Guided tour

For visitors who wish to be navigated around the space, please click on the video below for the Voices of London 2012 gallery guided tour.

For screen reader users to follow is the wall panel text and audio descriptions for the 3D models or you can download the text as a Microsoft Word document.

The greatest Games ever

The London 2012 Paralympic Games were a landmark event for the modern Paralympic Movement, described at the time as the “greatest Paralympic Games ever” by International Paralympic Committee President Sir Phillip Craven MBE.

One of the many positive legacies of the London 2012 Paralympics is the foundation of the National Paralympic Heritage Trust (NPHT). The Trust was set up in 2015 to care for the heritage of the Paralympics from their birth at Stoke Mandeville in 1948, with founding members Buckinghamshire Council, ParalympicsGB and WheelPower – British Wheelchair Sport.

This gallery shares stories and objects from NPHT’s 2012 collection, which includes over 100 costumes (70 of which were donated by ParalympicsGB), focusing on the experiences of people at the heart of the Movement: performers, Games Makers and athletes. The gallery also features the work of young disabled people created in collaboration with East End schools and museums.

  

Creative teams

On 29th August 80,000 spectators attended the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, with 11 million people in the UK watching the event at home. Entitled Enlightenment, the show drew on Shakespeare’s The Tempest with actor Sir Ian McKellen playing Prospero and disabled actress Nicola Miles-Wildin playing Miranda. A key theme was British scientific discoveries that have pushed humanity forward and challenged what is possible. Four years of planning by a talented creative team led, by artistic directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, culminated in a breathtaking performance. 

On 9th September, over 80,000 people attended the Closing Ceremony, entitled Festival of the Flame. This included an artistic performance representing the British tradition of seasonal festivals and the passing of the four seasons. It was directed by Kim Gavin and produced by Catherine Ugwu.

The NPHT collection includes sketches, models, and design documents used by the creative teams to bring the opening and closing ceremonies to life. 

 

Costume

Tahra Zafar was the head of costume, hair and make-up for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics. Whilst each ceremony had different producers, costume designers, and creative teams, Tahra managed budgets, timelines, logistics, and staffing for all of the ceremonies. 

It was hard work (…) delivering four ceremonies in all. And we produced (…) 23,000 costumes for the four ceremonies. … we actually filled up 700 garment rails. ...It was like we were trying to deliver hundreds of West End musicals in three months.

Moritz Junge designed the costumes for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, and Michael Sharp designed the costumes for the Paralympic Closing Ceremony. 

The detailed designs for costumes were included in a ‘costume bible’ with sketches, materials, and production notes for each outfit. In the video Tahra describes the costume bible – now part of NPHT’s collection.

Red Human Rights trenchcoat

Some performers wore costumes which featured bold, black text taken from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These designs represented the potent legacy of disability rights campaigning in the United Kingdom, and ongoing campaigns in the modern day.

Co-created audio description

This is a red trench coat covered in bold black text. The fabric of the coat is very thin, and it would not keep you dry very well. We know it was worn by performers as part of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games so we can assume the thin fabric was an intentional choice. We know the text on the coat is taken from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The vibrant red evokes anger and protest. Against the red fabric is a series of different sized words written in black capitalised text. The overall appearance of the coat is very busy.

Reflecting on the ceremony, performer Sally Alford shared:

After months of rehearsals we were very excited and intrigued about what we would wear and were thrilled when we saw the costumes! They looked so impactful and loved the important words printed on them and in all different styles. Every year since, several of us have met up at the Timber Lodge, in the Olympic Park, in our costumes, to chat about our amazing, shared experience.

  

Set design

Jon Bausor designed the set for the Opening Ceremony, supported by design assistant Rebecca Brower. Small models of each element of the performance were made as part of the planning, which now form part of NPHT’s 2012 collection. They reflect the evolution of ideas from concept through to the final show.

Empowerment was one of the key themes of the Opening Ceremony, and this was represented by activities with placards, the declaration of human rights featuring in costume and props, and a performance of Ian Dury’s anti-charity protest song, Spasticus Autisticus.

