Three dentists carry the Olympic flame
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 22 May 2012 12:24
- Written by News Editor
- Hits: 2410
|
Three dentists will be amongst the thousands who will carry the Olympic torch on its journey round the UK. Tony Chivers (91) will carry the torch through Bournemouth on 13th July; Barry Funnell through Luton on 8th July and Pan Taneja through Solihull on 1st July. Good luck to all three. |
|
Tony Chivers
"Tony, 91, has led an incredibly active life and is still running (and rowing) to raise funds for charities today. At 18, still at school, he ran a mile in 4:29, breaking the record, and between 1947 and 1950 he represented Great Britain, England and the British Empire as an athlete, winning Bronze in the 3 mile event at the 1950 Empire Games. He even kept his sport up during WWII as a Flyweight champion and ended up being a pilot. He pursued a career in dentistry, being awarded an MBE in 1996, but he's always supported sport for everyone - forming the local tennis and bowls clubs, and fundraising to subsidise sport in his community. 'I got a tremendous amount of pleasure out of sport and it has been my ambition to put back as much as I can' Tony, a true people's champion, really deserves to have the honour of being the 'Oldest Torchbearer' in the Relay."
Barry Funnell
"Barry lives in Clapham Bedfordshire and works as the CEO of the charity Word for the World. Barry was paralysed from the chest down in an accident 29 years ago. Against the odds, he went on to qualify as a dentist in a wheel chair. He later gave up his career in dentistry to go to Malawi, Africa, to do language development and translated the Bible for the Sena people in a record ten years. This was despite 20 bouts of Malaria. Over 50 literacy centres now operate in Malawi, teaching hundreds to read and write. Barry loves sport, and his disability doesn't stop him! He plays golf one handed from his wheel chair, and won the South Africa disabled open championship twice and the disabled UK Masters. He also enjoys swimming successfully completing the Midmar Mile in South Africa twice (the biggest open water race in the world). He has recently taken up hand cycling, and is taking on the daunting challenge of hand-cycling the length of Britain to raise awareness of the Bible translation charity Word for the World. I would like to add on the end. He started on 8 Aug from Lands End and reached Wellington on 11 Aug at the tie of writing. He will finish at Johh O`Groats on 30 Aug 2011."
Pan Taneja
Panka Taneja is an amazing dentist that every year for the last 3 years saves money to travel to Vietnam to give orphans free dental work!!Showing people how easy its is to get involved with charity and how little efforts can make MASSIVE differences for those less fortunate. Having photos of how your efforts benefit people and showing them through sites like Facebook can give people the drive to get up and get involved! I enjoy increasing awareness by taking part in events like marathons fund raisers and want to do even crazier things like bungee jumping or sky diving! As a dentist my dream is to make it as as Oral Surgeon. This way I can help people near and far within a field of dentistry that I really enjoy. I'd like to carry on volunteering for charities and continue going abroad to use the skills I've learnt to provide aid to those that do not have access to treatment.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report