The Unsung Twickenham Supporters
When 2000 fans returned to Twickenham Stadium to watch England win the Autumn Nations Cup they were extremely welcome and very visible on our TV screens.
When another group of supporters arrived back at the Home of England Rugby soon afterwards, it was without any fuss or razzmatazz.
These were the ever reliable volunteer stadium guides who returned after lockdown, having kept the World Rugby Museum and Tours operating throughout September and October. The tour guide team was part of the decision making around the route and ensuring that everything was covid-secure for them and visitors.
And as the Museum curator Phil McGowan anticipated handling December tours alone, with staff furloughed and guides stood down, he was blown away when many of his 45 volunteer guides volunteered to return to duty the minute that they could.
Some have been helping at Twickenham since the late 1990s and a number are having to shield but many couldn’t wait to get back to doing what they love, inspiring and educating visitors.
Most are local but some travel from as far as Bognor-Regis and also help to run their local rugby clubs. They represent that great amateur tradition that has sustained rugby union throughout its history.
Said Phil: “Volunteers are the lifeblood of the museum and stadium tours. During the most trying of circumstances, they’ve turned up without fail to make sure that our visitors are made to feel safe and welcome. We are incredibly grateful to them for their efforts.”
Benita Wakefield who is an events production manager has been a Twickenham tour guide for eight years. “I’ve always been a rugby fan and wanted to be part of the rugby family,” she said.
So when she was taking a group of summer school foreign students to the stadium and saw a recruitment leaflet she signed up and was a guide within weeks.
“I live in the area and am very fond of the stadium and what it represents. I really love the guests’ enjoyment when I take them behind the scenes to the places they don’t normally see, like the dressing room, tunnel and Royal Box. It’s amazing how many tell me that they have relatives among well-known players and sometimes there are fantastic surprises.
“On one occasion I was taking an older group of junior school pupils and their teachers around and one teacher confided that Jonny Wilkinson was her all-time favourite player. Jonny walked up, many of the children played rugby and he spent time talking to them and signing autographs but their teacher was totally speechless the whole time.
“I try to cover one or two tours a month. It’s my hobby and it was very sad when we couldn’t host tours, I was cycling past and missing being in the stadium. I’ve made friends among the other guides and we usually have a Christmas get together and three or four seminars a year involving a variety of people from the men’s and women’s elite game and once we went to Pennyhill Park and met up with Eddie Jones.
“We also often get invited to the launch of new exhibitions at the World Rugby Museum. I love being a Twickenham tour guide and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who loves people and rugby.”
Michael O’Connor travels for up to three hours from his home near Southend to take tours around Twickenham Stadium. A couple of years ago he was on a tour himself as a guest of a friend who had received the experience as a Red Pass gift.
“The tour guide made such a good impression that I told my friend I’d love to do her job, she overheard and took my email address. On my third time shadowing an experienced guide, a rugby team on tour from Argentina turned up, having had a match cancelled. Phil McGowan, the World Rugby Museum curator, found me and asked if I could handle it, so I was pretty much thrown in at the deep end.
“Having served in the Royal Engineers, I was rather expecting the odd moment and maybe reference to Las Malvinas but the tour was fantastic and entirely sports focused even when we visited the Rose & Poppy Gates. The gates have a particular resonance for me as I was stationed in Germany near where some of the WWI shells came from, the ones that have been made into poppies.”
Michael has been involved in rugby most of his life, initially playing league, then moving to rugby union in the Army. He has played for Rochford RFC’s first team and still captains their thirds as well as playing for their Vets. Currently an Operational Officer with Transport for London, he oversees the wearing of masks on the underground and overground.
With Rochford securing promotion three times in three seasons, they needed a health and safety officer and Michael was an obvious choice. He has signed members up to health and safety and hygiene courses and is as valuable to Rochford as he is to Twickenham Stadium.
“I love rugby and every time I go into Twickenham Stadium my jaw drops. Seeing kids who play rugby in the England changing room and taking their picture as they are grinning from ear to ear is a real joy. You meet people from across the world and when I’m coming up to the stadium I try to do two or three tours in a day and if I’m covering the last one booked I love taking extra time to talk and take pictures and see people’s enjoyment.”
If you would be interested in becoming a Twickenham tour guide email: museum@rfu.com or call 020 8892 8877.