Alison Lapper statue

A centrepiece was a giant replica of the statue Alison Lapper Pregnant by Mark Quinn, which was originally displayed on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. The NPHT collection includes a maquette made as part of the planning for the ceremony.

Co-created audio description

This is a small off-white statue of artist Alison Lapper. She is depicted naked. She has no arms and shortened legs. She is eight months’ pregnant with a prominent stomach, a belly button indent, and wide hips. The surface of the statuette is grainy. We felt it subverts expectations of beauty as disabled women’s bodies are not often captured in classical sculpture. In 2024, Quinn commented on the piece: “Statues are of dead blokes. This is a living woman kicking arse”. The statue in all its forms is exemplary of the culture of inclusion that informed the bid for the London 2012 Games and improvements for disabled people in British society.

 

Apple design

The Opening Ceremony included a scene in which a performer rode on top of a giant golden apple in her wheelchair. It was part of a sequence which depicted Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity and was a metaphor for scientific discovery and human potential.

Performers

Around 3,250 volunteers took part in the Opening Ceremony, including students from local schools in Hackney, Newham, Barking and Dagenham. The performance included 73 deaf and disabled professional artists and 68 volunteers, with 110 days of rehearsals in East London.

One of these performers was Robert Barrett, who previously competed in athletics at the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Games. Along with five other previous Paralympians, Robert was lifted into the air and, representing athletics, 'ran' towards a large celestial sphere; the centrepiece of the stage.

Reflecting on the ceremony, Robert shared:

The ceremony was both spectacular and deeply human at the same time it spoke from the heart, whilst rising to the emotional and historic occasion of the homecoming of the Paralympic Games. I hope it remains in the hearts and minds of all involved for life.

 

Volunteer ‘Games Makers’

Over 20,000 people signed up to be volunteers, or ‘Games Makers’, for the Paralympics with 3,250 supporting the opening ceremony alone. Games Makers provided crucial support for the Games, including transport, venue assistance, and medical support.

Three of NPHT’s first volunteers were Games Makers at the London 2012 Games. Their participation in this event, voluntary work at other disability sports events and the opportunity to keep the legacy going, inspired them to join the Trust.

Steve Lowe

London 2012 was to be my fourth Paralympics ... it was by far the best for me. I was born just down the road from this new stadium. My football team was going to take on the site after these Games. So, it felt really personal to me, my stadium. Graham and I travelled to every possible session. We shared all the excitement of entering the venue and being amongst all those thousands of Paralympic fans. We saw almost all the famous sporting heroes ... ParalympicsGB were on form and absolutely up for a home Paralympics.

Graham White (as remembered by Steve Lowe)

Graham was a qualified official timekeeper for England athletics. He had so many years of experience at all kinds of disabled sports events, up and down the country. This was one of the reasons Graham was selected as a Games Maker for London 2012. Graham and I continued supporting sports events at the London stadium after 2012 as well as both joining NPHT as volunteers; this was part of the 2012 legacy.

Judy Freeman

I was on the transport team as a driver… I imagined driving one of the buggies around the Olympic park ferrying competitors about, but I was based at the Excel Centre in Docklands and had to drive around the different venues picking up dignitaries and officials. So many visitors recognised the distinctive Game Makers uniforms and came over to speak to us. It was an atmosphere I had never encountered in my life and probably will never again.

 

Paralympic athletes

294 British Paralympians competed at the Games, with many more retired athletes working on the organising committee, and taking part as performers, torchbearers, and media commentators. Great Britain came third in the medal table, behind China and Russia, with 120 medals.

Here are some of their stories and recollections of London 2012, captured by NPHT for future generations.

Margaret Maughan wheelchair archer won Britain’s first gold medal, at the first Games in Rome 1960 and had the wonderful role of lighting the Paralympic Cauldron for London 2012. Margaret said of this moment:

I feel very proud to be at the start of all this. From just a team of 70 British people in wheelchairs at the first Games, now there are hundreds from all disabilities.

