Only two days to go until the Queen’s Baton arrives from Belize! Bermuda, the 60th stop on the Baton’s 118,000 miles and 248-day journey throughout the 71 nations of the Commonwealth, will provide an integral link when it welcomes the baton as part of the most engaging and exciting Relay in history. Thousands of people will carry the Baton, a powerful symbol of the unity and diversity of the Commonwealth of Nations and the core values of the Commonwealth Games Federation: humanity, equality and destiny.
The Relay began at Buckingham Palace on October 9th, 2013 with Her Majesty the Queen placing her secret message of goodwill to the people of the Commonwealth in the Baton. The organizers’ vision is that the Relay will unite the Commonwealth through sport and connect and involve its citizens, especially its young people. It is the organizers’ hope that the Queen’s Baton Relay will be an exciting, dramatic and inclusive physical and digital countdown to the Games and that as the Baton traverses the globe, it will champion the values, successes and spirit of the Commonwealth Family.
The excitement truly begins in Bermuda at 7:20 p.m. on Friday when a fanfare of trumpets will welcome the Queen’s Baton on its whirlwind weekend visit. Mr. Juman Yassin, Regional Vice President of the Americas for the Commonwealth Games Federation [CDF], will alight from an American airlines jet from Miami and hand the Queen’s Baton to Bermuda Olympic Association [BOA] Secretary General Philip Guishard. Minister of Tourism Development and Tourism Shawn Crockwell, BOA President Judy Simons and Commonwealth Games Silver Medalist John Morbey will be among the dignitaries at L.F. Wade International Airport to welcome the Baton.
The Bermuda Olympic Association (“BOA”) has planned a detailed programme of events to celebrate the Baton’s arrival on the island.
On Saturday, April 26th and Sunday April 27th, the Baton will be received by His Excellency the Governor, the Premier, the Minister of Community, Culture and Sports and a number of other Bermuda luminaries. It will be carried by athletes, past and present, many young people and a wide cross-section of Bermuda’s population, young and old.
The Queen’s Baton Relay organizers, observing that approximately half of the Commonwealth’s population, is 25 years of age or under, has encouraged the participation of as many young people as possible in the Relay. Visits to schools would have been principal stops in the Baton’s journey around Bermuda. However, as the Baton will be in Bermuda mainly on a Saturday, the BOA, with the cooperation of the Department of Parks, has planned the Baton’s visit to the Botanical Gardens on the closing day of the Annual Exhibition, when thousands of young people are likely to be present.
Bermuda’s five Commonwealth Games Medalists, Clarance Saunders Bronze - Brisbane, Australia 1982 and Gold - Auckland, New Zealand 1990, John Morbey Silver - Kingston, Jamaica 1966, Antoine Jones and Conrad Lister Silver - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1998 and Brian Wellman Bronze - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 1994 will be featured at the Annual Exhibition and at other Relay stops.
Saturday April 26th
8:45 a.m. King’s Square, St. George’s 10:00 a.m. Palm Grove, Devonshire 10:45 a.m. Government House, Pembroke 11:30 a.m. National Sports Centre, Devonshire 12:00 p.m. Birdcage, Front Street, Hamilton 12:30 p.m. Cabinet Office, Hamilton 1:45 p.m. 141 Front Street, Hamilton 2:15 p.m. Annual Exhibition, Botanical Gardens, Paget 3:30 p.m. Warwick Long Bay and South Shore, Warwick 4:00 p.m. WindReach Recreational Village, Warwick Sunday April 27th
10:00 a.m. Crystal Cave, Hamilton Parish
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