Name: Jamie Narborough

From: Lewisham, London

How long have you been collecting? 4 years

How many pins do you own? 49

With my autistic brother and just 3 months until the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony, we visit an Olympic poster exhibition at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Included in the exhibition is a display of Olympic mascots and of Olympic Pins. My brother falls to the call of the mascots, returns home and orders all 5 of the Beijing set. I however, fall to the world of pin collecting.

After enjoying 2 great weeks of sport, I turn to the laptop and come across the Beijing/London Handover Ceremony pin. This is my first purchase and I quickly decide rather than try to collect all, (as I'm a student), I wish to collect pins that are relevant to me or the ones I find most interesting.

So now, I find myself with a mixed collection that includes the limited Wenlock and Mandeville set, but also pins that portray which test events I have been to or for which events I have been lucky enough to secure tickets for.

Finally, Christmas 2011 approaches and I receive an email, one which states; 'congratulations, you have your moment to shine', I was a London 2012 Torchbearer. As I reflect on the decision, I think to myself would I have been involved enough with London 2012 to apply for this role if it was not for that very first pin I purchased nearly 4 years ago?

I now wear with pride a gold logo pin and next to it, the Wenlock Torchbearer pin, so wherever I go, I can share my passion of London 2012 - the reasons as to why I'm wearing those badges and also why pin collecting has provided me with perhaps the best perspective on the global spectacle as a whole!