West Berkshire's Olympic hopefuls countdown to start of games

Over the weekend and Monday, 41-year-old Samantha Albert from Ball Hill, will be representing Jamaica in eventing, Boxford's Richard Brickell, 36, competes for Great Britain in the men’s skeet and 56-year-old Mark Todd of Ecchinswell will be representing New Zealand in eventing.
Later on in the week, 19-year-old diver, Chris Mears (pictured) from Burghfield and 35-year-old shooter, Richard Faulds from Highclere will also feature.
Earlier this morning, the district’s churches got into the spirit of the games by welcoming them in with a mass bell ringing session.
Churches including including St Mary's in Thatcham and St Nicholas in Newbury joined thousands of others across the country by ringing their bells for three minutes.
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over the weekend and next week to read profiles of our local hopefuls and find out how they are getting on.