Dai Greene at Machynlleth Primary School

Thought I'd put this photograph up to share with those who may call by this blog as a sort of tribute to the memory of April Jones, the 5 yr old little girl from Machynlleth who was so shockingly taken from her family almost a year ago. The photograph was taken at Machynlleth Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Machynlleth) which is on Bryn-y-Gog Estate, where April and her family lived. It is of me, World Champion 400 mtres hurdler, Dai Greene, and headteacher, Mrs Glyn. Let me tell you how it came about.

In the spring, Paula Ratcliffe invited MPs to join her in a short run around the Westminster area of London. It was part of the post-Olympics process of involving primary age children in sport. Reason I ignored my back problems to join in was that for each MP who did it, an Olympic athlete would visit a school of our choice in the constituency. Six of us ran. I thought Ysgol Gynradd Machynlleth (April's school) had experienced something so awful that it was the obvious choice. I was really pleased when told it would be Dai Greene who visited. Could not have been anyone better.

Dai was absolutely brilliant with the children. For two hours he had their total attention - firstly inside answering questions, and then outside doing exercises and training routines. It was a pleasure to watch him work. Dai Greene is a quiet, serious man, dedicated to what he does. Mrs Glyn had organised a great day, and must have been really pleased how it turned out. In the week when the people of Machynlleth remembered April at her funeral, it was reassuring and quite uplifting to see the laughter and fun as the children move on from a very dark event.