Kevin was nominated for his work in helping to establish the charity Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope.
The Olympic Flame will arrive from Greece on 18 May 2012. The Torch Relay will begin at Land’s End on 19 May 2012. It will travel over 8,000 miles in 70 days.
The final Torchbearer will carry the Flame into the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony on 27 July 2012. The cauldron will be lit, and Games of the XXX Olympiad will be officially open.
Read the full piece from the Evening standard here.
I’m humbled, says Olympic torch nominee who helped bus tragedy family
Evening Standard, 26 Aug 2011
A man who helped a family recover from a bus crash in which one member was killed and two were badly injured said today he was “humbled” to be nominated to carry the Olympic torch.
Kevin Craig played down the huge help he has given to the family of Christopher Hope, from Mortlake, who he has known since university, saying: “It’s what you do for your mate.”
Mr Hope’s family was devastated when, in 2007, his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Panton, 65, was killed, his daughter Pollyanna, then two, lost part of a leg and his wife, Sarah, had a limb crushed when they were hit by a bus at Mortlake bus station.
The driver was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of grievous bodily harm.
Mr Craig, 40, helped Mrs Hope, now 39, and her twin sister, Victoria, set up Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope, a charity which funds prosthetic limbs for children around the world.
He is also helping to develop a special prosthetic limb for Pollyanna.
The charity is backed by Joanna Lumley, the twins’ second cousin, and Heather Mills.
Mr Craig, from Clapham, also used his knowledge of local government after nine years as a Lambeth Labour councillor to help the family secure care for Mrs Hope’s autistic elder brother, Henry, who had been looked after by Mrs Panton.
Mrs Hope said: “When my mother died we were all bereft and we still are but she had been the sole carer for my autistic brother. Kevin has helped our family with Henry so much.
“He has helped our family to set up Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope, a charity which provides limbs to thousands of children in developing countries. Without Kevin’s support this charity would never have happened.
“He is helping us do research to develop a limb with an ankle and toes that move, so Pollyanna can do ballet like her friends. This leg will help all other limbless people to lead a normal, active life.
“Kevin has helped our family tirelessly and he is calm and kind and very deserving to carry the Olympic torch.”
Mr Craig, a father-of-two, who runs a Lambeth-based lobbying and PR firm, said of Mrs Hope: “She and her family are very special to me. They went through a very terrible accident and I just did what I could do to help – it’s what you do for your mate.
“Sarah’s so much more worthy to carry the flame than I am, all I did was get her charity off the ground and give it some money.
“I’m a born and bred Londoner so carrying the torch would be an unbelievable honour beyond words. I’m genuinely humbled.”
Evening Standard readers are being asked to nominate extraordinary people to carry the Olympic torch who make the capital a better place in which to live and work.
You can also view this article on the Evening Standard website.
