mhs homes staff cheer Olympic flame

Published by Sarah Crowdy for MHS Homes in Communities

Staff at mhs homes cheered on the Olympic torch-bearer as the relay passed close to its head office inChatham,Kent.

Celebrations started at 6am with a choice of breakfast laid on for staff wanting to avoid traffic delays and see the flame as it made its way along Dock Road at 8.20am on the last leg of its journey to Londonfor the opening ceremony.

Desmond Lernihan, a general labourer at mhs homes, enjoyed a front-row view as the torch-bearer ran his 300 metres to pass on the flame to the next.

Desmond said: “It was great experience. It was very quick, but worth getting up very early for.

“It’s only going to happen once in my lifetime, so I wanted to see it.”

 mhs homes planned for the event by ensuring its operatives were working outside the areas where road closures made congestion likely and informed customers well ahead of the relay.

Staff were invited to breakfast at mhs homes’ Broadside office before joining the crowds along the route.

 mhs homes’ Chief Executive Ashley Hook said: “We knew the route would mean disruption and delays in Chatham and Rochester where we have a lot of customers.

But we were able to carry out planned work away from the main event.

We wanted our staff to enjoy the relay and also beat the road closures to be able to get to work.