Students in England invited to be part of Paralympic history

The Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) is offering an amazing opportunity to students from Buckinghamshire, England, aged 12+, to become part of Aylesbury Vale’s Paralympic history. 

Students with a keen eye for design and engineering are invited to help create a truly dynamic and dramatic cauldron that will be centre stage at the fourth Paralympic Heritage Flame Lighting Ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 20 August 2020.

A new, specially commissioned Paralympic Heritage Flame Cauldron is to be created for the 2020 and future Paralympic Heritage Flame Lighting events at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. 

AVDC is calling for talented, local students to get involved in the design process in two sessions this Autumn run by outdoor arts company Festive Road and attended by the National Paralympic Heritage Trust (NPHT). Selected students will then get an opportunity to participate in the manufacture of the cauldron at a Festive Road workshop in Milton Keynes.

Taking place at the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement, the Paralympic Heritage Flame Lighting Ceremony promises to be another spectacular outdoor celebration and will form part of the five day long official Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Torch Relay. 

The cauldron will be an integral part of the ceremony and wider heritage celebration event for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Torch Relay and future Paralympic Torch Relays. Positioned in pride of place, the cauldron will be used to light the Paralympic Heritage Flame which is then virtually passed to the hosting country.

In Tokyo, groups of three torchbearers will transport the flame to three regions in Japan. The flames will visit: schools, hospitals and facilities connected with the Paralympics, and this year a digital flame has been approved for sharing on social media. 

The flame will then return to Tokyo to be brought back together to form the Paralympic Flame. The number three is symbolic of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the objective of which is to work towards a: “fully-inclusive society that celebrates our different values and potential – regardless of age, gender, nationality, or impairment.”

Check online for more information about the Paralympic Heritage Cauldron project.