you know my my lived experience is very pertinent to me and you know someone else who's either you know had Ur but I mean you know everyone's lived experience is different and I think it's just being open-minded so yes legislation does change things um absolutely um you know targets quotas these things all matter and you know for me the stuff that I work on with train access you know the legislation is going to be what drives a huge amount of it but if you don't get people to understand the issues that say disabled people have you know uh trying to access public transport then um change is going to be much slower so it's it's probably something which is less tangible uh legislation is very tangible but that takes a long time to get through um it's it's actually just being a bit Kinder and a bit nicer to each other uh I I think that would would make a difference some of that's about time you know everyone's really busy like all the time uh and and trying to do different things and it's just you know have a moment to stop and the other thing I'd say is that you know everyone needs a bit of time just to take care of themselves um you know again just the pace of Life Now is really hard and I think it's come to me you know the last six months even though I was an athlete if if I'm not looking after myself and if I'm not eating properly sleeping properly you know just looking after myself then I can't do the the the things that that I do so you know stuff's improved a lot since since I was young but it's still we don't live in as an inclusive society as I kind of hoped that we we would by now and you know we're not going to make the world ramp free you know there's lots of things that um are are difficult to do um but actually if there was just a bit of a recognition of of some of the challenges that other people face I think that would be be a step forward and going back to Chris made obviously we talk about Equity we talk about equality Etc is Co-op values and principles obviously is what is what we do um T thank you for that um you've achieved as we said a heck of a lot in your career and thank you for that um these three fol here have also achieved an awful lot and graduated from the 12we program perhaps Terry if I can get you to present those certificates so we have one to Catherine is there a photographer here there was a photographer was a photographer who just moved off who he's gone oh he's coming back [Music] you ready to do this congratulations perhaps if we can do the same for Josh congratulations and then finally we got Luke as well thank you welcome one of the four of you together well done perfect and then finally Tony on behalf of all of us just a thank you thank you absolutely super really appreciate that good so the one thing you've got to do if you're on stage is a say thank you to our guests so again a proper Round of Applause for four of them please if we can um Tanny I think he staying around for another couple of hours or so so we're doing the ab sailing off the roof in about half an hour so that' be good um but no Tanny will be around is an absolute inspiration for all of us as indeed a Katherine Josh and Luke and genuinely the four of you thank you so much and Tanny talked about his principle about you can overcome anything I think the three of you have demonstrated just now you can overcome anything that's brilliant great job so for those who've been inside all morning the sun has apparently been out since about 8:00 this morning we now have lunch we now have the entire phoh living festival and there are so many activities so many Community Partners and if you could grab some lunch and then go and chat to some of the people we work with every day we' appreciate it thank you [Music]