I’ve been out with no signal at dog training, so wasn’t meaning to leave you hanging there @LadyGAgain!
I was one of the villagers in G&P (Green & Pleasant) as we were known, before the industrialists invaded and tore our land to shreds! We used to shout ‘get orf my land’ in a West Country accent as they marched towards us (all farmers have West Country accents of course!) 
. Odd thing was, we were on stage, or Field of Play as it was always called, for almost an hour, longer than any other section, but most of it wasn’t seen by anyone other than the stadium audience as the international cameras didn’t go live until just before the WMW came on!
Naughty person wearing the secret camera, we were all sworn to secrecy and had to sign various things promising not to tell anyone about the show! But I LOVE the reminder of what we had going on in our ear buds whilst on the FOP, and the dulcet tones of Steve who was out main mass movement choreographer, and the tick tick that you can hear gives me goosebumps and makes me cry.
The bit that always got me the most though was the poppies falling; I’m not a fan of war / military and such, but always found that bit so very touching. We didn’t know the signs for the audience asked them to stand, it just looked like they all stood of own accord on the night, and that made a lot of us tearful.
I also adore the rings at the end, and the proud WMW (working men and women - we all had section codes on our bibs that identified us all) showing their achievement.
The dress rehearsal with the rings bursting into showers of sparks was also somewhat of a surprise to some sections of the cast, and were a few hair raising moments as they had the sparks rain down on them! But the scenery was amazing, and watching it develop and then having to rejig the chimneys so they all came up when they should (the actual night was I think the only time all of them worked properly to time!) it was all so very cleverly made and thought out. Moving around the tunnels behind and under the stadium and seeing all the amazing looms and other machines that they built was wonderful, so many many clever and wonderful props and scenery was developed.
We weren’t meant to hang about the stadium once our section was rehearsed but we managed to see various bits of it, and then the first dress rehearsal we were allowed to watch all the other sections for the only time, and it was wonderful to see all the parts come together, when previously we’d only seen bits and pieces as we were ushered back to our various holding areas, or on a very wet and grey car park alongside the A13 that was our main rehearsal space until the stadium was built enough for us to safely rehearse there!
We had to leave the Olympic park when our bit was done, so all our section went and watched the rest on a big screen in a bar in Westfield, then went on to a pub lock-in. I remember walking through a very deserted Westfield at about 0530 trying to find a security guard to let me back in to reclaim my car to get home!
It was an amazing experience, although felt almost blasé about it when we did the show even though there were 80,000 people in the stadium watching us, and untold millions around the world; we’d been rehearsing in the stadium for weeks by then, with it being built around us, even up to the day of opening; so it’s kinda odd to think back to what a big event it really was.
It feels like a whole other world and life time. I’m disabled and used to be a dancer and martial artist prior to my disabilities, and getting a place to be involved in it, despite my limitations, made my life that bit more bareable again for the first time in a long time. It’s kinda hard to remember at times what an amazing thing it was to be involved in, and how good life seemed then and what it’s all come to now!
My Mum was in the Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies, only the Pandemonium Drummers were allowed to be in both the opening and closing of main Olympic, both Paralympics cast were all in both. We managed to get tickets to the Paralympic closing, and amazingly, they were directly above the section my Mum was allocated to, so we could actually see her despite so many people in the stage.
My fav ceremony of all of them was the Paralympic closing ceremony. The Paralympic has such a special energy to it anyway, and to be celebrating what was basically a Pagan / Druid Fire ceremony in front of the world, was brilliant. I love fire play anyway, so it was fantastic to be there as it happened!
Sorry, that’s turned into a total essay! And talking about it all still makes me cry!