NAN Spowart spoke with Kirsty Talbot, the director of Orkney 2025 International Island Games, on the 10 things that changed her life.
1. Orkney
BACK in the summer of 2022 we upped sticks and moved to Orkney from Glasgow so that I could take the job as director of the Orkney 2025 International Island Games. It has been quite a life-changing move for myself and the family but now that we have made a home here I can’t imagine anything else but island life.
We were lucky because my husband is an archaeologist and Orkney has an amazing archaeological history so it was like we were always meant to be here.
It is an incredible place. It is very beautiful and safe for the kids who can just bomb about on their bikes and run about with their pals. There is a very big sporting community here as well, which is why they are able to host the Games.
2. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
I HAVE worked on a lot of other international events but for me, the 2014 Glasgow Games meant so much because it was a home Games. As a Glaswegian, to see the city being transformed and opening its arms to the world was incredible really.
Legacy is a word that is banded around quite a lot but when it comes to this there are quite tangible benefits you can still see. There’s the regeneration in parts of the East End and the likes of the Velodrome and Emirate Arena are still standing there today.
But for me, the biggest legacy was meeting my husband. I was the operations manager and he was the sustainablities manager and we met at the office Christmas party.
3. My husband Gareth
WE met at the Games’ staff Christmas party at the Templeton building at the Brewery Inn in 2012 and that was it. We have not been apart since really, so it is definitely a Games legacy at its best. I do feel very lucky to have met him.
As well as being an archaeologist, he has an interest and background in sustainability. He had done a few projects for Glasgow City Council and that is what got him the Games role. The Games were a one-off for him – he’s not a Games junkie like me.
4. Motherhood
IT is a bit cheesy but I do very much love being a mum. We are fortunate in being able to have two lovely children and I never take it for granted. It has been really interesting watching their transition from being wee city kids to island kids.
The wee one was four and the older one was six when we moved and my daughter went from being in a school with 500 kids to a primary school with 100 children. It has worked well for them as they are so much part of the village and have made friends very easily.
However, there is no breakfast club or afterschool club and it is hard to balance a full-time job like this with being a mum but we just have to make it work.
5. Sea Swimming
THIS has become a new hobby for me since I moved to Orkney. I had never lived by the sea before. You can see it from the window and on the islands water becomes a big part of your life.
I started in a wet suit and I am now down to a swimsuit and a wetsuit jacket but I am not quite at the swimsuit stage.
I have a swimming buddy now and we go together because it can get a bit wild. We only ever go in when it is safe and the feeling when you come out is fantastic. You are tingling everywhere and are much clearer in the head. My job is full-on and this gives me a chance to recharge the batteries.
6. 90s music
IT maybe didn’t change my life but it was a big influence. It was the soundtrack to my youth, although now it is more the soundtrack to a Sunday morning at home when we are cleaning or hanging out with the kids. We play anything from a bit of techno dance to The Stone Roses.
It was a good era and because I was quite tall, I managed to get into places a bit earlier than I probably should have. We went to see Jamiroquai at the Tramway when we were 15 and pretending we were 18. It was a lot of fun.
7. Open-heart surgery
I WAS born with two holes in my heart and I am only here today because of the miracle of 1970s open-heart surgery. They didn’t realise at first when I was born but after I was out of hospital, I became very sick, very quickly. My mum, dad and uncle rushed me to hospital with my mum giving me mouth-to-mouth in the back seat.
My mum’s a nurse and she basically saved my life that day. They had to wait a few weeks until I was a wee bit stronger for the surgery and I have total admiration for what they were able to do. I was very lucky.
8. Living in Disneyland Paris
I STAYED at home while I was studying French at Strathclyde University and then I decided I wanted to spread my wings so I worked in Belgium for a while and different parts of France.
One of the highlights was working in Disneyland Paris where I spent a year and met so many folk of so many nationalities and was introduced to lots of new cultures and backgrounds. I would say to anyone younger that if they are considering going away and working for a while, then do the Disney experience.
You really have not seen anything until you have been backstage with a chain-smoking, headless Mickey Mouse. It was rubbish money but a lot of fun.
9. Games
I HAD been living in London working on a lot of corporate events and then I was involved in an event called WorldSkills 2011, in which young people from more than 40 countries compete in everything from aircraft maintenance to hairdressing. As a result of that, I got a gig at the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics. It was an amazing experience and led to a lot more.
The world of mega events is brilliant and I have been very fortunate to work in multi-sporting events that the UK has run. Games events certainly come with a workload and intensity that I haven’t felt in other types of events because the eyes of the world are watching and you have got to do the team proud and the host city or the host island proud. For months, you are running on adrenaline, thinking it is too much and wondering why you are doing it and then the Games happen and you love it and want to do it all over again. It is a very addictive line of work.
10. Being a female director
WHEN the role of Games director came up for Orkney 2025, I just knew I had to go for it because it was Games plus island life – so what’s not to love?
It can be tricky managing the balance with family life but I try to get them involved as much as I possibly can so that if I have to work extra hours they can see some of the fun things. They have been to everything from a flaming arrow archery photoshoot to watching the gymnasts vaulting past the Standing Stones of Stenness. There is never a dull day.
Welcoming over 2000 competitors and officials, the Orkney 2025 International Island Games will be the largest multi-sport event in Europe in 2025 and the biggest event ever to be held in Orkney.
The week-long event in July will see athletes from up to 24 island groups from across the world compete in 12 sports – archery, athletics, badminton, bowls, cycling, football, golf, gymnastics, sailing, squash, swimming, and triathlon.
