Welcome volunteers complete training for open air night spectacular

Preparations are being made for Kynren – an epic tale of England, which starts in July in Bishop Auckland and will take the audience on a captivating journey through 2,000 years of British history as seen through the eyes of the region.

Organisers Eleven Arches have more than 1,000 volunteers involved in everything from choreography to costumes to horse riding to pyrotechnics.

As part of the continuing preparations, a special ceremony at Bishop Auckland College took place on Thursday night (March 17) to present the volunteers from the experience team with certificates for completing the WorldHost training.

The course was seen as key to providing visitors to London 2012 with a warm welcome and contributing to the success of the Olympics with surveys revealing that 99 per cent of visitors wanted to return to London following the event.

Organisers hope that, in the same way it will contribute to making the Kynren an equally unforgettable experience.

The training was delivered by the Durham Employment and Skills training team.

Councillor Neil Foster, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration and culture, said: “The training means that visitors to County Durham will receive a first class welcome from local volunteers who will play a major part in what we’re sure we’ll be an amazing event."

Claire Byers, director of communications and marketing at Eleven Arches, said: “Kynren will be the UK’s most spectacular open-air live action night show since the opening of the 2012 Olympics, so it is only fitting that our team of frontline volunteers who will play a key role in the visitor experience benefit from the same world-class training.”

The £31 million Eleven Arches project is part of the vision of philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer to establish Bishop Auckland as a visitor destination in the north of England.

For further details, visit elevenarches.org