On June 1st the first of the St Swithun's Old Girls selected to run with the Olympic torch - Dr Cathy Page MBE HC 1960 - carried the flame through Birkenhead. Her nomination story:-
Cathy has worked tirelessly over 30 years building up Birkenhead Trampolining Club into one which is nationally and internationally acclaimed. Cathy received an MBE in 2001 for services to trampolining in the North-West of England (both as a coach, judge and mentor) and for helping the homeless.. Her motto is 'If you have a skill you can teach it to someone else' and she has lived by this tenet ever since. She started trampolining herself at the age of 30 and within four years she was ranked 12th in the UK and was a national grade coach and judge. She then set up Birkenhead TC in 1975 and has worked to expand and grow the club ever since. Birkenhead Trampoline Club was the first club in Merseyside and the Wirral to be awarded the nationally recognised GymMark by Sport England. Birkenhead Trampoline Club has produced many Full and Youth International competitors over the years with recent accolades being: Ladies British Champion DMT (Double Mini Trampoline), World Age Group male and female competitors and GB World Games representatives. Cathy sat on the BG technical committee and is the retired chair of the Trampoline Coach Education Committee, training the highest level coaches in the country. Many of her coaches and performers have gone on to set up successful trampoline clubs all over the country. She has recently been awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership of British Gymnastics for all that she has done in the field of trampolining.