OLYMPIANS Mark Precious and Kathyrn Johnson showed off their medals as Kendal’s second Intergenerational Hockey Festival was hailed a huge success.

Precious, who won a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, and Johnson, who also won bronze in Barcelona in 1992, both starred in a special showpiece event at Kirkbie Kendal School.

The following day more than 100 children were given hockey coaching sessions at the Lakes School , Troutbeck Bridge, from representatives from the visiting teams and had the opportunity to have their pictures taken with Precious and Johnson.

“It was a massive hit, and one day in the future we’d like to try and bring the Intergenerational Festival back to Cumbria because the response was amazing,” said Windermere Hockey Club’s former secretary and current committee member Helen Parsons.

“The children were in awe of the two Olympians, and just to have the opportunity to be coached by players who represented their country at the highest level made it a really special day for the people of all ages who attended.

“The children who came to the coaching session will always remember that experience, and during the representative games they were given the opportunity to be mascots, ball boys and girls for the various teams.

“The festival gave us the chance to bring different hockey generations together - and I’d also like to say a big thank-you to Kendal’s England international Carole Quill for her hard work in bringing the event together.”

Johnson turned out in both games for the England Lionesses.

In the first fixture, The Lionesses lost 2-1 to Kendal Hockey Club before drawing 4-4 with the UK Lionesses.

Precious was in the England Lions squad beaten 4-1 by Windermere Men while in the other game The North Masters thrashed a Windermere/Kendal Combined Squad 6-0.

“It was fantastic to see two Olympians playing in Kendal and the big crowd who turned up to watch the games were enthusiastic and knowledgeable” added Parsons.