David Clarke OBE PLY, now CEO of ParalympicsGB competed as part of the British football 5-a-side team at the Games:

I still remember the warmth and the incredible feeling of that cauldron as it billowed out and the heat started to rise and the crowd - 80,000 people in the stadium, millions around the world - just bought into this whole brilliant, wonderful thing of [the] Paralympics ... I think people came into the park in London wanting to see the park and went away having really enjoyed elite sport that happened to be done by disabled people.

Ade Adepitan MBE, wheelchair basketball and tennis, was one of the main hosts for C4’s broadcasting of the London 2012 Games and is from East London:

As an Ambassador for the original bid, I felt a deep personal connection to bringing the Games back to my hometown of East London. It was the best thing to have happened to London in a long time, it inspired people through the power of sport, doing something you really love and being the best at it, disabled or not.

Mari Durward-Akhurst para dressage rider was in her teens when London 2012 took place.

I recall I had a para dressage competition on the same day as the competitions kicked off for London 2012, so I competed in the morning and then headed off to Greenwich in the afternoon for the Paralympics. It was incredible to watch, and I vowed that day I would compete in the Paralympics.

That dream came true with a gold medal in Paris 2024. Mari is one of many Paralympians who have taken part in our Meet the Paralympian online talks.

Naomi Riches MBE PLY, adaptive rower and a member of the British mixed coxed four team who won gold at the 2012 Games, reflected:

I'm sure anybody, anybody listening to this that has their own memories of 2012, no matter what the sport, whether they were there, whether they were watching it on telly, whether they were actually doing the sport, whether they were a Games Maker, or a coach or a volunteer, you just get that warm, fuzzy, positive, joyful feeling because 2012 was incredible. It took the nation by storm; it was absolutely amazing.

Peter Norfolk OBE wheelchair tennis player had the honour of carrying the flag in front of the GB team at the Opening Ceremony as well as competing. Peter’s winning tennis chair from Beijing 2008 features in the NPHT Heritage Centre.

...the London Games, being asked to be flag bearer, which I was voted for by the other athletes - that was an honour. It was also the first opening ceremony that I’d actually been to. I didn’t go to the other two because they impacted on my game. Coming into the stadium with 100,000 people in your home Games as flag bearer, at the head of our athletes was an enormous achievement and I’m really proud to have been asked.

Peter, and the rest of the team, wore white jackets with gold trim for the ceremony. 

Co-created audio description of the athlete jacket

This is a hooded jacket worn by athletes during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The jacket is white and features gold elements, feeling both futuristic and bold. The inside of the hood and panels under the armpits are made of a shiny gold material. We imagine it would feel or sound crunchy if it rubbed against you. The front of the jacket is well covered with signatures in black ink. There are around 20 signatures from Paralympians. Its bold colours and link to the Games remind us of the excitement and optimism of the time period.

 

An ongoing legacy with NPHT

As part of this project, NPHT partnered with schools in East London to bring awareness of the 2012 Games to a new generation of disabled young people, and to share inclusive approaches with local museums.

In workshops, students, most of whom weren’t born until 2012, learnt about design and inclusivity, and used communication and sensory references in their final creations, inspired by what they had learnt about the London Games.

At JF Kennedy School in Beckton, students used Widgit symbols to communicate what interested them about the story of the Paralympics, whilst Little Heath School in Redbridge explored colourful tactile representations of the Games. Dagenham Park School students drew on inclusive references to braille and texture to form their individual representations.

Partner museums Valence House in Dagenham, Redbridge Museum and Heritage Centre and the University of East London Archive invited feedback from the students to help them improve access for people with sensory needs, continuing the themes of inclusivity, community and belonging found in the 2012 Games.

 

Thank you

This work has only been possible through collaboration, and we thank the following individuals and organisations:

• ParalympicsGB for donating the London 2012 ceremonies collection
• East London Schools - Dagenham Park School, Little Heath School in Redbridge, and JF Kennedy School, Beckton
• East London Museums – Valence House in Dagenham, Redbridge Museum and Heritage Centre and the University of East London Archive
• Museum trainees Simon for object audio descriptions, audio recording, and interpretation; Ben for object photogrammetry, and Thomas for audio recording and image audio description
• NPHT staff and trainees for audio recordings.

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