Your chance to meet golden girl

NICOLA with her cake to celebrate gold

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OLDHAMERS have the chance to meet the borough's golden girl tomorrow.

Oldham Council and Oldham Community Leisure are hosting a homecoming event for local Olympian Nicola White, a key member of Great Britain's women's hockey team which won gold in Rio.

It was GB's first-ever gold medal in women's Olympic hockey and Nicola is Oldham's first gold medal winner since swimmer Henry Taylor took triple gold at the London games in 1908.

To celebrate Nicola's achievements the event will be at Oldham Leisure Centre, Middleton Road.

At 2pm, Nicola will open the event with a short speech, followed by a signing and photo opportunity.

Free tickets for the public meet and greet are available at oclactive.co.uk or eventbrite.co.uk/e/olympic-gold-medallist-nicola-white-home-coming-event-tickets-27436576539.

Meanwhile, Nicola visited Zen Office - one of her sponsors - in Chadderton yesterday where she thanked them and showed off her medal.

For a number of years Zen Office has sponsored Nicola and helped pay for her car which made it possible to get to and from training and to matches.

As part of the celebration Nicola also handed out gold, silver and bronze medals to employees who took part in a office-run Olympic competition during the games.

Nicola thanked Zen Office for all its support and hoped that her gold medal win would encourage people to take up the sport.

She said: "I had a few sponsorships - Zen Office was one of them - that paid towards my car which helped me to and from training, to club games and up and down the country so it has been amazing.

"All the support they have given me along the way was amazing.

"It is amazing to say I have been apart of it and I have been through all the training and got the medal to show for it, I'm hoping it will inspire people to pick up a hockey stick."

Since returning Nicola has been inundated with messages of congratulations and is amazed at the attention she is now receiving.

She said: "I have had messages, I have had so many texts and lots of well wishes from people but also a lot from people that I have not seen for years because I have been in London.

"I haven't seen them but they still message and say they have been watching me and I still get that friendship from them.

Nicola added: "In terms of celebration we have just been on a high. It has just been so exciting to land at Heathrow and see all the people waiting for you. It gives you a real sense of achievement for Team GB.

"It is just amazing, you have people asking me to come to schools and asking to see the medal and asking to see me."

Chemistry

Les Kerr, managing director at Zen Office, added: "I think her character is alongside that of our business. She has been in and she has been involved with us and she turns up at all our events. The chemistry is there.

He said: "We work with her all the time. She is an absolutely lovely girl. When you consider all the training she has had to do and she has found the time for us, it is amazing."

Before visiting Zen Office, Nicola received a special cake in a presentation at Rochdale's Brown's Handcrafted Cakes.

The presentation, organised by her proud mother Gill White, saw Nicola receive a gold post box cake with a version of herself sitting on it.

Natasha Brown, owner of Brown's Cakes, said: "We made an edible bronze post box when Nicola won her bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games. We are delighted we've now been able to make her a gold post box to celebrate Nicola and the team's latest great achievement."