St Neots mum and son carry Commonwealth Games baton
Claire Reece and her son Hugo pose with the Queen's Baton during the Birmingham 2022 Queen's Baton Relay. - Credit: Jean-Luc Benazet photography
A mum and son from St Neots carried the Queen’s Baton in Hinxton as part of the celebrations for the 2022 Commonwealth Games taking place later this month.
Claire Reece, 42, and her son Hugo, 13, were nominated to participate in the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay in recognition of their fundraising and campaigning work for disability charity Sense.
The pair carried the Baton, which contains a message to the Commonwealth from the Queen, from the Wellcome Genome Centre in Hinxton to Hinxton Hall on Saturday, July 9. The baton was then put onto a punt to travel to its next stop in Cambridge.
Claire said: “I’m absolutely honoured to have been a part of the baton relay. It was amazing just to be nominated for the work I have done with Sense and even more so to have the opportunity to carry the baton.”
Claire Reece and her son Hugo walking through Hinxton in Cambridgeshire, carrying the Commonwealth Baton. - Credit: Jean-Luc Benazet photography
Claire was chosen as one of the baton bearers, having run the London Marathon twice for Sense, raising more than £3,000 for the charity and was recognised as ‘Fundraiser of the Year’ by the charity’s Sense Awards in 2020.
Claire and her son Hugo, who is deafblind, has CHARGE syndrome and has been supported by Sense since he was five days old, are also campaigners for the rights of disabled people.
Earlier this year, they travelled to Downing Street to hand in a petition calling for disabled people to be put at the heart of the Government’s Covid-19 inquiry.
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More than 2,000 Batonbearers are taking part in the Queen’s Baton Relay, each carrying the Baton with pride as it travels through England this summer.
The baton has already been on an international trip, visiting all 72 nations and territories which comprise the Commonwealth.
Richard Kramer, chief executive of Sense, said: “We were very proud that Claire and Hugo were selected for the honour of carrying the Queen’s Baton as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games celebrations. Claire and Hugo are fantastic fundraisers and campaigners for Sense, and we’re delighted that their achievements have been recognised like this.”
To learn more about Sense’s activities for the Commonwealth Games, visit: www.sense.org.uk/commonwealth-games.
